Austin Reaves (SG, LAL) - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 21

March 12, 2023

Austin Reaves is worth considering as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 21 of the 2022-23 NBA season.

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 6% of leagues

ANALYSIS: The Los Angeles Lakers still believe they can win the championship. Ah, some good old Lakers Exceptionalism... Whatever the case (spoiler: it's not happening) we're happy to find gems buried in the Lake Show roster if only because of injuries hitting them and the fact that they're still scrambling and trying to find solutions to their unsolvable problems.

One of the latest: Austin Reaves. The guard missed a month-long stretch from Jan. 4 to Feb. 7 but he's appeared in 12 games in the past month getting a healthy 26 MPG and putting up reasonably good (and ever-improving, by the look of it) numbers.

Reaves has gone from averaging 21 FPPG in February to 28 in March (five games through Friday) while averaging a 15-2-5 per-game stat line in his five matchups this month to go with 1.0 stocks a pop. Reaves has scored 1.2 3PM per game this season and he's kept up that spot-up-shooting role of late to great extents, shooting 54.7% from the floor on a low 9 FGA per game.

The reserve guard has gone from playing 21 MPG before the AS break to 27 MPG after the break and in the past month he's only once shot below 40% in a single game once. Outside of the three-point shooting, the high points, and the kinda-solid dimes, there is not a lot to like. Fantastic per-minute production, though, at 1.05 FP/min in his eight games after the break.

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