Austin on his last missed FT - “You know I gotta keep Luka’s confidence high, don’t need to out-score him two nights in a row.”, Luka - “I appreciate it. I am going to go talk to him now.”
This bro is living his best life. Kid didn’t think he’d be a star, but he put the work and he’s there among them.
seriously, grinding pays off, love to see it happen
People keep saying that grinding pays off but I’ve been on grinder for a year now and I’m still broke
You need to ask for a tip after the date.
They usually give more than the tip as I understand
FULL PENETRATION
Not if you don’t consent
Saw two dudes grinding on the basketball court. I don’t think that’s how you play but to each their own.
Kid didn’t think he’d be a star
What are you possibly basing this statement on? He did think he would be a star, Reaves had his agent tell teams ahead of time not to draft him and went to the Lakers as a two-way. That’s a suicide play unless you’re just that confident in your own skills. His agent also literally called Reaves’ imminent rise to stardom out. The thread you’re commenting this delusion of yours on literally has Reaves talk down to Luka, he’s about as confident as you can get.
Pistons said if they drafted him they would put him on a two way contract. Reaves said that if he’s going to be on a two way contract he would rather pick the team which is understandable.
Yep, smart move but still risky given that it would’ve been much easier for him to get playing time with the 2021 Pistons than the Lakers.
Not that you guys are saying this, but I get this feeling people think Austin Reaves is some small unathletic player who clawed his way into college teams and scrapped his way to the top. While that may be true compared to his teammates, Reaves is not some scrawny small kid that clawed his way to the top.
He is a naturally talented giant point guard who displayed NBA level body control and movements in high school. You can look at his movements, this is not ‘an above average’ high school player lol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8JC0s-w1Kg
The dude was built to play basketball, he just didn’t get noticed early and play for a big high school or AAU team. He’s giant, athletic, and gifted.
The Lakers had just traded for Westbrook, which in theory would take up a lot of backcourt minutes and touches. However, the Lakers trading 3 players for 1 and tying up all so much of their cap in very few players meant they had a lot of roster spots to fill that summer, more than most (and maybe all other) teams.
The bet paid off almost immediately as Reaves’ two way contract with the Lakers ended up being converted to a guaranteed contract even before the season started. It’s not necessarily the case that the same opportunity would have been there with the Pistons.
Poster is clearly talking about how he was an undrafted, free agent and undrafted free agents don’t generally become stars. Even if Reeves had 100% confidence it was going to happen, there was a really good chance it still wasn’t. It’s not really that hard to understand lol
W take.
To be fair, anybody that ever played 5 minutes in the NBA is a star for 99,999% of this sub LOL
Time told
I think he might have misspoke, and this was more about taking the risk of betting on himself.
More importantly has proven his self worth to the organization. He’s part of the reason we’re able to transition out of this LeBron era.
NBA MyCareer player irl
nah I don’t think you make it in the nba without believing you could become a star player eventually.
I flat out despise that the Lakers are almost likeable now
I’ve never had that much beef with the Lakers and yeah, they are really likeable now.
Best vibes on a lakers team since magic years…it’s trippy to watch people having fun playing in la
i think the championship team had these vibes too. the dudley friends.
I don’t remember the bubble championship team but with Dwight also on that team coulda be a fun vibe..but this years team genuinely like each other which I never remember…lots of respect on the Kobe / Pau teams…but way different vibes
Bro seriously, watch the Javale vlogs during the bubble, it was vibes all throughout. Even before the bubble, they were legit going to win it all. People like to like on this app that Lakers weren’t contenders but they were #1 for the whole season before covid hit. Beat clips and bucks b2b before lockdown. Shit was legit as it can get. But going back to vibes, Javale vlogs in youtube, I still watch it from time to time lol
yeah thats a really good point. the 2020 team was really tight knit, which was a big part of the reason they won that year. From the beginning of the season all the way through the bubble you could tell how much they all liked each other, and how they always seemed to be on the same page on the court. Pelinka let his ego get the best of him, tinkering the following off season instead of just running it back with a few small upgrades. Instead we had Javale, Dwight, Green, and Rondo pushed out in favor of Harrell, Schroeder, and Marc Gasol, all of which seemed like a talent upgrade but it was clear from very early on that the chemistry sucked.
The 08-09 Lakers had immaculate vibes. Kobe mentioned he learned from the ‘08 Finals loss and that was around the time he stopped being sociopathic (only half /s). I used to watch a lot of the miscellaneous Lakers content in that season (whatever I could get on lakers.com lol) and they were genuinely all friends and stuff. Going 65-17 in the regular season and 16-7 in the playoffs obviously doesn’t hurt with the chemistry either
Hilarious coming from a Thunder fan
I grew up a sonics fan so I have the right to cheer for whatever teams got good vibes since they stole my team from me 😒
Same. Grew up a Sonics fan and became a Mavs fan after the Sonics were stolen away.
Woooooof my condolences that’s too much heartbreak for one sports fan.
That’s rough buddy
At least you didn’t pick the fucking Wizards bro. I did sadly
Why the Wizards? Just because Washington no matter the coast?
Why’d you decide on the Mavs out of curiosity
Dirk was cool
its easier to like other teams and be gracious when your team is a monster.
AR also played for OU, so he has a lot of fans in Oklahoma.
Let’s be honest. We need as much entertainment in the nba as possible with all the injuries and aging superstars. Lakers being good is good for the nba. I’d consider myself more of an nba fan in general than I am a die hard lakers fan. With that said, I like that lakers are good, Thunder are on a generational run, nuggets are playing at a high level, the Pistons are doing well.
I lucked into moving into the OKC/Dallas footprint before OKC got good again. But im still a fairly recent fan of them so im also more a general NBA fan. Always loved lebron and love Luka. I kinda had to become a bit of a laker fan once Luka got shunted off there.
No
No, we dont need entertainment?
They’ve somehow stumbled into an underdog narrative despite it all
I mean they got that cause people were saying they would be a play in team and worse than Warriors, Clippers, and Wolves.
I was more thinking because their starting line up has:
And also an ancient LeBron, who has never been an underdog in any sense but is going up against Father Time.
i can think of at least 1.5 times lebron was an underdog. but yeah overall i think you’re pretty spot on here
Fair enough. But even when LeBron has literally been an underdog it’s like “yeah, well he’s LeBron” when he wins.
true that
“People” are stupid.
Gave a likeable top 5 superstar an organic revenge chip narrative.
Underdog when it is likely there was some high end, hush-hush, background deal to get a young, bonafide superstar to your team is crazy.
Wow really? This is the first time I’m hearing about this. Nobody is talking about it.
lol. The Lakers and Thunder are not rivals in any sense. It’s okay to like us darling
Oh ok I’m not allowed to dislike any team that hasn’t been preapproved as a certified rival team by Sam Presti himself. Noted
Lakers are not their rival but Luka has definitely created a lot of rivals in the west that didn’t just disappear because he changed teams.
What Nico does to an industry
As a fan of one of the other 29 teams, can I just say: fuck, I hate seeing these guys have such fricking good chemistry.
C’mon Pelinka, Buss, JJ, Rambisx2 - can one of you please do something to mess with this?
Rambisx2
we refer to them as the Rambii
Never forget, Attack of the Rambii
they are STILL in the FO lol
I think their days of being decision makers are done, thankfully.
Shocking that the Buss boys were fired before they were. At least this guys can draft decently enough. The Rambii were basically as useful as groupies.
For now. As soon as Jeanie stops being the team governor, they’re both out on their asses. As much money as Mark Walter’s about to drop on the franchise he ain’t paying for two empty salaries.
They’ve also been removed from any positions of authority for years. Pelinka has finally consolidated authority over the front office with the firing of the Buss boys. He now finally gets full credit and full blame for any decision.
JJ is the only one I trust that would not ruin it, which is pretty weird to say for me since his hiring was also a shitshow lol.
There’s an inverse correlation with Lakers coaches between how smooth the hiring was and how successful they are.
Vogel was a shitshow with them going after Monty Williams and lowballing Ty Lue -> won a title
JJ was the LeBron podcast buddy hire after getting snobbed by Hurley -> going well
Westhead panic-hired after McKinney’s bike accident -> title
Pat Riley hired in the chaos of the Westhead-Magic drama -> 4 titles
Lakers is the greatest soap opera in the NBA confirmed.
So this whole time… we wrote the NBA script?
You guys did have both a prestige TV drama and a Netflix comedy series about your front office in the last few years, so if the shoe fits …
Sorry we have new owners
Giannis for AR, Rui, draft compensation. Who says no?
True glue guy type shi
Don’t know where I saw it, but Austin mentioned that when Luka was depressed after getting traded, he figured out the way to get Luka laughing was to start trolling and trashtalking him in practice.
That’s low key cute as hell ngl 😭😂
confirmed tsundere
Like a true overwatch player, Luka loves the toxicity
top 500 shit
They’re soulmates lmao
I would be depressed too if I didn’t want to be traded and I love the city where I was playing.
Not to mention losing out on like 100 mil that he would have received from the Mavs, the supermax
He’s a superstar in LA. I think he’ll make twice as much doing sponsorships.
Did Anthony Davis get a lot of endorsements while in LA?
Not sure but also Luka is the new face of LA basketball even above LeBron now which AD never was so I think he easily could make more than whatever AD did.
Dominates Slovenian sponsorship and probably has a lot of Spanish-content sponsorship due to him being fluent in that. He’s not hurt for ca$h
But it’s not due to being in LA.
A lot more opportunities in the spanish matket in LA as opposed to Dallas
wasnt he on ruffles chips?
No idea, I live in Poland so I don’t get ads when watching games.
gotcha, he was! here’s a video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTCf5g3gHls
You should see his aspiration deal!
going for the rebound every time he spots up knowing he’ll probably make it
These two are turning into the NBA version of those two weird chicks from the wicked.
There’s a weight joke here somewhere
The L in GLP-1 stands for Lakers
The vibes are immaculate in LA
It’s just guy love. 💕
He put “I’m fat” by Weird Al on a loop in the locker room.
Between two guuuuuys
Let’s face the facts between Luka and Reaves….
Reeves is filling the Thanasis role while also being a star player. How much is he getting paid?
$13.9M
that’s vando money!
I can’t believe Vando still has 3 years?? Hasn’t he been injured for 3 years already?
I wasn’t sold on him getting a lot of money but he will get the bag this season for sure. The defensive backcourt will always be a problem, but I mean if you got probably the best offensive backcourt in the league, you can figure something out.
Luka isn’t a guard on defense though. All we need is a poa defender so austin slots into being the chaser and we’re golden. Marcus Smart has been filling this role when LeBron is out and has been working well.
Reaves*
He says “I appreciate him.”
AR’s Netflix special after they win a chip this year against all odds will be epic.
Kid seems to be a good egg, a hard-worker, and no doubt a beast.
Jokic for MVP of this happens
Am I mishearing AR or is he saying Jackson shouldn’t be proud of having the most dunks? Did he mix up two different sentences or something?
Yes, this wasn’t the beginning of the interview. Here is the whole thing with Trudell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZSPGRhwOtk
Jaxson came by before this question and said he had more dunks than Austin, probably in jest because Austin bombed Luka’s post-game interview the other day when he said he more dunks than Luka.
Austin said Jaxson probably shouldn’t be proud because all he mostly does is dunk.
So Jaxson felt left out of the Luka and AR trashtalking chemistry and Austin was kind enough to include him? Oddly wholesome
Team vibes are just super high right now
I think he said “I don’t think he shouldn’t be proud of that” so double negative
Never forget Darvin Ham benched this guy 😭
And played cam reddish instead
Best backcourt in the league
Do I like the Lakers?
Hope this duo last a long time. The chemistry is starting to kick in and it’s awesome lol.
I know its unlikely butttttt I want us to offer him the fucking bag in the offseason lol I was pounding the table for us to get him last year
He’s already said that he’s not looking for a crazy large contract and that he wants to play for the Lakers his entire career.
Yeah, I don’t think he leaves yall either but we have to try lol people react differently in hypothetical situations. Him seeing the money in front of him might change some things
The Rockets would be nasty with AR.
Yeah maybe for most people for sure, he’s a pretty down to earth guy so I doubt it in this case.
Let’s also not act like he wont be handed 30MM/yr before he asks for it in the offseason. That’s so much money
Agent in the background: “Dude shut up with that”
He said that when he declined the CBA defined extension by the Lakers this summer. His true max is 5/\(241 with the Lakers and 4/\)178 anywhere else. Before the start of this season, he looked like a close-to-max player, but I’m not sure he would have gotten any competitive team to offer the max.
I read the quote as him not wanting to play for a team like the Wizards if they are the highest bidder. There’s no question that he will prioritize the Lakers but if he keeps playing like this there will not be a highest bidder situation. He will be able to get the max anywhere.
As eye watering as that contract would be, it’s still less than the deals signed by #2 guys Jamal Murray, Pascal Siakam and Evan Mobley.
In that scenario, the Lakers are just going to have to pay up.
Reaves is making 14 right now.
Gabe and Kleber expire for 22.5
So give Reaves 35/yr and bump Ayton up a bit
You can’t have him
I respect that but we will be using his cap hold to sign him after all our other free agents and can and will match any offer.
These guys need to be teammates until one of them retires
Don’t break em up like the Splash Bros
The Vanilla Bromance. Who knew?
White on white MM fantasy we all dream about
“Same, not more.”
Fuck, I hate how likeable this team is.
When they cut to the stats for Luka/AR/Ayton I thought FOR SURE they were about to show him missing that FT
s grind is inspiring af, love to see it
Luka needs to tell Luka about AR’s selflessness
What immaculate vibes
LeAyton as the third trio in Laker’s big three?
I was consistently saying last year hes a solid tier (or 2) above Jamal Murray, but Nuggets fans wouldn’t hear it.
what a guy
This Lakers team feels like it has the vibes of the Showtime team in the 80s… you have the all-time leading scorer and aging captain who can still deliver in LeBron playing the Kareem role and Luka is Magic, the new face of the franchise.
Lakers about to be better than OKC soon
Why do American reporters speak so fast when they know they’re talking to international players. Okay, Luka speaks very good english but still it’s not his mother tongue and you can see he’s trying to parse the question for a few seconds
Sideline reporter Mike Trudell was trolling AR so hard when he started the interview by saying that Jaxson Hayes was “facetiously deriding” AR’s dunking
AR has ZERO clue what those words mean. You’d have to watch plenty of Lakers post game interviews to get the inside joke about AR’s 5th grade vocabulary
Lol, travel in the first clip of the 3
This could have been Jalen Brunson and Luka in Dallas years ago but Nico says no.
Wonder if Lebron gets annoyed if the spotlight is no longer with him or he will just go through with the motion and enjoy not being the one in the spotlight.
if you watch him on the court the last few games he’s about as happy as I’ve ever seen him. He is really enjoying the game. He’s probably relieved after 22 years of all that pressure