Can Austin Reaves be who the Lakers think he is?

Last year was a bit of a convergence season for Austin Reaves and the Lakers, where his pursuit of a new contract, his ever-expanding role and his continued upward development were all on a collision course to determine what his future on the only franchise he'd ever known would be.

The fact that Reaves thrived when he was available to play and was ultimately rewarded handsomely with a lucrative new contract that pays him ( essentially ) his maximum allowable salary, should not be a surprise. The Lakers see Reaves as one of their true success stories: a player plucked from the world of undrafted free agents and developed into a high level contributor. There's institutional value that comes from that beyond what he produces on the court.

But it is that tangible improvement he's shown every season and is baked into the story of Reaves' NBA life that the Lakers are also paying for. Reaves went from a converted two-way contract as a rookie who only saw the court because of his hustle, connective instincts and competitive nature on defense to, in every ensuing season, adding more responsibility and production offensively to the point that, this past year, he was slotted above LeBron James in the pecking order.