JJ Redick is glad to have his star guard back.
Austin Reaves made his long awaited return to the Los Angeles Lakers lineup Tuesday night in the Lakers' 125-109 win over the Brooklyn Nets and it looks like is getting right back into the swing of things.
He had 15 points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal for the Lakers in 21 minutes and the biggest positive that Lakers head coach JJ Redick saw in Reaves' game was the excitement he had to be back and his ability to set up his fellow stars for big plays in just his first game back.
The biggest play that he set up had to have been when he bounded the ball off the backboard to set up an alley-oop dunk for LeBron James. It may not have counted as an assists in the NBA's rule book, but it was a huge highlight reel play nonetheless for the duo.
Reaves and the Highlight Reel
"He had one assist... I think that is emblematic of, he just wants to play and be a good teammate and certainly give LeBron a highlight and give the fans a highlight," Redick said (via Spectrum SportsNet). "He played great."
Bringing Reaves back clearly doesn't complicate things for the Lakers' roster construction. The team has had to play long intermittent stretches without at least one of their Big Three of Reaves, James and Luka Doncic at different points of the season, so Redick has some experience easing his stars back in.
Reaves didn't start Tuesday night, but still logged a good amount of minutes to get back up to speed. It helped that the Lakers led the Nets handily from the beginning of the game after a 45 point first quarter, so Redick didn't have to feel any pressure to force a workload on Reaves for the sake of the score.
Incorporating Reaves Back Into the Lineup
"In terms of the lineups [I] just wanted to keep everybody's rotation essentially the same while eating away at 20 minutes," Redick said. "With the way the game was going, it felt just like, 'let's get his minutes'... felt like that was the right thing to do in that situation."
The return of Reaves is a huge lift to a Lakers team that has had middling success in his absence. Los Angeles went 11-9 without Reaves after his calf injury and while they still have a healthy 30-19 record, they are far better off having him back.
Reaves has had a career season and could have been an All-Star contender had he not been out for so long. He's averaging 26.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and six assists per game this season and his connection with Doncic in the backcourt has been sensational.