Add The California Post on Google There’s a reason Austin Reaves has arrived at this moment.
He grew up on a 300-acre cow farm in a town with fewer than 1,200 people, spending his days doing one thing.
Competing against his older brother, Spencer.
Long before Austin secured the richest contract in NBA history for a player who went undrafted (four years, $185 million), he was an underdog who kept losing at everything in a backyard in Newark, Arkansas.
It turned him into one of the greatest stories in the NBA.
“I’ll still tell anybody I meet that’s so obsessed with him — to me, he’s still a loser,” Spencer told The California Post, chuckling. “I’m like, the guy is a loser.”
That was said with as much love as an older brother could muster.
They’re best friends. Spencer, who plays professional basketball overseas in Germany, is the reason Austin devoted himself to the sport. And whenever Austin has doubted himself, Spencer has been there for him.
“If I had to give appreciation mostly to someone it would be him just for paving that path for me,” Austin said in an interview with NBC Los Angeles.
During their childhood, Austin and Spencer would pass their days in fierce competitions in basketball, darts, pingpong, cards, board games or even sprinting toward random objects.
The problem? Austin was smaller, skinner and shorter.
“He never got to win anything,” Spencer said.
It sharpened Austin into someone who was never intimidated. Someone who always believed in himself. Someone who never gave up.
It made Austin fearless when he took the court alongside LeBron James. It made him not hesitate to lovingly trash talk Luka Doncic. It turned him into a player who averaged 23.3 points, 5.5 assists, 1.1 steals and a true shooting percentage of 64% last season, helping lead the Lakers to the No. 4 seed in the West.
Those childhood competitions weren’t for the faint of heart. They were among two great athletes. Two people who fiercely hated losing. They often devolved into something their mom would have to break up.
“It could’ve been dangerous,” Spencer said. “We’ve chased each other with Wiffle ball bats. We’ve chased each other probably with tennis rackets. We’ve thrown basketballs at each other, for sure. It used to get out of hand a lot.”
Spencer pushed Austin to become a basketball star. He wanted his team to be good, and there were slim pickings at Cedar Ridge High, which has only about 350 students in sixth through 12th grades. So, Spencer prodded Austin to work hard.
“I knew he was going to have to play up as a seventh grader on the ninth grade team, so I made sure he got in the gym with us so we were better as a team and he was better as an individual,” Spencer said.
But what Spencer never anticipated was how good Austin would become.
When Austin started pouring himself into the sport, he quickly made a name for himself. His ball-handling skills stood out. He had a particularly high basketball IQ. But above all else, there was something that separated him from the pack.
“He was the smallest guy on the court in every game, especially playing up.” Spencer said. “… Opponents tried to bully him, and they never could. They never could take the ball from him. That shocked a lot of people. People thought you put a bigger, stronger and older defender on him and he would fold. But he actually never did, all the way from our junior high days to when we were playing high school basketball together.”
The duo ended up having a lot of success, winning back-to-back Class 2A state championships during Austin’s freshman and sophomore years and Spencer’s junior and senior years.
After his brother graduated, Austin led his team to a Class 3A state championship as a senior. He was named MVP of the tournament after averaging 43.3 points over the four games.
But Austin was never heavily recruited. While other kids gained national attention on the AAU circuit, he remained mostly under the radar in Newark. Or as Spencer calls it, “The middle of nowhere.”
But nothing could’ve prepared them for this.
“We saw he was going to be special,” Spencer said. “I think we would all be lying if we said we thought he was going to be a borderline All-Star, maybe top-two, three option on an NBA team, especially a team like the Lakers.”
Austin went on to play for Wichita State from 2016-2018 before transferring to Oklahoma from 2019-2021. He then took a wild gamble, declining to be selected 42nd by Detroit and instead opting to go undrafted and sign a two-way contract with the Lakers in August 2021.
Austin had to claw his way into the NBA. He had to fight for every minute he got alongside arguably the greatest player of all time in James. It was a constant uphill battle to prove himself.
Whenever he was overwhelmed, he reached out to Spencer.
“I would just say be himself,” Spencer said.
That advice inspired Austin to stick with it when he was confined to a catch-and-shoot role at Wichita State. It inspired him to believe in himself when he was a no-name NBA prospect. It inspired him to have “delirious confidence” to take the next shot during games. It led to him becoming arguably the best No. 2 offensive option in the league.
And it was the reason he was sprawled on a golf course on Tuesday in delirious joy after hearing the Lakers were willing to match the maximum contract he was eligible to receive from other teams.
He bought himself new golf clubs after agreeing to a four-year, $56 million deal in July 2023. With this eye-popping one, he’s intends to spend the big bucks on his family.
“He’s shopping around for anyone in the family if they want to get new golf clubs,” Spencer said. “I’m thankful for that. I guess it was my Christmas and birthday present.”
Austin bought his father a golf club membership. He paid for his mother to go on a trip. Otherwise, he’s not exactly a big spender.
“He doesn’t like cars, he doesn’t like jewelry, he doesn’t party,” Spencer said.
Spencer said Austin’s fame and success haven’t changed him at all. He loves his family. He loves golf. He loves basketball. The only time he’s flashy is when he’s on the court.
His lucrative contract comes with big-time expectations.
Austin knows all eyes will be on him next season as he and Doncic try to carry a franchise that considers anything short of winning a championship as a failure. He knows some people are questioning whether he deserves so much money. He knows the scrutiny that comes with this gig.
But don’t expect any of that to faze Austin.
Nothing scares him. Nothing ever has. And there’s a reason why.
“It could come from me beating him in everything,” Spencer said. “And beating him up when we were younger. He made me look like I’m a terrible brother to some Lakers fans.”
But the truth is Lakers fans owe Spencer a debt of gratitude.
Their homegrown star is where he is today in large part because of him.
