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This past season was a coming-out party for the Los Angeles Lakers’ Austin Reaves. In his second NBA campaign, the undrafted guard became a difference-maker; he averaged 13 points a game and was one of the league’s most efficient scorers.
In the playoffs, Reaves upped his production to 16.9 points a game, and he was a big reason the Lakers made it all the way to the Western Conference finals.
He has been attracting praise from all across the basketball world, and his Team USA teammate Mikal Bridges revealed that he thinks highly of the Arkansas native (h/t Yardbarker).
Via Los Angeles Times:
“This ain’t no underdog (expletive) no more,” Bridges said of Reaves. “He’s here.
“I’ve been a fan. … I think the biggest thing about him I like is that he knows how to draw a foul,” Bridges said. “He knows how to create fouls and get to the free-throw line and that’s like a skill. He’s not just getting there. There’s a skill to that and it’s very underrated. People don’t really understand it but the ones that do, they know how tough it is to guard.
“That (expletive) an art.”
Reaves certainly has become crafty when it comes to baiting opponents into drawing fouls. He attempted 4.1 foul shots per game in the regular season, which means his free-throw rate was an outstanding .541.