LOS ANGELES – Deandre Ayton wins the opening tip against Washington on Monday, sending the ball to Austin Reaves. The fifth-year guard, without backcourt mate Luka Dončić, who’s suspended after his 16th technical, dribbles into LA’s first possession.
LeBron James initiates the action by setting a ball screen for Reaves in the middle of the floor with the rest of the starters spaced out. The Wizards, the 29th-ranked defense in the league, open a canyon-sized pocket for Reaves as he finds the rolling
LeBron in stride.
Reaves was nowhere near done, as he collected eight more assists before the end of the second quarter. The purple and gold used a 21-point halftime lead to cruise to victory, taking care of business against one of the bottom dwellers of the Eastern Conference.
The win exhibited another playmaking clinic from Reaves, who’s grown into one of the best pick-and-roll ball handlers in basketball. He achieves this in large part by making teams pick their poison against a bevy of screeners he’s grown comfortable partnering with.
“Anytime in a ball screen, if you run it the right way, you are going to have some sort of advantage,” Reaves said after a recent practice. “Just trying to make the right play every single time.”
Watch him execute that advantage as the ball handler for Ayton in the clip below from Monday’s game. Reaves comes around to use the screen and sees the opposite big man defender, who’s in a traditional drop coverage, overextend toward him, allowing a roller behind.
Ayton catches in the short roll, his preferred operating area, and barrels to the basket for the floating finish. His 1.22 points per possession as a screener puts him in the 74th percentile league-wide, per NBA’s tracking data.
“We got great playmakers,” Ayton said after practice while standing next to Reaves. “Our job is not that hard. Get the opponent off their body and they got it.”
LA not only utilizes their bigs to get guys off their bodies, but they also consistently run guard-to-guard actions in their sets to create misdirection. Watch below as sharpshooter Luke Kennard comes to set the on-ball pick for Reaves. The Wizards opt to switch the coverage, and that one second of separation gives him the step he needs to go downhill.
He draws the contact and heads to the foul line, where he would go 9-10 in the half. He’d head to the break with 11 points and nine assists while being a plus-17 on the court.
Beyond his pocket passes to the screener and scoring punch, another major step in Reaves’s playmaking evolution is his ability to read the correct skip pass. In the clip below, Reaves receives a screen from Bronny James at the top of the key.
LA is set up in their double screen formation, and Ayton follows up by diving to the rim while the Wizards tag his roll. This leaves Rui Hachimura, a 43% spot-up 3-point shooter, wide open on the weak side.
Numbers and impressive games can get overshadowed at times when performed next to Luka’s historic offensive season. Still, this team needs a peaking Reaves to go anywhere this year.
It bears out in the wins as the Lakers are 35-14 (58-win pace) with Reaves and 14-12 (44-win pace) without him. With LeBron fully embracing his adjustment in role and overall play style, Reaves is now firmly established as the No. 2 ball handler on the team after Luka.
It’s a role he’s excelled at so far this season, and one the Lakers hope will push them much farther in the playoffs than it did a year ago.
You can follow Raj on X at @RajChipalu
