As early as the middle of last season, Austin Reaves and Luka Dončić were already having conversations about their future. Reaves was set to hit free agency in June, but the two discussed what a continued partnership in the purple and gold would look like. Once the offseason came around, those talks evolved into what they each needed to do to put theLos Angeles Lakersin a position to succeed.
"Very bland, to be honest," Reaves told reporters at the Lakers' media day on Monday, Sept. 28. "But at the end of the day, we care about winning, and that's all that matters."
The result was a five-year, $184.76 million contract for Reaves - who president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka identified as the No. 1 priority this offseason after LeBron James
left in free agency - and an almost entirely new supporting cast around him and Dončić.
So new, in fact, that Reaves is now the longest-tenured Laker. Not bad for a kid from Oklahoma who arrived in LA as a two-way player after going undrafted in 2021. The growth over his five-year career was most evident when he went from looking virally flustered by James' on-court directions as a rookie to commanding the attention of the NBA's all-time leading scorer on the sideline a year ago.
Dončić has seen that development in just over 18 months since coming to the Lakers.
"He improved a lot," Dončić said. "He talks more to a lot of people. Obviously, the new players, they're gonna look up to him, ask him things. So, I think he did a big step forward."
Now entering his sixth year, Reaves is ready to take on even more responsibility as Dončić's unquestioned right-hand man. Head coach JJ Redick told reporters at the Lakers' preseason press conference last week that Reaves has "been the leader in the gym every single day" since the team got back from their trip to Slovenia. More importantly, he's doing it in his own way.
"I'm not gonna lead the same Bron does, I'm not gonna lead the same way Luka does," Reaves said. "I like to do things a little different."
He's not getting into his teammates' faces. He won't admonish them in front of everybody. Instead, Reaves prefers to pull guys off to the side if he feels like he needs to give them his input. He's a conversationalist rather than a drill sergeant.
" ...There will be times I need to speak up in group settings, and I'll do that when the time comes," he continued. "But I think you just got to be true to yourself and do what's comfortable for you."
"Trying to lead these guys and give them the knowledge that other guys gave me as I was coming in here is a big thing for me."
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) September 28, 2026
Austin Reaves chats with @geeter3, @DGreen_14 and @JamesWorthy42 at #LakersMediaDay #Lakers pic.twitter.com/K0N29YthIt
And with that newfound responsibility, one of the biggest themes Reaves reflected on in front of the press on Monday was patience.
James, Rui Hachimura, Jaxson Hayes - all players Reaves had built chemistry with over the years - are gone. The Lakers have nine new players on the roster, headlined by their center of the future in Walker Kessler. They're the only three locks for the starting lineup; a decision on the final two is expected to play out in training camp.
Reaves and several other players have repeatedly mentioned the Slovenia trip as beneficial in building up their chemistry faster. They've meshed well competed against each other in pickup games, as well as rowing, golf and bowling, but there's a certain pressure that gets added once the lights turn on at Crypto.com Arena.
"It's almost as important as anything else," Reaves said. "We're a very new team to one another and there's gonna be some growing periods of where things aren't going the way we want them to go. But that doesn't change the goal at the end of the day, and that's (to) be as competitive as we can every single night. This team's going to be resilient."
They'll have to be because if there's one thing that Laker fans aren't, it's patient.
Many stars have crumbled under that microscope before, let alone role players. It hasn't mattered whether or not someone grew up a Laker fan or if they're from the area, the Lakers fandom can be one of the most unforgiving in American pro sports.
That's just the standard set in a city that's seen six NBA Finals banners raised since the turn of the century.
Quentin Grimes has had stops in New York and Philadelphia - two other notoriously tough media markets - before joining the Lakers on a four-year, $60 million contract this summer.
"LA is a different beast," he told reporters. "It's one of, if not the most, coveted sports team, basketball-wise, in the country for sure. Probably the most prestigious one as well. Everybody knows the Lakers. ... At the end of the day, I'm here to play basketball and I'm here to handle business every single day. You can't get caught up in the external noise."
That's where Reaves comes in.
"Every day, something is gonna come out about us," he said. "And just being able to know how to navigate that and help others navigate that's the main thing. One second, you're gonna be the best team in the world and the next, you lose two in a row and you're the worst team. You can't figure it out. So, helping these guys to understand that none of that really matters. It's all about what goes on in these walls."
But once he gets on the court, Reaves maintains that he's still playing the same game. Nothing changes just because he has a few more zeroes in his bank account. He's still approaching it the same way.
"I go into every game wanting to win the game, whatever that looks like," Reaves said. "It's not like I'm sitting here saying I got to score 25 points a night. It's just whatever I can do to help our team be successful on every single night."
The Lakers won't win 82 games, nor would they or any reasonable person expect them to. But every time he takes the floor - and he hopes it's all 82 times, after studying how James prepared and took care of his body into his 40s - Reaves sees an opportunity. The same opportunity that the two-way player from Newark, Arkansas took advantage of earlier in his career.
"You're gonna have failures within this long season," he said. "But every single night, you're gonna have an opportunity when you take the floor, especially for this organization, for this fanbase, to show them and the world what you know you're capable of."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Austin Reaves embraces new role as leader in LA
