In response to Anthony Irwin of the “Lakers Lounge podcast,” Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham could possibly be on a collision course with Austin Reaves. The reported disagreement is because of Ham being decrease on Reaves’ capacity than you’ll count on.
“This doable factor between [Reaves] and Ham is … one thing. I’m right here to let you know, I’ve heard it very clearly, that for no matter purpose, Ham doesn’t mess with Austin the best way that you’d suppose he would,’ Irwin mentioned. “It must get fastened. This may escalate all the best way to the place an agent will get concerned or the entrance workplace will get concerned and folks begin asking what goes into these choices?”
Reaves emerged as a possible third star for the Lakers throughout final season’s NBA Playoffs. His aggression and skill to plug gaps made him the best tertiary man behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Nonetheless, earlier this season, Ham moved Reaves out of the beginning lineup. On the time, Ham shared his imaginative and prescient of Reaves changing into a Manu Ginobili-type performer for the Purple and Gold.
Since shifting to the bench, Reaves has been averaging 13.1 factors, 4.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists, taking pictures 49.3% from the sector and 38.8% from three-point vary.
As such, it could seem Ham’s imaginative and prescient of Reaves changing into a high-level bench contributor is proving to be an affordable hunch. But, issues aren’t all the time what they appear.
Reaves’ minutes have steadily been trending down since D’Angelo Russell was moved to the bench. There’s a further guard for Reaves to cope with, and it could seem his taking part in time is being diminished consequently.
Contemplating he was probably the most impactful gamers for the Lakers final season and has been performing effectively this 12 months, the choice to marginalize him is actually questionable.
It is onerous to check why Ham would have a problem with Reaves. He is accepted his new position and is making a viable impression. Nonetheless, there could possibly be stress from different areas of the franchise to provide the fan-favorite a much bigger position, particularly if he has voiced considerations behind the scenes. Ham has struggled to get the perfect out of his Lakers crew this season.
Falling out with a core member of the rotation would definitely put him in an unenviable state of affairs. Lakers followers will probably be hoping the state of affairs would not worsen in order that their crew can proceed constructing towards what they hope is a deep postseason run.
