Many Lakers fans are left wondering why Austin Reaves’ minutes have been reduced at a time when the team needs him and NBA insider Anthony Irwin believes its because something is going on with him and Lakers head coach Darvin Ham.
“This possible thing between [Reaves] and Ham is… something. I’m here to tell you, I’ve heard it very clearly, that for whatever reason, Ham doesn’t mess with Austin the way that you would think he would,’ Irwin said on Lakers Lounge. “This might escalate all the way to where an agent gets involved or the front office gets involved and people start asking what is going into these decisions?”
The team is running a whole new offensive system and majority of players have seen their roles change numerous time, which is starting to wear on them.
“Not starting Austin and continuing to move away from the lineups that got the Lakers to the WCF last year is the exact kind of thing that I wrote about,” Irwin said. “That core wants to run it back. They were thrilled for that opportunity this year. Their patience with Ham is wearing thin.”
Reaves was expected to be the guy behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis, much like he was last season.
Yet, he’s still coming off the bench for the Lakers, and averaging just 29.2 minutes per game.
Despite Reaves being one of the purple and gold’s most reliable scorers, Ham has kept his playing time under 30 minutes and explained that its to keep the guard fresh and efficient.
However, Reaves is only 25 years of age and in his third season in the league.
The head coach also had the perfect opportunity to put Reaves into the staring lineup against the Hornets on Thursday, when swingman Cam Reddish became a late scratch due to a groin injury.
But Ham opted to elevate power forward Rui Hachimura into his starting lineup, meaning technically three power forwards were in the first five.
Anyone reading between the lines can see there could certainly be an underlying issue between Ham and Reaves.
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