James Worthy thinks one Los Angeles Lakers star has expertise similar to LeBron James and Luka Doncic.
For the previous few years, the Los Angeles Lakers had the dynamic duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis main the group to glory.
Nevertheless, except for the duo, the Lakers hardly had any good supporting forged. However the Lakers now not have that concern within the 2024-25 NBA season.
For starters, the Lakers have flipped an growing older Davis for 26-year-old Luka Doncic, who is likely one of the finest gamers on the planet. Whereas most followers anticipated James and Doncic to dominate, what they didn’t anticipate was the rise of Austin Reaves as a professional third star on the group.
Reaves continued his phenomenal run this season with a 23-point efficiency throughout the Lakers’ 140-109 win over the Houston Rockets.
After the sport, group legend James Worthy heaped enormous reward on Reaves’ development as a 3rd star alongside the James-Doncic duo.
“He’s an issue. He’s an issue and a risk. Often previously, possibly extra at the moment you discover extra ball handlers, however to have your third man to be simply nearly as good a call maker as Luka and LeBron is, and may rating, and may shoot, and may draw fouls.
“I’m not going to say higher than these two however simply nearly as good. He will get to the road, as a result of he is aware of really feel and make the bump and get that shot.”
In simply a few years, Reaves has gone from an undrafted prospect to a vital member of the Purple and Gold. As Worthy identified, Reaves’ decision-making makes him arguably one of the best third possibility within the league at the moment.
With the Lakers formally securing the third seed within the West with their latest win, the group should now put together for his or her 2025 postseason run.
Certain James and Doncic will handle enterprise on most nights, however at any time when Reaves’ quantity has been referred to as to get the Lakers by a troublesome stretch, the 26-year-old has delivered.
Holding that in thoughts, Worthy believes devising a technique to include Reaves shall be a nightmare for opposing group head coaches come playoff time.
“That’s an issue and I don’t know from a training standpoint the way you put together for that, when you’ve got three guys that deal with the ball that properly and that environment friendly.
“He’s gonna be a risk, and he’s centered at each ends. He’ll take costs, he’ll take good selections on the defensive finish, Reaves has positively arrived.”
