to be at odds.
According to Anthony Irwin of the “Lakers Lounge podcast,” Ham isn’t as impressed with Reaves’ talent as fans are.
“This thing between (Reaves) and Ham is… something.” I’m here to tell you, and I’ve heard it explicitly, that for whatever reason, Ham doesn’t mess with Austin as much as you’d think. “It has to be fixed,” Irwin stated. “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?”
Reaves burst into the spotlight during last season’s playoffs, serving as a third option for the Lakers, who had become overly reliant on LeBron James and Anthony Davis. This season, he has also had several major moments, particularly during the NBA In-Season Tournament.
Reaves appeared to be a starter for the Lakers from that moment on, but Ham moved him to the bench nine games into the season.
Ham said at the time that he did this to make Reaves a vital component of the second unit – to ensure that the Lakers didn’t fall off when James and Davis got a break. As an example, he cited the recent great San Antonio Spurs teams.
“Everyone knew Manu (Ginobili) was a starter — it was more about balancing the units,” Darvin said after a game against the Phoenix Suns. “(Austin) played another 35 minutes.” His minutes were not going to be reduced; he was going to finish the game. He was massive down the stretch.
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