Austin Reaves appeared to be an average college basketball player on paper when he transferred from Wichita State to Oklahoma in 2018.
Reaves enjoyed playing Fortnite with his teammates and drove around Norman in a white 2010 Chevy pickup truck. In his rural hometown of Newark, Arkansas, Reaves lived on a farm. In high school he’d ride around on his tractor and tend to his family’s cattle.
He was the epitome of a ‘normal dude,’ according to former Sooners teammate Read Streller, a walk-on forward from 2017-21.
When Reaves stepped onto the hardwood, he became a different person, which became evident to Streller during OU’s first summer practice in 2018.
“I think it shocked me to see a 6-foot-5 skinny, white dude move as fast as he could and have the skills that he did right from the get go,” Streller told OU Daily. “No one probably could have foreseen what he's doing in the NBA right now.”
Reaves transferred to the Sooners in the era before relaxed NCAA transfer portal rules, which now allows players to transfer without a required redshirt season. After deciding to choose Oklahoma, Reaves — per the then-NCAA rules — was forced to sit out the 2018-19 season before playing his final two seasons of eligibility.
While redshirting, Reaves quietly decimated OU’s starting lineup in practices with the scout team. The 180-pound guard led a tandem of Streller, guard Ty Lazenby, forward Matt Freeman and forward Patrick Geha against OU’s starting lineup consisting of forward Brady Manek, forward Kristian Doolittle and guard Christian James.
Reaves’ abilities, according to former OU assistant coach and current Florida assistant Carlin Hartman, were unmatched. His play led to many conversations with then-OU coach Lon Kruger about the possibility of challenging his availability ahead of the season.
“We had really good players,” Hartman told OU Daily. “But, no disrespect to any of those guys, Austin was our best player. In practice everyday he would do things that had us being like, ‘man should we try to get the redshirt off this guy.’”
Since dominating on the scout team, to averaging double digits in his final seasons in Norman, Reaves signed an undrafted, two-way contract with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2021. Since then, he has solidified himself as the Lakers’ third scoring option behind superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis during the 2023 NBA Playoffs.
"I'M HIM" 🗣 pic.twitter.com/Cu0cwofhJD
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 16, 2023
Reaves has most likely earned a massive payday this offseason, projecting to sign a contract worth upwards of $60 million when he becomes a free agent. He’s averaging a career-high 13 points per game and is aiming to help the Lakers close out the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals at 9 p.m. on Wednesday in San Francisco (TNT).
For Streller, however, he didn’t foresee Reaves getting to where he is today. He credits Reaves’ unorthodox rise to his hard work on the Sooners’ scout team, which has carried over to his play in the NBA.
“It’s not normal,” Streller told OU Daily. “It's not normal to make the NBA, it's not normal to make it past the G League and much less to continue to progress to where you, LeBron and Anthony Davis are the three best options in the Lakers offense. Like, what do you make of that?”
Senior guard Austin Reaves during the season finale against No. 15 Texas on March 4.
‘He definitely has the mamba mentality’
Lazenby leaned on OU’s scorers table at the Lloyd Noble Center when Reaves approached him on his official visit in the spring of 2018.
“Be honest with me, is this a place I should come to,” Reaves asked.
After watching the success former Sooners and current Indiana Pacers star Buddy Hield had and playing alongside Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young during the 2017-18 season, Lazenby knew Reaves was a fit with OU.
“I think you’ll be able to come here and dominate,” Lazenby told Reaves.
After earning offers from top programs like Michigan, Purdue and Iowa State, Reaves committed to the Sooners on May 14, 2018. Reaves was looking for a program to help him develop as a playmaker, hoping to rekindle his high school playing style.
With the Shockers, Reaves played primarily as a catch-and-shoot option during his freshman and sophomore seasons. Kruger and Hartman knew they wanted to get him once he entered the transfer portal.
The coaching duo scouted him during OU’s 91-83 win over Wichita State on Dec. 16, 2017.
“We were in need of things he brought to the game,” Kruger told OU Daily. “We played against Wichita State, so we had a little bit of a scouting report on him from that time period. We were what he was looking for. We offered him a key role and it was not that far from home and a chance to improve and keep getting better.”
Notably, Reaves didn’t take his opportunity for granted.
During Oklahoma’s first summer practice, Reaves showcased a plethora of playmaking abilities, step-back jump shots and fadeaway jumpers. The former guard made his presence known, especially to Lazenby, who played with him on the scout team.
“From day one he had caught everybody's attention,” Lazenby told OU Daily. “He was pulling up double the NBA 3-point range and was hitting pull-up fadeaway 15-footers like he did against TCU to win the game.
“He was doing it consistently. It was like day in and day out for him. This wasn’t even official. This was in the summer, and we're all just playing pickup and stuff. So the guys on the team, we all knew before the coaches really knew what he was gonna be.”
While not only dicing up the starters, Reaves also vocalized his patented trash talk. He made sure to get under every player's skin, similar to how he did to Patrick Beverley on March 29, when he nailed a jumper over the guard and proceeded to signal Beverley was too small to guard him.
Too small @patbev21 🤣 pic.twitter.com/960p8nABTZ
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 30, 2023
“His trash talking is deliberate,” Lazenby told OU Daily. “He was using it for an advantage. And some people can trash talk, and they can't control their game. Austin is one of the few people who can do it and it propels his game.
“Austin, he’ll give it to you when he's down. He'll come back and beat you. He’s not a front runner. He will give it to you when he's down.”
And, how did Oklahoma’s starters take the losing streak to Reaves in practice?
“We all welcomed it because most of us were (seniors) and gone no matter what,” Lazenby said. “All the players were just kind of like, ‘damn this this guy is really fucking good.”
Combined with his work ethic, in-game trash talk and domination on the scout team, Reaves earned the nickname “Hillbilly Kobe” from an unnamed Oklahoma assistant coach. Oklahoma’s starters also demoted Lazenby, jokingly, to become the “second coldest white guy” on the team following Reaves’ impactful arrival.
It was evident the then-redshirt junior was determined to be a star for the Sooners.
“Austin has a lot of the same similarities,” Hartman said of Reaves’ comparison to Kobe. “He may not may not be the same talent, but he definitely has the mamba mentality.
“He just always kind of stuck out as a guy that was just a really good player. He was a good facilitator and just good at a lot of things. Fast forward when he transferred, I remember we were on a recruiting trip myself and coach Kruger. We saw that he was transferring and immediately said ‘we have to go get that guy.’”
Former Sooners guard Austin Reaves during the game against OKC Thunder on Mar. 1
‘He works his tail off'
With a half-second left on the clock, Reaves dribbled past his defender and rose up for a fadeaway jumper.
As the buzzer sounded and the ball fell through the net, Reaves, a then-redshirt junior guard, ran to TCU’s center-court logo and screamed, “It’s over, it’s over,” to the stunned crowd inside of Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena on March 7, 2020.
A hyped Reaves capped off a career-high 41-point performance with a game-winning jump shot, which was Oklahoma’s first lead over the Horned Frogs since the start of the contest. After falling down 19 points in the second half, Reaves scored 15 points during the Sooners’ 23-9 run in the final 5:02 of the game.
Cold-blooded. Fierce. Determined.
“The guys just didn't come out with a whole lot of competence,” Hartman said. “Quite frankly, the only guy that really was playing worth anything was Austin. He just kind of kept us afloat. Even though we were down nearly 20 points, Austin kind of kept us in it.”
During the contest, Reaves encouraged his teammates by saying “let’s get a stop and a score.” The win not only showcased the then-redshirt junior guard’s ceiling and leadership, but he also helped OU clinch the No. 3 seed in the 2020 Big 12 Tournament, just days before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While he wasn’t able to lead Oklahoma to a potential NCAA Tournament berth during the 2019-20 season, he finished his senior season guiding the Sooners to a second round loss to Gonzaga in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
In his final year, Reaves averaged 18.3 points per game, while shooting 44.3% from the field and 30.5% from 3-point range. He fully showcased his ability once hidden on OU’s scout team.
“During his redshirt year, he clearly made a lot of progress and improved that part of his game tremendously,” Kruger told the Daily. “That has just carried over. I think he is just kind of a throwback gym rat, he loves being in the gym and he loves to work on his game and that's why he'll have a long and very successful career in the NBA. He'll keep getting better.”
After going undrafted and signing a two-way contract with the Lakers following the 2021 season, Reaves — much like he did with the Sooners — made a name for himself in the NBA.
He impressed in the 2021 Summer League, developed in the G League and eventually found a role in the Lakers’ rotation during the 2021-22 season.
“I think that's the thing that sticks out to the Lakers,” Kruger told the Daily. “He affects the offense not only when he gets the ball, but he does a great job of spacing the floor and in moving without the ball and in staying out of the way when he needs to.”
Now, Lazenby and Streller watch from their TVs as Reaves uses the same moves he once displayed on Oklahoma’s scout team to dominate teams in the playoffs.
Streller still views him as the same player who once prompted him to call his father and compare his moxie to Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Baker Mayfield. Still, no one saw his success coming, not even Kruger, who recruited Reaves.
“Well, I don't think anyone could have expected that,” Kruger told OU Daily. “But it happens from time to time, and it's great for Austin. He took advantage of it and just played himself into a big time role, and like I say, he'll keep getting better.”
For those who played and coached him at OU, they say his development can be credited to his work he puts in off the court.
“At the end of the day, Austin is by far and away the hardest working guy I've ever seen,” Lazenby said. “He's the reason that he's wearing the purple and gold because he works his tail off.”
This story was edited by Colton Sulley
