The Los Angeles Lakers now only have one roster spot left ahead of the 2021-22 NBA season. The 14th roster spot was filled on Monday when the team announced the signing of undrafted free agent Austin Reaves to a two-year contract.
Reaves, who entered the 2021 Draft out of Oklahoma, previously impressed the Lakers during a stint on the team’s NBA Summer League roster. He initially signed a two-way contract in early August but showed enough in the workouts ahead of the training camp to land a standard NBA contract.
Reportedly, the Lakers see Reaves as a player with the potential to become a mainstay in the NBA. The franchise previously had success in developing overlooked players like Talen Horton-Tucker and Alex Caruso and believes that Reaves could reach the same level with the right guidance. He played five games during the Summer League and averaged 6.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, two assists, and one steal per game.
Austin Reaves played two years of college basketball at Wichita State before transferring to Oklahoma in 2018. After sitting out the 2018-19 season, he immediately stepped in as a starter for the Sooners and impressed over the following two years. In his final season at college, Reaves posted career-highs across the board by averaging 18.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game.
Several teams were interested in taking Reaves in the second round of this year’s draft, but the 23-year-old shooter told them not to draft him as he wanted to pick the team he plays for by himself.
