The key Austin Reaves attribute that will make or break Lakers 2026-27 season

There’s an under-talked about variable for the Lakers. It’s hard to measure.It won’t appear in box scores.

It’s invisible yet omnipresent. It’s leadership — and not from who you may think. While the Lakers are unequivocally Luka Doncic’s team, someone else’s voice needs to boom in the locker room in order for them to be successful. Austin Reaves’ most important contribution next season won’t be his dagger 3s or his crafty pick-and-roll playmaking, though those are deeply necessary too. In order for the Lakers to be successful, Reaves needs to become a leader. The thing about Reaves is he’s deeply likable. After the Lakers signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2021, he immediately won over reporters at media day by joking about his nickname “Hillbilly Kobe.”As soon as he entered the Lakers locker room, he won over LeBron James. Reaves would make bleating noises whenever James spoke to the media to imitate a goat (because James is considered one of the greatest players of all-time).James would shoot him a look and laugh. A similar thing happened after the Mavericks stunned the basketball world by trading Doncic to the Lakers in February 2025.

Reaves and Doncic started lovingly teasing each other, interrupting one another during their on-camera interviews and trash-talking each other.Their brotherly bond was so strong — on and off the court — that Doncic let Lakers’ brass know that they needed to retain Reaves when he opted out of his $14.9 million player option this summer. The Lakers went on to sign Reaves to a four-year, $180 million deal, the richest contract ever for a player who went undrafted. Reaves is a human chemistry creator.

His teammates respect him for his palpable competitiveness, but they also love him for the levity he brings. It’s striking. So much so that Warriors coach Steve Kerr brought up Reaves, unprovoked, when asked last season what characteristics he values most in a player. “I coached h...