Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic. Image via: Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images
Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic hardly spoke after the Lakers traded for Doncic in February 2025. Doncic leads the NBA at 36.0 points per game, Reaves is 16th at 24.4, and together they average 60.4, the most of any duo in the league. Reaves signed a four-year, $180 million deal in July, and Doncic has said he hopes to retire a Laker.
Reaves told the California Post in an interview published Thursday that the two passed each other in the locker room without a word. In an exclusive interview with the California Post, Reaves said the two walked past each other in the locker room for a while with nothing to say. His first thought was blunt: “What is this guy going to be like?”
The silence is long gone. Austin Reaves did not think he and Luka Doncic would ever be friends. He meant it. He had no idea how to talk to a superstar who had just arrived against his wishes.
Doncic leads the league at 36.0 points per game and adds 8.3 assists and 6.8 rebounds. He shoots 48.4 percent from the field and 39.6 percent from three. He planned to turn down his $14.9 million player option and hit free agency, hoping to stay with the Lakers. In season, he said, the two are around each other about 95 percent of the time, with an off day every week or two. The Lakers signed Reaves to the four-year, $180 million deal that month.
Doncic told the paper that joining a new team makes it hard for him to speak, so he stuck with a few people he already knew. Having each other around, he said, helped both of them. Last summer Doncic told Lakers brass two things mattered to him: a franchise center, and Reaves staying put.
The shift came at the next training camp, when he and Reaves got close. Teasing followed. Doncic joked that Reaves wanted to be his friend and he was not allowing it. Reaves fired back that he had more dunks. The numbers back up the jokes. Reaves had a big decision looming as well. They travel together and know what the other is going through. Everything points that way. James left for the 76ers in July, and the team’s top priority was keeping its centerpiece happy. It is the richest contract in NBA history for an undrafted player.