SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 30: Austin Reaves #15 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts after the Lakers made a basket against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center on October 30, 2026 in San Francisco, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) | Getty Images Jacob Rude Sun, November 1, 2026 at 5:26 AM UTC · 2 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Austin Reaves is never one to duck the blame or shift the focus to something else. When he's bad, he'll admit he's bad . And on Friday, he was bad.
Reaves turned the ball over eight times , shot 9-19 from the field and had a plus-minus of -13, worst among the starters. He was not the sole reason the team blew a 25-point first half lead to the Warriors and lost by double digits , but when you get the superstar contract, you also get the superstar treatment in losses.
Debating just how much blame he deserved is irrelevant as Reaves was as brutally honest about his game as anyone else would have been.
When Luka Dončić was on the floor, the Lakers were great, though mostly because of him. When he sat, the Lakers were bad, with Reaves at the center of it.
If you were looking for an excuse, the fact that those non-Luka groups consist of many players who joined the team this offseason is a fair one. Those units are looking for chemistry, but when asked if that's legitimate rationale for their struggles, Austin wasn't interested in any excuses.
"It's real, but that doesn't give that second unit an excuse to be pretty terrible," he said. "And that starts with me. I'll watch the film and try to be better. But you have to learn on the fly and pick up things quickly. As I said, I have to be better to start that."
Austin has modeled his career around constant improvement, so there's little doubt this is just another hurdle he'll have to climb. Even if he's run second units without Luka before, they've often come flanked by LeBron James. This is a new challenge and teams have him one rung higher on the scouting report now.
The word is out that the way to disrupt Austin is to throw doubles at him on ball screens and try to overwhelm him physically into a turnover. That's the punch defenses are throwing and now it's time for Austin to throw a counterpunch.
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Source: Sports
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