Home Basketball Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers Reflects on a Moment When Security Didn’t Recognize Him as an NBA Player

Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers Reflects on a Moment When Security Didn’t Recognize Him as an NBA Player

Basketball — 12/12/2023

Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers is having another excellent season after earning a four-year, $53.8 million contract during the offseason.

Austin Reaves' Priceless Reaction To LeBron James Explaining The Game Plan To Him: "Reaves Don't Even Remember The Play Bron Was Talking About. It Probably Was Like 3 Plays Ago." - Fadeaway

Although he is now one of the NBA’s most recognizable characters, the Newark, Ark. native was not always so. 

During an appearance on FanDuel TV’s Run it Back with Michelle Beadle, Reaves related a tale about a game versus the Nets in which stadium security at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center grabbed him as he was walking to the bench because they didn’t think he was a player.

Lakers' Austin Reaves Recalls When Security Didn't Realize He Was an NBA Player - Sports Illustrated

“We were in Brooklyn, I don’t know if it was my rookie year or last year,” Reaves explained. “I was injured at the time and before the game I was getting treatment, it was running a little bit into the first quarter, maybe the second quarter… 

”Right before I got to the bench, I was about to sit down, security, like, grabbed me: “I was like ‘Woah, what are you doing?’ added Reaves. “First person I seen was AD [Anthony Davis], and he just busts out laughing like, ‘Yo, he’s a player.’”

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Reaves also added that he’d been stopped at the Lakers’ Crypto.com Arena on a few occasions, citing a time when he didn’t have a car and was dropped off at the stadium, prompting security to ask if he worked for the team.

Steve Kerr sees Lakers' Austin Reaves as one of NBA's 'rising young players' – Orange County Register

Now in his third season in the pros, the 25-year-old hopefully doesn’t run into such issues any longer. Reaves has featured in 23 games for L.A. this year, including eight starts, and has averaged a career-high 14.1 points per game.