Two years ago, Austin Reaves was a no-name undrafted free agent the Los Angeles Lakers had decided to take a flier on by signing him to a two-way contract. They quickly converted that two-way contract into a standard one, but the odds were still seemingly against him making it in the NBA.
He showed promise as a rookie, but last season was a revelation for the small-town Arkansas native. His production gradually increased, and he was a big reason the Lakers reached the Western Conference finals. He had several sizable games in the playoffs.
Reaves is big time now, especially after getting a four-year, $56 million contract in July and playing for Team USA in the FIBA World Cup later in the summer. But even though he has a strong swagger underneath his seemingly unassuming exterior, he has remained humble.
In an expansive article on his ascent in The Ringer, he said his goal for this season is to win an NBA championship so he can tell his kids, if he ever has any, that he won a ring with LeBron James.
Via The Ringer:
“Twenty years from now, if I’m lucky enough to have kids, I could be like, I won a championship with LeBron James. … That’s all I really care about right now.”
Reaves has played very well in the preseason, although he has been held out of a couple of contests as a precaution after his summer of basketball with Team USA. But he could be poised to take another significant step forward this season. If he does, he just might tell his offspring someday that he got to the mountaintop with James.