With Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves exploding recently for multiple big scoring nights (including a career-high 51 against the Sacramento Kings), some people have compared Reaves to former NBA player Jeremy Lin, but with all due respect to both players, this isn’t an accurate comp, and it can even be considered a slight dig at Reaves.
Jeremy Lin’s 2012 explosion was pure lightning in a bottle—an undrafted afterthought averaging 2.8 points per game before dropping 25-plus in seven straight for the New York Knicks.
This is a completely different situation than what’s happening with Reaves, who has already showed that he’s a special talent. Undrafted in 2021, Reaves morphed into a playoff stud by Year 2, signing a four-year, $54 million extension last summer.
His stats climb annually: 7.3 points as a rookie, 13.0 the next, 15.9 in 2023-24, 20.2 last season, now 34.2 to start 2025-26. He’s the first Laker since Kobe Bryant with five straight 25-point games to open a year. Reaves’s’ talent is no mystery, and the entire NBA has been aware of it for years.
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Furthermore, before this past week, Reaves has authored 40-point nights before.
Tagging Reaves with “Linsanity” subtly erodes his legitimacy, framing his brilliance as a temporary fill-in while LeBron James and Luka Dončić heal. It elevates the stars as saviors, implying the Lakers crumble without them—ignoring Reaves’ proven star-power in his own right. The Reaves-Linsanity narrative props up LA’s headliners at the expense of a really good player who’s elevated the roster and puts up All-Star numbers when he’s given the opportunity to.
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Reaves deserves better.
Featured image via Ed Szczepanski/Imagn Images
