Austin Reaves Rejects a Team to Join Lakers

By | Bullscore 21 Jul, 2023

Austin Reaves signed a two-way deal with the Los Angeles Lakers after not hearing his name on the draft night. With his previous team, Oklahoma, he earned First Team All-Big 12 honors and then finally left the campaign.

The new news which came out is shocking to the sports world. The case is that Reaves would have drafted if he wanted to, but he choose to reject the offer so that he doesn’t end up in a team he doesn’t want to join.

In an interview with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the ‘All The Smoke’ podcast, Reaves opened up his heart and shared the true reason behind rejecting the offer.

“We could have got drafted 42nd to [the] Detroit [Pistons], but declined that to put me in LA,” Reaves said.

“So basically we tiered teams. The best fit for me and L.A. was I think two on the list at the time. Milwaukee might have been one, but they were tier one and I think Detroit called. It was like I said, really trying to put me in a position to you know, be able to get a roster spot.

“We knew that there was a high interest for a two-way contract, so we didn’t really have to press and that’s what everything in the draft would have been. From 42 and on would have been basically a two-way agreement. So we didn’t have to press and I didn’t really have to hear my name called either.”

His average score with the lakers in the 2021-22 season was 7.3 points per game and in the last season he had put up 13 points per game on 53 percent shooting from the field and 40 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

And now he has improved his skills and performance even more. In the game against Denver Nuggets Reaves averaged 21.3 points, 5.3 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per outing.

This was no doubt a good deal for Reaves as he got a deal worth nearly $54 million this summer from L.A. they are hoping Reaves will be a huge boost in their team and will play a significant role in the upcoming matches.

Let’s wait for the next season to start and see for ourselves.