The Los Angeles Lakers found Austin Reaves, brought him in, were patient with him, and rewarded him with more playing time.
Reaves made a name for himself last season and put himself on multiple teams’ radars, with the Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs, and Houston Rockets reportedly interested in making a run at him.
That’s why the Lakers didn’t hesitate to extend him a qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent, and reports cite that they’re going to outbid every single offer a rival makes for Reaves, even if that creates major cap issues for the future.
"Are the Lakers getting delusional because they found him?"
— @ColinCowherd plays the blind resume game with Austin Reaves pic.twitter.com/CAqw51WYEI
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) June 28, 2023
With that in mind, Colin Cowherd compared Reaves’ production with some other cheaper players such as Grayson Allen, Patrick Beverley, Mac McClung, and even Kelly Olynyk, pretty much making a point as to why the Lakers shouldn’t jump the gun to overpay for Reaves.
Cowherd said that the Lakers might be becoming a little delusional with Reaves just because they found him.
And even though Cowherd claims Reaves is a good player and that he likes his game, he said he’s not elite at anything and the one thing he does well is play next to LeBron James, just like Matthew Dellavedova did back in the day.
Truth be told, Reaves’ numbers are nothing special, and he’s 25 years old already.
But he did look much better in an expanded role once Darvin Ham gave him more minutes, and he earned his teammates’ trust to lead the offense and take some big shots down the stretch.
NEXT: The Lakers Are Reportedly Planning To Re-Sign 1 Key Veteran
