Even James Worthy marveled at Austin Reaves’ 51-point night

It’s hard to believe now considering how far he’s come, but Austin Reeves was once a player who got little to no minutes for Los Angeles Lakers. What’s more, Reaves even started the 2024-25 season on the bench — with head coach JJ Reddick inexplicably using him as the team’s sixth man behind D’Angelo Russell. But those days are long gone, like Reaves has now established himself as a legitimate staras he led the Lakers without Luka Doncic and LeBron James to a 127-120 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Friday night with a 51-point masterpiece.

Reaves controlled the Lakers offense all night, as in addition to lowering his career high in one game, he also shot the ball exceptionally well, going 12-22 from the field and 6-10 from deep despite getting all the attention on the Kings’ defense. He even added 11 rebounds and nine assists for good measure – making sure the Purple and Gold are in good hands even though their main stars aren’t healthy yet.

Reaves put himself in exclusive company after his thorough demolition of the Kings, and he got it the main seal of approval by Lakers legend and Hall of Famer James Worthy in the process.

“#WorthiClap 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾,” the Lakers legend wrote on his official X account (formerly Twitter) in reaction to Reaves’ 51-point night.

Just to put into perspective how impressive this performance is, Reaves became just the fifth player since the turn of the century to score at least 50 points in a single game for the Lakers. All four players who accomplished this feat are either in the Hall of Fame or will surely be when they retire: Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Given how reliant the Lakers are on their stars, the absence of Doncic and James would have been disastrous if not for Reaves.

Austin Reaves, Lakers want to continue tomorrow night

There will be no rest for these tired (and needy) Lakers as they face the Portland Trail Blazers tomorrow night for the second set of a back-to-back. The good news is that the Blazers played on Sunday as well (lost 114-107 by the Los Angeles Clippers), so there won’t be much in the way of a break advantage for either team.

Alas, this Blazers team is going to be in trouble, especially in the second game of a back-to-back. Reaves, in particular, will have to deal with elite defenders like Jrue Holiday and Toumani Camara; can he continue this hot streak? For the sake of the Lakers, they will have to.