In the Westbrook deal, the Lakers used up the only first-round draft pick this year, so they could not get personnel supplements from the draft, and could only wait until the end of the draft to sign a two-way contract to sign the draft.
At this year's draft, a senior guard from the University of Oklahoma who was selected for the Big 12 Conferences team of the year was not selected in the first round, and he temporarily decided to withdraw from the draft and become a losing draft in order to join the Lakers. The Lakers also happen to need an experienced and projection-capable older rookie. The two sides hit it off and signed an unsecured contract for $930,000 a year. The name of the loser was Austin Reeves.
Reeves was born into a basketball family in Arkansas, both played at Arkansas State University to his father Brian Reeves and mother Nicole Wilkett, while his brother Spencer Reeves played at Central Missouri University and Northern Greenville University.
It is precisely because he has a sports gene from birth and has been influenced and cultivated by his parents since he was a child, Reeves has shown extraordinary talent in basketball. He made a name for himself in high school, winning several state championships and even having a single game of 73 points. After graduating from high school, Reeves attended Wichita State University. However, he missed his freshman season due to injury, but Despite this, Reeves won with the team in his sophomore year and then transferred to the University of Oklahoma.
Due to transfer regulations, he had to be absent for a year to play. A year later, he was a senior, and it was from this point that his abilities were fully demonstrated. He served as the university of Oklahoma's starting point guard and was the team's main attacker. He doesn't have a strong explosive power, but he has the ability to shoot with one hand, and he is good at difficult shots, often throwing some incredible balls, so people call him "fairy ball maker". But his shortcoming is that his three-point shooting percentage is not high, less than 30%, which has also become a major reason why he failed to be selected in the first round.
The successful joining of the Lakers did not make Reeves breathe a sigh of relief, on the contrary, he had to go all out to prove himself before he had the opportunity to convert his contract to full protection, otherwise he could be cut at any time. Reeves excelled in the summer league, cherishing every minute of playing time and doing everything he could, and he ended up being the team's rebounding, assisting, stealing and blocking kings.
Finally, Reeves made his NBA debut. In the second game of the regular season, the Lakers played at home to the Suns, Reeves played 12 minutes, scored 8 points on 3-of-4 shooting, plus-minus of a team-high +17, a performance that allowed him to enter Vogel's rotation.
On December 16, Reeves celebrated the first highlight of his career. The Lakers and Lone Rangers' game was fought until the last 15 seconds of overtime, and the two sides were tied at 104, and the Lakers made the last attack. Wei Shao pretended to attack the inside line with the ball and distributed it to Reeves, who was ambushed on the flank, who raised his knife and fell, and staged a deadly kill! Another efficient game, Reeves scored 15 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal on 5-of-6 three-point shooting, becoming the biggest contributor to the Lakers' victory. Back in the dressing room, he was treated with the first cold shower of his career.
Reeves' importance to the Lakers is self-evident. In November, Reeves missed 10 games with a hamstring injury. During this period, the Lakers' record was 4 wins and 6 losses, and when he was on the floor, the Lakers' record was 12 wins and 7 losses. In the past three games, Reeves has averaged 29 minutes per game, can get 11 points and 5 rebounds, and shoots 7-of-11 from three-point range and has only two turnovers. The Shooter that the Lakers were looking for turned out to be in the team, and it can really be said that they have picked up the treasure.
The appearance of Reeves brought vitality to the struggling Lakers and ignited the hope of revival, the Lakers signed him at that time to consider that the team did not have time and resources to cultivate rookies, to grasp the last small period of championship competition before James retired, and bring in shooters to fill the offensive weak ring. Reeves has shown his goalscoring potential, and as long as he can maintain such shooting stability, the problems that have plagued the Lakers for two months may be partially solved.
Do you think that with Reeves' recent performance, he can get a guaranteed contract, welcome to comment.