Austin Reaves: From underdog to USA rising star

LAS VEGAS (Nevada) - Austin Reaves' older brother won't have an opportunity to lift the Naismith Trophy this summer at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Manila.

Yet maybe he should when you hear up-and-coming USA talent Reaves talk about the work ethic his big brother Spencer instilled in him while growing up in Arkansas.

"I think we've put together a team that's a team. I feel like we've got guys that are obviously at a real high level."

- Austin Reaves

"It was a lot of fun, lived on 300 acres," he said on the All the Smoke podcast hosted by Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. "You could go an entire day without seeing anybody.

"But my brother used to drag me to the gym at 7AM and he would always preach to me, 'You gotta do more. You're from this area, where you're not going to get much publicity, recognition.

"'So you gotta be in the gym more and be a lot better than that guy that they're looking at because he's playing AAU'.

"And I only played one year of AAU. So it (growing up where he did) taught me to put my head down and work."

Austin was named to the USA team for the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 after enjoying a meteoric rise in the NBA this season, his second with the Los Angels Lakers.

Steve Kerr, the USA coach, witnessed Austin Reaves' killer mentality when he helped the Los Angeles Lakers upset Kerr's Golden State Warriors in the NBA playoffs. He knew Reaves would be a huge asset for USA and it was not a big surprise that he was in the squad when it was announced.

"It means a lot, just to play for our country," Reaves said. "I think we've put together a team that's a team. I feel like we've got guys that are obviously at a real high level. And then we've got guys that you plug and play, too. So, I'm really excited. I want to go and learn as much as I can from these guys and hopefully go win."

While Reaves didn't specify who the "real high-level" players are, one could argue that all of them are. USA are loaded with promising players whose careers are taking off.

The opportunity to play for the national team, according to podcast co-host Jackson, a long-time NBA player who is now retired, is something to treasure. 

"That's one experience that a lot of basketball players can't say that they had, playing for the national team," Jackson said.

As the USA begin their preparations on August 2, and get ready for Group C games in Manila against Greece, New Zealand, and Jordan, Reaves will probably have flashbacks to just a few years ago when his future wasn't as bright. Or at least, when he still had so much to prove.

He wasn't even drafted after playing for the Oklahoma Sooners in the college basketball scene in the US. Things have gone so well for Reaves that he recently joined a select company in the NBA by having a signature shoe hit the market.

He has this advice for anyone that wants to be a professional player.

"Most of it was mental with me, just being able to know the game at a high level," he said. "Because I think if you know the game at a high level, there is always a place for you to play anywhere.

"And also, just stay in the gym ... It's really about locking in for a short period of time because I hear a lot of time that it goes fast ... (Now) I'm going into my third year and it feels like the other day we were sitting there on draft night wondering what's next."

FIBA