Austin Reaves discusses excitement for new role with Lakers

Since the Los Angeles Lakers traded D’Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets, Austin Reaves has been given more ball handling, playmaking and scoring responsibilities.

He responded in a big way Tuesday night in a losing effort to the Cleveland Cavaliers, matching his career-high 35 points with nine rebounds and 10 assists on 11-of-20 shooting.

Reaves is in the midst of the best stretch of his career as he has seen his role on the ball grow, averaging 29 points, 8.3 rebounds and 12 assists on 50% shooting over his last three games.

After the loss to the Cavaliers, Reaves discussed his mindset when he has the ball in his hands.

“Like I always say, play the game right away and do what the game calls for,” Reaves said. “It’s scoring, scoring. If it’s not, make plays, but at the end of the day, just get us organized, get us in things that we need to get in and obviously get Bron and AD the ball because good things happen when that happens so just try to be a floor general a coach out there that they can trust to run things through and that’s it just go to a game it’s just get everyone organized, get us in a good offensive and defensive position talk and all the little things.”

When it comes to taking on a bigger role for the Lakers, Reaves is excited and ready for the challenge.

“Yeah, I’m excited. I mean, it’s fun,” he said. “Like you said, I said, I’m going to do, I’m going to mess up, I’m going to do stupid things and I’m going to learn from them. And that’s all I can really do. I kind of take on this role on the fly, trade DLo and get more on-ball reps.

“Like I said, I’m just learning. It’s my fourth year in the league and every day I can still learn something new. So I’m really excited to continue learning continue to grow and become a better player.”

Reaves is putting up borderline All-Star numbers for the Lakers, averaging 18.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists on the season as he continues to improve each year of his young career.

Austin Reaves learns from mistakes

With this new role, mistakes will come for Austin Reaves. However, he talked about learning from them so he can quickly turn the page and help lead the Lakers to victories.

“You make good plays. You make bad plays. Unfortunately, I came out and made some really bad plays,” Reaves admitted of his start in the Cavaliers loss. “And I knew if we were going to crawl back into it, give ourselves an opportunity, I should be better. And there is no greater critic of me than myself. I know when I do stupid things, and I did a few of them early on, but like I said, I can’t dwell on those things You kind of just turn the page and continues to play.”

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