25-year-old Lakers player Austin Reaves’ performance has surged during the ongoing NBA season. Along with his teammates LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the third-year has been a prominent face of the Lakers offensive effort, allowing them to establish a 46-35 W/L record till now. His improved prowess and availability in all his team’s 81 games till now has now allowed the shooting guard to rank even higher than his veteran teammates.
On the 13th of April, sports analyst Todd Whitehead took to his official X account to highlight an NBA stat that featured the ‘Most efficient on-ball scorers’ in the league for this particular season. Austin Reaves made his seasonal debut in the same as he found himself being ranked in the 14th position. He earned this place thanks to his 648 field goal attempts and 1.02 points per possession.
With 1.25 points, Anthony Davis, has more points per possession this season. However, compared to his high FG attempts of 1,266, he ranks lower than his teammate on the efficiency list. The same goes for the Lakers’ star scorer LeBron James, who has only accumulated 1.16 points per possession through his 1,249 field goal attempts.
Surprisingly, every player on the list mentioned above is currently playing on a max contract or was earlier. After his two-year contract with the Lakers expired some time ago, Reaves ended up signing a four-year extension that would provide him with $54 million over the said course of time. Due to this, he is currently earning almost $13 million a year. Reaves’ contract provides him a higher pay than the average reported salary of an NBA player, which currently stands at almost $10 million. However, it is not even relatively close to what Anthony Davis and LeBron James are earning. The Lakers center boasts a $40.6 million pay during the current season, while his counterpart is living off a $47.6 million yearly salary that is only set to increase next season.
From the looks of it, the Los Angeles Lakers seem to be having a more efficient player on their roster for less than what it is offering to its veteran players who failed to crack the top 15.
How has Austin Reaves been performing this season?
Along with being one of the most consistent players of the NBA this season, Austin Reaves has also established himself as the fourth-highest average scorer for the Lakers. His ranking can be credited to the average score of 15.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 5.5 assists that he has made in his name. He scored his season-high 32 points during a February game against the Boston Celtics. Further, in the matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks back in late March, in the absence of LeBron James, the 25-year-old scored a triple-double of 29 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists that played a huge role in the Lakers eventual 128-124 win.
USA Today via Reuters
Reaves’ shooting ability backed by his improved ball-handling has been crucial in defining his efficiency. On average, the player has been making 5.5-11.5 field goals, 2.9-3.3 field throws, and 1.9-5.1 three-pointers. Despite facing some issues with his shooting skills, which LeBron James was more than happy to defend the player on, the situation now seems to have improved for the shooting guard.
