![\"Austin](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MixCollage-04-Feb-2026-08-01-PM-638.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers and Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers.<\/p>\n
One of the most improved players over the past few seasons is Austin Reaves<\/a> of the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>. Reaves went from being an undrafted rookie in 2021 to an All-Star-level player this season.<\/p>\n The Lakers star returned from a 19-game absence on Tuesday night at the Barclays Center against the Brooklyn Nets<\/a>. He had 15 points, four rebounds and two steals in nearly 21 minutes off the bench in their 125-109<\/a> win.<\/p>\n Coach JJ Redick was just easing him up since it\u2019s been a while since he last played. He suffered a calf strain on Christmas against the Houston Rockets<\/a>. He re-aggravated the injury that kept him out for 13 straight days, so he might have returned earlier than expected.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the Lakers are going to be cautious this time around. They will let him get his rhythm back before putting him back on the starting lineup and removing his minutes restriction.<\/p>\n Tyrese Haliburton Admits Something About Austin Reaves<\/p>\n Before Austin Reaves returned from his long layoff, Tyrese Haliburton<\/a> of the Indiana Pacers<\/a> raved about the undrafted guard. Haliburton revealed on the Mind The Game<\/a> podcast with LeBron James<\/a> that he\u2019s trying to adapt Reaves\u2019 way of drawing fouls so that he can level up his game.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was real honest with me, and I didn\u2019t understand it at the time,\u201d Haliburton said<\/a>. \u201cBut as I\u2019ve watched you guys play more, I watch him play more, I\u2019m seeing the way he does such a great job of getting to chest, tangling arms, making all these perfect reads to get to the free throw line is just something I\u2019m really trying to focus on adding through rehab and as I watch the game.\u201d<\/p>\n One of Reaves\u2019 biggest strengths is his ability to draw fouls. He\u2019s currently averaging<\/a> a career-high 8.6 free-throw attempts per game this season. He began getting good at it as a sophomore, but he has reached another level this season.<\/p>\n Reaves and Haliburton formed a bond in 2023 as part of Team USA in the FIBA World Cup. They led Team USA to the semifinals, but they lost to Germany. They had a chance to take home the bronze medal, but Team Canada outlasted them in overtime.<\/p>\n Reaves Comments on His First Game Back<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters after the game, Austin Reaves revealed that he planned to return earlier in the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 eight-game road trip. However, Reaves didn\u2019t want to play until he felt completely healthy.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to make sure I was 100% good,\u201d Reaves said<\/a>. \u201cReally wanted to play the other night against the Knicks<\/a>. Love playing there. Wish I could have been able to get out there and help the team, but just didn\u2019t feel right and woke up this morning and felt really good and gave it the go right before the game and had fun.\u201d<\/p>\n The Lakers had a successful trip, winning five of eight. They are now returning home and will get a few days of rest. They are back in action on Thursday against the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>, which is the start of an eight-game homestand.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJuan Paolo David<\/a> Juan Paolo David is a sports journalist covering basketball for Heavy. He has a decade of experience writing about the NBA and WWE. He’s currently based in the Philippines. More about Juan Paolo David<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Lakers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers and Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers. One of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[7,113,126,3866,6,114],"class_list":{"0":"post-582024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-indiana","10":"tag-indiana-pacers","11":"tag-indianapacers","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-pacers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}