Austin Reaves

Austin Reaves powered the Lakers to a much-needed win over the Magic with the game of his life, and fans on Twitter showered him with love.

The Orlando Magic gave the Los Angeles Lakers a challenge Sunday night, but it wasn't enough to pull out an upset win.

Austin Reaves dominated Sunday night's game against the Orlando Magic, helping the Lakers to another victory.

Amazingly, only four games separate the four-seed Phoenix Suns from the 12th seeded New Orleans Pelicans, with the Lakers between them. Twitter user LegendOfWinning posted “Austin Reaves just got a call that Curry almost never gets🤣🤣🤣.” But they weren’t the only ones finding [March 20, 2023] Incredibly, it only took Reaves 14 shots to get his 35 points, going 9-for-14 from the field. Despite once again [playing without LeBron James](https://clutchpoints.com/lakers-news-darvin-ham-drops-disconcerting-lebron-james-injury-update-with-playoffs-approaching), the Lakers got an unexpected yet masterful performance from [Austin Reaves](/nba/players/a28a08f4/austin-reaves).

Just when it looked like the Lakers were about to lose yet again, this time against the Magic, Austin Reaves wouldn't allow it to happen.

Reaves sparked a Lakers run when he entered the game with 5:08 left in the first quarter by scoring nine points and adding three assists during his first-half stint. He ended the game with eight rebounds, six points, one assist and one blocked shot in 20 minutes. After three poor shooting games in a row, Russell got back on track by going 6-of-12 from the field and 4-of-8 from 3-point range. On the boards, Vanderbilt did an excellent job with 10 rebounds, and he also added two assists in 23 minutes. finish the half with a 59-49 lead. Brown has been on point with his outside shooting for the last couple of months. Vanderbilt took on the task of guarding Paolo Banchero, and through three quarters, he didn’t do a good job, as Panchero shot 7-of-15. It was the third time in his last five games he failed to reach the 20-point mark. Unlike in the last few games, he wasn’t facing constant double teams with or without the ball. He finished the game with five turnovers, which was one-third of L.A.’s total. its third straight loss, he powered his team and got it a 111-105 win. Instead, it allowed Orlando to chip away and make things very competitive throughout the fourth quarter.

NBA All-Star LeBron James sent out a tweet about Austin Reaves after the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Orlando Magic.

Just when it looked like the Lakers were about to lose yet again, this time against the Magic, Austin Reaves wouldn't allow it to happen.

The Los Angeles Lakers faced a scare in Sunday's game against the Orlando Magic, but second-year guard Austin Reaves put forth the best scoring performance ...

In the absence of star forward LeBron James (foot), players will need to step up to help replace his production. Reaves finished with a career-high 35 points in 30 minutes off the bench, and he added six rebounds and six assists in the win. Final: Lakers 111, Magic 105

A critical win for the Lakers, who improve to 35-37 and move into a tie with Minnesota for No.

The second-year guard scored a career-high 35 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, to help buoy the Lakers in the Play-In race.

He also ranks ninth in the [NBA](https://theathletic.com/nba/) in the percentage of points scored from free throws — alongside a similar group of bigs, stars, rookie [Bennedict Mathurin](https://theathletic.com/nba/player/bennedict-mathurin-qGbe9pT28TRLKEBR/) and [Harrison Barnes](https://theathletic.com/nba/player/harrison-barnes-QhjHBSSlCIrC3T5Y/). In the meantime, Reaves is thriving as his role expands and his confidence grows down the stretch of this season. He’s third on the team in fourth-quarter minutes and has played in all but four of the Lakers’ fourth quarters in the 54 games he’s played in this season. Both the Lakers and Reaves’ camp have interest in Reaves re-signing in Los Angeles, according to multiple league sources who were granted anonymity so that they coud speak freely. “You’re talking about arguably one of the greatest players ever,” Reaves said. The eight names ahead of him are a combination of paint-bound big men and superstars ( He has his tricks, knowing when to expose the ball before leaning into a defender, and how to snap his head to exaggerate the contact. He became the seventh player in Lakers history to score 35 points or more off the bench, and the first since What the Lakers have in Reaves is a player who’s been quietly breaking out during his sophomore campaign — and now loudly so. 10 because [Minnesota](https://theathletic.com/nba/team/timberwolves/) currently owns the tiebreaker. His knack for drawing contact — he seemingly is bloodied and hit in the face every game — is uncanny. [Lakers](https://theathletic.com/nba/team/lakers/) (35-37) desperately needed as they barely hang on in the Play-In tournament race.

An undrafted guard has emerged as a key rotation player. He is thriving as the Lakers deal with major injuries elsewhere on the roster. His presence is keeping ...

[Warriors](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/GS/golden-state-warriors/) or the [Clippers](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/LAC/los-angeles-clippers/). [Jazz](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/UTA/utah-jazz/) have only two guards under guaranteed contracts for next season in [Collin Sexton](/nba/players/2891955/collin-sexton/) and [Ochai Agbaji](/nba/players/3042389/ochai-agbaji/). The [Thunder](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/OKC/oklahoma-city-thunder/) aren't positionally picky and will gladly take a bit more ball-handling and defensive help. [Rui Hachimura](/nba/players/2268082/rui-hachimura/). That is more than [DeMar DeRozan](/nba/players/1685250/demar-derozan/) (67), [James Harden](/nba/players/1685255/james-harden/) (58) and [Trae Young](/nba/players/2938032/trae-young/) (53). The signing team can use its cap space to structure the cap hits as the average annual salary in each of the four years. And this is where things get complicated for the Lakers, because while they can offer Reaves only the Early Bird max (which starts at 105 percent of the average player's salary), other teams have no such constraint. But stick him [Dennis Schroder](/nba/players/2067702/dennis-schroder/) and [D'Angelo Russell](/nba/players/2152730/dangelo-russell/) instead and he turns into this higher-usage free-throw merchant and floor general. The Lakers lost [Alex Caruso](/nba/players/2269489/alex-caruso/) when this happened two years ago. Here's the good news: the Lakers can legally match any offer another team makes [Austin Reaves](/nba/players/2268681/austin-reaves/) as a restricted free agent this offseason. He would make roughly $14.1 million in the final year of such a contract, a figure that's probably lower than what he is worth now. [Lakers](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/LAL/los-angeles-lakers/) fans.

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Austin Reaves on scoring the last 10 points of the win against the Magic: “I grew up a Lakers fan. He cites James Harden and Trae Young as influences, and he’s tried to incorporate some of why they do into his game: But scoring the last 10 points of the evening for the team he idolized as a child in rural Arkansas struck him as particularly special. “To do it for this organization especially is surreal,” he said. With more reserves subbing in, the energy began to grow: The Lakers bench took the lead by the end of the quarter and would go on to outscore the Magic bench 30-9 in the first half alone. After subbing in with five minutes left in the first quarter, Reaves made his first shot of the game, a floater. Fresh off their own win over the Clippers on Saturday, the Magic moved with urgency, bullying the Lakers inside early with their young bigs Banchero and Wendell Carter Jr. He scored 10 points in the final 1:33. While it was a humble scoring night for Anthony Davis, who had 15 points on 15 shots, as a team, the Lakers shot over 40% from long range with 13 3-pointers. “That whole year last year was kind of a year for me to figure a lot of stuff out,” he said. He scored a career-best 35 points to go with six assists and six rebounds in a performance that might be remembered as one that helped the Lakers make the postseason – if they can still get there. Some extremely zealous home fans even shouted “M-V-P” chants his way, which Reaves gently shot down with a laugh.