In some ways, Austin Reaves has been playing well this season. He’s shooting a solid 47.8% from the field, and he’s averaging 15.1 points a game compared to 13 a game last season, even though his minutes haven’t really increased.
He has also improved his passing productivity by dishing 5.2 assists a game this season compared to 3.4 during the 2022-23 campaign.
In the month of December, it looked like he was truly picking up where he left off last season by making 49.7% of his shots and 39.7% of his 3-point attempts.
However, Reaves has been unable to hit from long distance lately. He’s just 16.7% from 3-point range so far in January, and overall, he has hit on just four of his last 28 attempts from downtown.
But it gets even worse than that.
On the season, the Lakers, according to NBA.com’s advanced stats, are minus 4.2 in net rating with Reaves on the floor. Without him, they’re plus 3. In fact, during his 3-point shooting slump over the last six games, they’re minus 12.0 with him on the floor and plus 0.1 with him off the court.
The guard actually has L.A.’s second-worst number in that category over the entire season among rotation players. Only backup center Jaxson Hayes has been worse.
On the other hand, last season, L.A. was plus 4.9 with Reaves in the game and minus 3.6 otherwise.
One apparent reason for this disparity is the fact other teams have learned Reaves can be exploited on defense. The Lakers have a defensive rating this season of 115.2 when Reaves is in the game. When he’s on the bench, that number has been immensely better, 106.8.