There appears to be a rift between Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham and shooting guard Austin Reaves.
Anthony Irwin of the “Lakers Lounge podcast” said that Ham isn’t as high on Reaves’ talent as fans might be.
“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. It needs to get fixed,” Irwin said. “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?”
Austin Reaves was big for Los Angels Lakers during playoff run
Reaves came on to the scene in last season’s playoffs, becoming a third option for the Lakers, who had been depending too much on LeBron James and Anthony Davis. He has also had some big moments this season, especially during the NBA In-Season Tournament.
It look like Reaves would be a part of the Lakers starting lineup from that point, but nine games into this season, Ham moved Reaves to the bench.
Ham’s reason for doing this, he said at the time, was to make Reaves an integral part of the second unit — to make sure the Lakers didn’t fall off when James and Davis got a break. He used the recent great San Antonio Spurs teams as an example.
“Everyone knew Manu (Ginobili) was a starter — it was more about balancing the units,” Darvin told reporters after a game against Phoenix. “(Austin) still played 35 minutes. His minutes weren’t going to go down; he’s gonna finish the game. He was huge down the stretch.”
Austin Reaves’ playing time for Los Angeles Lakers continues to trend down
Since he was moved to the bench Reaves, has been averaging 15.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists, shooting right at 50% from the floor.
When Ham took D’Angelo Russell out of the Lakers’ starting lineup, expectations were that Reaves would replace him. Instead, Jarred Vanderbilt got the nod.
Reaves has been playing fewer minutes, especially after Russell was also moved to the bench, giving Reaves another guard to battle with for playing time.