The Los Angeles Lakers remain in search of their 18th NBA championship. They are now four years removed from their 2019-20 title run when they won it all in the Disney Bubble amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
After making it to the Western Conference Finals in 2022-23, the Los Angeles Lakers only qualified for the postseason through the play-in before losing in the first round to the Denver Nuggets. The Purple and Gold haven’t done much this summer, but Austin Reaves maintains an optimistic outlook for the Los Angeles Lakers this upcoming season.
“As our team, I like where we’re at,” Reaves said via SB Nation’s Nicole Ganglani. “I think we have what we need to compete for a championship. You look back at the Denver series last year, I forgot the statistics but we led like 165 minutes to their like 59 minutes or something and we got beat 4-1, which we can’t really wrap our mind around.”
“Yeah, the goal for next year is to win a championship. That’s always the key. Individual accolades, they don’t mean anything unless you got team success. Since I’ve been in the NBA, that’s all I’ve wanted to do. Obviously going to the Western Conference Finals, getting a taste of being really closed just lights a fire under you to get back to that point,” he added.
Austin Reaves opens up on having JJ Redick as the new Los Angeles Lakers head coach
A key component to the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2024-25 campaign is how JJ Redick does in his first season as the team’s head coach. In the same interview, Austin Reaves said he is excited to be coached by the former 15-year NBA veteran due to his competitive nature.
“People have been going at him. He’s probably the second most hated player in Duke history so he’s been scrutinized his whole career so he’ll go into coaching with a chip on his shoulder to prove everybody wrong as well because everybody’s talking about how he doesn’t have experience and that the Lakers should’ve probably went in another direction,” Reaves explained.
By the sounds of it, Austin Reaves can’t wait to start the new season, especially since he’ll link up with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who just won Olympic gold in Paris, anew.
