The Los Angeles Lakers are already in a tricky situation one week into the NBA season, as LeBron James remains out with sciatica and Luka Dončić is out for at least another two games as he deals with finger and leg issues. Los Angeles has stayed mostly afloat, going 2-2 (1-1 since Dončić’s injury), but it will obviously be a better team once both players return.
The Lakers’ third star, Austin Reaves, was the subject of trade rumors during the offseason but is still on the roster and is having a brilliant season, averaging 35.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 8.5 assists per game on 57-43-88 shooting, including a 46.0-7.5-7.0 line since Dončić was sidelined.
Los Angeles will need everything it can get from Reaves tonight against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who it beat last Friday behind Dončić’s 49-point, 11-rebound, eight-assist effort. The Timberwolves are also dealing with a major injury, though; their star, Anthony Edwards, will miss the next two weeks after suffering a hamstring injury.
Even though Minnesota is without Edwards, the Lakers are 7.5-point underdogs for tonight’s clash at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the point total set to 225.5. Below, I’ve highlighted my favorite prop bets centered around Reaves.
Best Austin Reaves Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Austin Reaves 40+ Points + Assists (+121)
Reaves has played three games without either Dončić and James after the latter joined Los Angeles at last season’s trade deadline, and in those three, he’s had 50, 60, and 46 combined points/assists, so this is an extremely conservative bet and I do like 45+ (+231), 50+ (+487), and 55+ (+1000) P/A as value long shots. I’m only going with 40+ because three games is an extremely small sample size buoyed by hot shooting and because I still have respect for Minnesota’s defense, even though it ranks fourth-to-last in defensive rating so far this season. The Timberwolves still have four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, wing Jaden McDaniels, and forward Julius Randle on the roster, and in the Lakers’ first-round defeat to Minnesota last season, Randle held Reaves to just five-for-17 shooting.
Still, even if Reaves’ shot isn’t falling, who else on Los Angeles’ roster would take his touches? In Monday’s defeat to the Portland Trail Blazers, the Lakers’ eight-man rotation was completed by Dalton Knecht, Nick Smith Jr., and Bronny James, who combined to shoot six-for-22 (27.3%) from the field. Los Angeles might not have to rely on quite so many Smith and James minutes tonight with center Jaxson Hayes back in action, but he alone won’t solve the Lakers’ injury crisis. Reaves has ranked sixth in usage rate, 10th in touches, third in time of possession, and 13th in potential assists among the 190 players who have played in each of the last two games and averaged 20 or more minutes per game across them. He should benefit from Edwards’ absence, too, given how much Edwards locked him up in the playoffs.
Austin Reaves U5.5 Rebounds (-132)
Minnesota out-dueled Los Angeles on the boards in the first round, amassing 43.8 rebounds per game to the Lakers’ 39.0, and while part of that was a function of Los Angeles not having a reliable center and having to play 6’8″ Rui Hachimura in the middle for most of Game 5, the Timberwolves just have lots of size. Their starting lineup has featured 6’4″ Donte DiVincenzo, 6’4″ Edwards, 6’9″ McDaniels, 6’9″ Randle, and 7’1″ Gobert, and though they’ve replaced Edwards with the 6’0″ Mike Conley, 6’9″ Naz Reid has played more minutes than Conley this season. With how big Minnesota plays, it’s not a surprise that it allowed the eighth-fewest rebounds per game last season and the 12th-fewest so far this season.
Especially with Hayes returning, rebounding shouldn’t really be Reaves’ role. The Lakers signed Deandre Ayton during the offseason precisely to gobble up boards and to provide capable enough rim protection to help cover for Dončić’s deficiencies, and so far, Ayton has averaged 9.3 boards per game. Though Reaves is averaging a career-high in rebounds per game, he only had four boards on Monday against a weaker rebounding team in the Trail Blazers. He also had five or fewer in 45 of his 73 games last regular season, as well as in three of the five playoff games, so his recent proficiency on the boards is the exception, not the norm.
