He like the poor man’s Luka Doncic

Former NBA champion Jeff Teague has boldly compared LA Lakers’ $12.9 million point guard Austin Reaves to Luka Doncic. Reaves is seemingly from having the impact Doncic has on the floor. He’s not an MVP-caliber player or a bonafide All-Star, either. Their trajectory and career arcs are significantly different.

However, Teague views a few similarities related to how they play. During the latest episode of his show, the “Club 520 podcast,” the former Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics guard said:

“He [Reaves] like the poor man Luka Doncic. … Yeah he a poor man Luka.”

After his co-host disagreed, Teague said:

“If you really watch him play, the way they play is very similar. He’s just not as big and strong. And why I say ‘poor man’ is because he don’t score as easy (as Doncic). But the way he make people shift and move and how he uses his body and creates space, and he give really good passes, too, and he make tough shots, he like the poor man Luka.” (40:04)

6-foot-4 Austin Reaves is much smaller in size compared to 6-foot-7 Luka Doncic. However, he has a flair to his game on offense, especially in pick and rolls, which appears similar to Doncic’s movement in tight spaces. Reaves doesn’t score at a high clip, but when given the opportunity, he has the skills to produce the goods.

Reaves is coming off two consecutive 26-point games. He even dished a career-high 16 assists in Saturday’s win for the Lakers against the Kings in LeBron James’ absence.

Austin Reaves to shoulder more burden as point guard after Lakers trade D’Angelo Russell

Austin Reaves has gradually developed and grown each year. Now, in his fourth NBA season, he’s the undisputed No. 3 in the hierarchy of the Lakers’ best players behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis. He’s averaging a career-high 17.7 points and 5.5 assists per game, shooting on 44.4/36.3/79.4 splits.

Reaves’ usage has also increased to 23.0% under new coach JJ Redick, a 2.3% uptick from last year. That could rise further in the next few weeks and possibly for the rest of the season. On Sunday, the Lakers traded their only traditional point guard, D’Angelo Russell, for Dorian Finney-Smith.

The team is now slightly shorthanded at the one, and Reaves seems destined to get the promotion to full-time point guard role, which he has carried out for the better part of the season. After eight games, Redick demoted Russell to the bench, with the Lakers dropping to 4-4 after a 3-0 start.