Lakers News: Austin Reaves Tells Story Demonstrating LeBron James' Work Ethic
Yesterday at 02:36 PM
Austin Reaves was one of the lone bright spots of the 2021-22 season for the Los Angeles Lakers. It was his rookie year, and he went from undrafted free agent to two-way signing all the way to regular rotation player by the end of the season. His chemistry with LeBron James was one of the main things that led to good basketball for L.A. in an otherwise dark season for the team.
And it was clear relatively early on in the season that the Lakers would not be a competitive team. They were 24-24 in late January, barely clinging on to a spot in the Play-In Tournament. Then they went on a three-game losing streak and never got back to .500 again.
So with that season completely lost, Reaves turned his attention to a different goal. And that involved trying to beat LeBron at his own game when it comes to game-day preparedness, via The Young Man And The Three:
"He doesn't skip days. Doesn't matter if it's an off day, if it's not an off day. This is funny. My whole goal my rookie year, when we figured out that we were bad, and we weren't going to make the playoffs, I was like I'm going to just beat him to a game. I'm just going to be the first one at the arena. So I was trying to figure out what time I needed to get there. Say it's a 7:30 game, okay I'll get there are 2:30 or 3. I get there, I'm pulling up, and I see his car. I'm like, shit. So next game I'm like, I'm going to get there at 1:30. And the closest I ever got, I saw him driving down the tunnel, and after that I was like I'm not getting to the game this early anymore. I'm just sitting back here bored as shit. But it's like, he gets there, he does his routine every single game. Like I said, he doesn't miss, so it's very impressive."
While it’s hilarious to picture Reaves showing up earlier and earlier to gamedays only to find that James is already in the building, and it’s also funny for him to realize how early he would need to show up to actually beat LeBron and bailing on the entire plan, it really speaks to the 40-year-old’s work ethic.
Even in a season that was completely lost, LeBron was doing everything in his power to be ready for games physically and mentally. He never changed his approach, even when it would have been understandable for him to do so.
It’s also good that Reaves now knows the pre-game approach that works for him, and he doesn’t need to try getting to games 7-8 hours early just to beat James.
Eagles players meet LeBron James
Part of the reason why LeBron James has become the all-time legend that he has is because of the preparedness and attention to detail. And he got to see athletes from other sports appreciate that work ethic when members of the Philadelphia Eagles wanted to speak to LeBron after the Lakers’ loss to the 76ers earlier this week.
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