Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves turned some heads during his second NBA season, taking on more of responsibilities including scoring, handling the ball and defending the premier guards of the league. At the beginning of last season, the roster needed another shot creator and someone who is dynamic with the ball besides LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Reaves took on the challenge, looking like an experienced veteran with how he was getting to his spots and developing the ability to draw fouls with regularity. After the trades that the front office made at the deadline, Reaves became even more vital and flourished more.
Now, after re-signing with the Lakers this summer, the 6’5″ guard has shifted his focus to Team USA and the upcoming FIBA World Cup. USA had their first exhibition game against Puerto Rico on Monday night where Reaves would come off the bench and scored a quick nine points on 4-of-8 from the field with four assists and four rebounds.
The Arkansas native speaks to how this young USA team is figuring it out on the fly with a short camp and now beginning their exhibition schedule, via NBA:
“A lot, honestly [learning with new teammates], I feel like we’ve gelled really fast as a team. I think it shows the way we play the game and you know that’s going to continue to grow as far as we go. That’s the main thing, we know we have a lot of talent, we know what we could do a lot of great things offensively and defensively, but it’s all about becoming one unit and really just going and playing with one another.”
It was a balanced scoring attack in the team’s debut with seven players in double figures, including Anthony Edwards and Cam Johnson leading the way with 15 points each in a 117-74 win over Puerto Rico. Reaves is one of many players experiencing Team USA for the first time and he spoke to what it has been like so far:
“I didn’t play much AAU growing up, so I don’t really know many of ’em [USA teammates], but this is a cool opportunity to play with a bunch of guys that are really talented and a bunch of good guys, honestly. It’s going to be fun for me for the next six weeks to get to know all of them.”
There is an expected growing pains with such a young roster, but these five exhibition games will help Team USA find its groove and be able to find some continuity before heading to Manila, Philippines for the World Cup Group Play.
USA takes the floor again on Saturday, Aug. 12 against Luka Doncic and Slovenia at 12:30 p.m. PT in Malaga, Spain.
Reaves & Team USA’s schedule for FIBA World Cup
With the exhibition schedule underway, the World Cup is drawing closer and it’ll be intriguing to see this young team figure it out and if they’ll be able to win it all. Here is the team’s full schedule through group play.
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