Austin Reaves recorded his first ever triple-double and posted career bests across the board with his 31 points (7-of-17 FGs, 14-of-14 FTs), 16 boards and 10 dimes, adding two steals, one block and three triples in Sunday’s OT win over the Nuggets.
Just as we all drew it up, right? Reaves joins Lonzo Ball, Magic Johnson, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor as one of five Laker rookies to ever notch a 3x2, and he’s the fourth rookie ever to go 30/15/10 in a single game (Oscar Robertson, Blake Griffin, Jerry West). Though quite far from the fantasy radar, Reaves was one of the only promising real-life pieces of what ended up being an abysmal Lakers team, and he’ll figure to have some sort of role next season even once this team is at full strength again. However, unless the Lakers ship most of their wings out by the time next season comes around, Reaves’ irrelevance in fantasy leagues will likely remain, but he’s at least worth keeping an eye on after four straight double-digit scoring outputs to end the season and especially after tonight’s outburst. Wenyen Gabriel double-doubled for the first time in his career with 14 points, 10 boards, three dimes and two blocks and Wayne Ellington scored 18 points with four triples off the bench.