Austin Reaves had three goals entering his rookie season with the Lakers: earn a spot on the 15-man roster, become a rotation player and win a championship. Reaves swiftly accomplished the first two goals, signing a two-year deal with the Lakers the day before training camp started and earning regular minutes by the first week of the 2021-22 season. But Reaves and the Lakers fell embarrassingly short on the third goal, finishing with a 33-49 record and missing the Play-In tournament. “Individually, I think it went about as good as it could have gone for me,” Reaves told The Athletic. “Doing all those things was special. And as a team, I mean, to say the least, it sucked, to be honest. We had high expectations for ourselves and felt like we just couldn’t piece it together throughout the year. For me, the main goal is always to win, so it sucked in that aspect.”