NBA exec thinks Austin Reaves is ‘the best undrafted player since Ben Wallace’

One NBA executive thinks Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves is “the best undrafted player since Ben Wallace.”

Wallace made the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021. The big man won four Defensive Player of the Year Awards and one championship with the Detroit Pistons. 

“He’s the best undrafted player since Ben Wallace, and that guy’s a Hall of Famer,” a Western Conference executive told ESPN.

Reaves played college basketball at Wichita State and Oklahoma. He joined the Lakers in 2021-22 and has improved his game every season. 

The 26-year-old Reaves averaged 7.3 points in 2021-22, 13.0 points in 2022-23 and 15.9 points in 2023-24. 

This season, Reaves has taken his game to another level. He’s averaging a career-high 20.2 points while shooting 45.8% from the field, 37.4% from beyond the arc and 88.3% from the free-throw line. 

“The way he plays the game, fights for every ball, sacrifices his body, when you see somebody like that, you can’t help but get drawn in and cheer for them,” Lakers governor Jeanie Buss told ESPN. “And he was that from day one … he just keeps proving himself over and over and over again. … We’re just lucky to have him.”

The Lakers are in third place in the West. They have a “Big 3” of Reaves, LeBron James and Luka Doncic. 

“I saw that early, man,” James, the leading scorer in NBA history, told ESPN about Reaves. “When we picked him up, I went back and started watching his Oklahoma highlights and stuff and seeing the way he could handle the ball and his creative [side], to be able to create shots off the bounce. His competitive fire, his drive. … I could see it. I could see he had a spirit about him. He had an energy about him.”

The Lakers signed Reaves to a four-year, $53.8 million contract in July 2023. Reaves is making $12,976,362 this season. He’ll make $13,937,574 next season. 

Reaves has a player option worth $14,898,786 for the 2026-27 season.