Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves was the latest guest on The Old Man and The Three hosted by JJ Redick.
Reaves shared an interesting perspective on what it was like for him to go from an undrafted free agent on a two-way contract to playing alongside a legend like LeBron James.
The teammates have had lots of success on the court together but it was fascinating to hear more from Reaves about what it is like for them off the court.
Early in the episode, Reaves shared details about what he did when he noticed that a post he had making fun of LeBron (years before they would eventually share a locker room) was unearthed.
When Austin Reaves’s 2012 meme post about LeBron resurfaced, he told his teammate right away.
Here’s how he responded 👇 pic.twitter.com/6bxZen7ski
— TheOldMan&TheThree (@OldManAndThree) December 21, 2023
At the time he had originally made the post, Reaves was more of a Kobe fan and made a joke at LeBron’s expense. When he saw that his old tweet making fun of LeBron was resurfacing, he addressed it right away:
“We were in New Orleans. I pull up my phone right after the game and it’s first thing I see. SportsCenter. And it’s a picture of Kobe [shrugging] … I was like [expletitive]. There’s one of two things I can do. I can shut up and hope he don’t see it or I could call him over and be like, ‘Look, man.’ And I did. I was like ‘Bron, come here.’ He’s like, ‘What’s up?’ I was like, ‘I was a Kobe fan back in the day. I was [expletive] on you back in 2012.’ He just busted out laughing. He was like, ‘I don’t care about this.'”
Reaves also spoke about the hilarious moment he shared with LeBron that led to his face becoming a meme.
Here are the additional details that he shared:
“We were in Brooklyn and the game was over. We were up 25 and coach called a timeout and drew up a play and you know how it is. We were up 25. Some people might not be listening. Some might be staring somewhere else. Especially that year, it was my rookie year, and like I said, I asked a million questions. So I knew exactly what I was doing.”
As he recalled, the play didn’t involve him during the action. He was supposed to stand on the left wing and not move at all.
But he still wanted to confirm exactly what he heard so he asked James.
“I’m walking on the court and me being me, I asked Bron again. I was like ‘I ain’t doing [expletive] am I? Like, I’m just chilling?’ … I think he got mine and Russ’s spot backwards so he thought where I was supposed to be [was] where Russ was supposed to be and he was like, ‘No, you’re coming over the top and setting a back screen.’ And I’m just looking at him like, ‘I don’t think so.'”
Reaves admitted that he immediately knew that the face he made when he reacted to James would make its way around the internet.
“I go get my phone after the game and my phone was fully charged and I look and it was on, like, five percent. It was just blowing up. I was like, ‘Oh no!'”
This was easily one of the funniest moments we’ve seen from Reaves.
Austin Reaves on the moment he felt he fully gained LeBron’s trust pic.twitter.com/biGgJt5UQE
— JJ Redick (@jj_redick) December 20, 2023
According to Reaves, however, he didn’t fully earn LeBron’s trust until the 2023 NBA Playoffs:
“[It] was Game 1 of the Memphis series last year. There was trust there. But I remember in the fourth quarter when I had it going. There was a shot … I get to halfcourt and I hear him yelling my name. He was like, ‘Come get the ball.’ I was like, ‘Oh [expletive].’ I got to make something good happen. Everything went to slow motion at that time … I can’t make him look stupid.”
After the game, Reaves said that he took some time to process what had happened when James deferred to him in that big moment.
Throughout the conversation with Redick, it was great to learn more about the relationship and friendship that Reaves shares with James.
