Austin Reaves was willing to throw himself under the bus for the Lakers’ biggest issue through their first two games.
But he didn’t mean to drag fellow Lakers star guard Luka Doncic down with him.
It’s hard to be too critical of the Lakers after their first two games of the season – home wins over the Warriors on Wednesday and Clippers on Friday.
They won those matchups by a combined 30 points.
Walker Kessler is making the Lakers brain trust look like geniuses for making the investment to acquire the 7-foot-2 center.
Reaves is playing at an All-Star level after securing a four-year, $180 million contract.
Doncic continues to be the focal point of the Lakers’ success.
The team’s roster reconstruction is paying off with an abundance of role players stepping up.
But the major early blemish that’s carried over from the preseason: Turnovers.
“We know the turnovers are a problem,” coach JJ Redick said. “We’ll continue to work at it, continue to get better at it.”
The Lakers followed up recording 18 giveaways in their season opener against the Warriors by turning the ball over 21 times against the Clippers, directly leading to 29 points.
Doncic and Reaves were once again the biggest culprits, combining for 17 of the team’s giveaways.
“How many did I have?,” Reaves asked after Friday’s game.
Six.
“Oh,” Reaves responded, “it felt like 10.”
That was actually Doncic, who recorded a career-high 11 turnovers – something pointed out to Reaves.
“Y’all didn’t have to say that,” he said. “I asked about me.”
But the Slovenian guard wasn’t shy when it came to acknowledging his role in the Lakers’ turnover struggles .
“We have a lot of room left to improve,” Doncic said. “Obviously, my game was terrible. But we are 2-0. Not playing a great game by me and AR, we have a lot of room left [to grow], so it’s very exciting news, honestly.”
The Lakers’ early turnover woes are, in a way, encouraging because of the results they’re getting despite them.
They’ve scored a combined 252 points through their first two games (127 against the Warriors and 125 against the Clippers).
They shot 56.8% from the field against the Warriors, and 58.2% against the Clippers.
They’ve been living up to the expectations of being an ultra-efficient, high-powered offensive team despite nearly a fifth of their possessions ended in a turnover.
But they aren’t allowing their offensive success so far to take away from the progress they’re hoping to make with taking care of the ball.
They know their ceiling can be significantly higher if they clean up the ball security, especially against teams looking to trap Doncic and Reaves.
But some of the giveaways are also growing pains that come with such a significant roster overhaul.
“The reality is a lot of the turnovers are just the pass in front of them,” Redick said. “Just make the pass in front of you. We’ve talked about it with both those guys. It’s the familiarity. They trust their teammates. They want to be playmakers. It’s building that over the course of the season to familiarity where guys are going to be in their spots. So we’ll just continue to build out our options out of that and we’ll be better.”
