A year ago, Reaves was an experiment. As a rookie with the 33-win Lakers in 2021-22, he scored in double figures off the bench on occasion, primarily in defeats, before starting down the stretch of a lottery-bound season. The Lakers were 2-10 as Thanksgiving approached last year. LeBron James was suffering from a groin issue. Russell Westbrook was being used as a scapegoat by the team. Patrick Beverley was unable to make a shot. So they put Reaves back in the lineup, and it wasn’t long until Phoenix Suns teammates Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton punched him on national television.

It wasn’t until mid-March 2023, when the Lakers were sick of Malik Beasley after trading for him, that they made a firm commitment to starting Reaves. Over the last ten games of the season, he averaged 18 points on 57/49/90 shooting splits, helping the Lakers earn a play-in tournament place. His secondary playmaking enabled the Lakers make a surprising run to the Western Conference finals, where they were swept by the eventual winners.

During the playoffs, James spoke with ESPN’s Dave McMenamin for a piece headlined “How Austin Reaves Unlocked LeBron James, Anthony Davis — and the Lakers:” “I don’t care about athleticism; how good you are at shooting the ball; how high you can jump; how fast you can run.” “I like guys with a high basketball IQ.”

“He’s a good complement for us,” Davis said six games into his team’s playoff run. “He’s tough and knows how to play the game.” When you put players like that around me and ‘Bron, they sort of play the same job as [Alex Caruso]…. players that just do all the dirty work but can still play, it really compliments me and ‘Bron.”

As free agency began at the end of June, the Lakers made Reaves their highest contract offer — $56 million over four years — which he accepted over rumored interest from the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs. A week later, he was named to the USA Basketball squad for the 2023 FIBA World Cup, and a week after that, Lakers coach Darvin Ham told Marc Stein and Chris Haynes on the “#thisleague UNCUT” podcast, “I’m putting it on record right now, Austin Reaves will be an All-Star at some point soon.”

“It’s proving that he’s one of the best players in the world,” one of Reaves’ representatives, Aaron Reilly, told The Ringer’s Mirin Fader for one of the numerous stories on his client. “It’s demonstrating that this isn’t cute.” This isn’t enjoyable. This isn’t a joke. Austin is here, and this is a good tale. ‘F*** you people,’ it says. I’ve arrived. “And I’m going to steal your heart.”

By media day, Reaves was standing between James and Davis in a promotional shot for the Lakers’ 2023-24 season, and general manager Rob Pelinka was declaring, “I think his core qualities line up with the tenets of the ‘Mamba gene.'” We all saw Kobe’s career and what he stood for. No player can be compared to Kobe Bryant, but I believe today’s players can carry the DNA that he represented, and I believe Austin does.”

In one season, Reaves jumped from minimum-wage reserve guard to max-wage third-leading man for one of the world’s most known businesses, and in one summer, he went from a positive Alex Caruso comparison to guaranteed All-Star and Kobe Bryant’s heir apparent. That is one helluva glow-up for a 25-year-old from a little Arkansas town of 1,170, and meeting the newest expectations is almost impossible.

Opponents take heed of all the accolades bestowed on Los Angeles’ next great thing.

It’s hardly unexpected that Reaves has had a shaky start to the season. This is the most we can expect from a third-year player who joined the team on a two-way contract. The remainder is typical Disney fare. What’s shocking is how the Lakers relied more heavily on D’Angelo Russell as a third option and demoted Reaves to the bench in favor of Cam Reddish so quickly after lighting him up.

The Lakers are using Reaves as a tourniquet on their bench, which is hemorrhaging without James. Reaves is averaging 14-6-6 on 52/46/85 shooting splits since moving to the bench — yay! — but the two most regularly used non-LeBron combinations including Reaves are still a combined -16 over 33 minutes in that span. If Reaves is confined to a sixth-man position, the Lakers’ depth will have failed them all summer. It also demonstrates Reaves’ adaptability as a player. How many gaps must a promising newcomer fill?

Here’s the thing: Reaves has the ability to elevate the Lakers from lottery club to conference finalist. We witnessed it. He may even be an All-Star or the third-best player on a championship team at some time. But expecting him to perform consistently every night the way he did for periods in the second part of last season, all before James turns 40, is asking a lot of anybody.

Last season, Reaves was a god of advanced statistics. According to Cleaning the Glass, the Lakers were outscored by 1.8 points per 100 meaningful possessions when James and Davis were not on the court with Reaves last season, and they were +16.4 points per 100 possessions when he was.

Through 15 games this season, the opposite has been true. The Lakers’ ability to trust a tiny sample size will decide if they are legitimate competitors, and their in-season actions speak louder than their preseason comments. Maybe they’re using the first half of the season as a practice run for Russell’s tradeable salary, but what that means for Reaves is another story. It’s one thing to help a talented young athlete grow; it’s quite another to declare him the savior before he’s ready.