{"id":479349,"date":"2026-09-29T12:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T12:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/479349\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T12:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T12:54:13","slug":"lakers-need-austin-reaves-to-stay-healthy-to-make-team-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/479349\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers need Austin Reaves to stay healthy to make team work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On the court, Austin Reaves<\/a> really doesn\u2019t have much left to prove. Well, except whether he can stay on the court.<\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 star guard is tough, he\u2019s talented, he has the temperament and competitive compass to lead a team. He\u2019s been blessed with a sense of the moment and a sense of humor. It\u2019s been a treat to watch him go from an undrafted curiosity to star guard for the Lakers<\/a>, recently the recipient of a four-year, $184-million new contract.<\/p>\n

Reaves foretold of his future stardom in 2023 after scoring nine consecutive points in a playoff victory over the Memphis Grizzlies: He\u2019s him, he\u2019s him!<\/p>\n

Now entering Year 6, we\u2019re long past doubting the ability of this kid from Newark, Ark.<\/a> \u2014 except, of course, for his durability, his availability.<\/p>\n

When he played last season, averaging 23.3 points on 49% shooting, the Lakers were 36-15 (.706). That\u2019s better than every Western Conference team beside the Oklahoma City Thunder (.780) and San Antonio Spurs (.756).<\/p>\n

But when Reaves was out of uniform and headband, the Lakers were a ho-hum 17-14.<\/p>\n

Reaves missed those games \u2014 and his shot at his first All-NBA and All-Star selections \u2014 because of right groin soreness in November, a left calf strain in December and January and a left oblique strain in April.<\/p>\n

Those were frustrating injuries, but they weren\u2019t random. Unfortunate, but not exactly unlucky. They weren\u2019t freak injuries, they were conditions that cropped up when his usage ticked up.<\/p>\n

It seemed a sign that Reaves could be overburdened when he had to carry extra weight more than just part-time.<\/p>\n

So the Lakers need the 28-year-old that they\u2019re paying more than anyone but Luka Doncic<\/a> to steel himself against that wear and tear. They better hope he spent at least as much time training his body to withstand another NBA season of body blows as he did going low on golf courses this offseason.<\/p>\n

Monday at media day, where Doncic and Reaves<\/a> sported matching golf tans, the now-longest-tenured Laker testified that he \u201chad a really good summer and put myself in a really good spot going into this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s good, that\u2019s really good.<\/p>\n

Because if the new-look Lakers are going to succeed, they need Reaves whipping passes and weaving to the rim for as many of their 82 regular-season games as possible.<\/p>\n

They also need him to stretch well and drink lots of water and regularly get good nights\u2019 sleep.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers guard Austin Reaves participates in the team\u2019s media day in El Segundo on Monday.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

To go ahead and invest in hyperbaric chambers, cryotherapy, compression boots and anything else he watched LeBron James<\/a> do to defy Father Time in the five seasons they played together: \u201cThere\u2019s a lot more that goes into it than the casual fan sees,\u201d Reaves said Monday. \u201cYou have to do more every single day, especially the older that you get.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers have watched Reaves grow up, from a surprising bit player in 2021-22 to a multifaceted menace who last season scored 51 points one game, dished 16 assists in another, and had others with 11 rebounds and four steals.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why he got the big contract. And that\u2019s why, when Reaves said Monday that, in his mind, \u201cnothing really changes with how I approach the game,\u201d it made sense.<\/p>\n

He plays winning basketball, and if it ain\u2019t broke, you\u2019re not supposed to fix it.<\/p>\n

But the Lakers also need Reaves to realize he\u2019s really rich now. He should let it get to his head a little bit and be smarter out there.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not going to be overdrawn when those moments arrive, asking him to make a bang-bang decision: Cash or charge?<\/p>\n

For Reaves, the answer should almost always be cash. Because what\u2019s in the Lakers best interests? Reaves drawing an offensive foul or coach JJ Redick drawing up a lineup without Reaves in it?<\/p>\n

Protect yourself at all costs, Austin. Luka, too. Let all these defensive-minded role players fighting for playing time take the charges; that\u2019s their job.<\/p>\n

New Lakers center Kevon Looney became a three-time NBA champ with the Golden State Warriors. He knows what wins championships: Defense and health.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us to reach our full potential, we\u2019re going to have to be a good defensive team,\u201d Looney said Monday. \u201cAnd then every team needs health. We got the talent, but being healthy and taking care of our bodies is going to set us apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reaves has already set himself apart, as an underdog, a dawg and now, one of the Lakers\u2019 top dogs.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s worth every penny that they\u2019re paying him. But he\u2019s still got to earn it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the court, Austin Reaves really doesn\u2019t have much left to prove. Well, except whether he can stay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[19538,2789,10772,34122,6946,423,48,52,51,1415,3376,58721,47,50,49,7551,1024,188024,26791,2850,188025],"class_list":["post-479349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-austin-reaves","tag-body","tag-charge","tag-consecutive-point","tag-course","tag-game","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lakers","tag-last-season","tag-left-calf-strain","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-luka-doncic","tag-monday","tag-reaves-foretold","tag-sense","tag-star","tag-team-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}