The NBA has been moving towards internationalizing its culture. There has been endless discussions about how guys from Africa, France and any number of European countries are taking over the NBA. It could just be hyperbole driven by a forced change in the style of play since the turn of the century and a run of non-American players winning MVPs.
RELATED: The NBA’s Young Foreign Takeover
Foreign Born NBA Players Have Won Last Seven MVPs: Austin Reaves Rare American Gem
The last seven NBA MVPs are foreign-born. Nikola Jokic has three of them and Giannis Antetokounmpo has a couple. With the rise of the European player and euroball in the NBA, we have also seen some explosive white players elevate to the forefront in the opening days of the NBA season.
Laker’s guard Austin Reaves is actually American. American born white players that excel at the top of the league have been hard to find in the NBA. The best white boys on the hardwood are foreign players such as Luka Doncic, Joker and the like. In fact, Reeves was undrafted after stints at Wichita State and Oklahoma. He signed with the Lakers in 2021 and as they say, the rest is history.
With LeBron James and Luka Doncic on the sidelines, Reeves, who has shown flashes of being explosive offensively in the past, went nuclear in the Lakers’ 127-120 win over Sacramento on Sunday.
Reaves was just shy of a triple-double in his career night. He had 11 rebounds and nine assists to go with his 51 points. He shot 12-of-22 from the field and had six 3-pointers.
Even injured LeBron James had to give the young gunner props for such a regal performance. High scoring games are becoming more of a norm in the NBA, but a 50-piece is never anything to sneeze at.
“50 piece nugget!!!!! That boy AR TOOOO TOUGH!!,” LeBron exclaimed on social media.
Cooper Flagg Who?
No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg is the latest American-born white player to be prejected to one day be the best player int he sport. He’s had some solid games to start his Dallas Mavericks career. But Reaves’ performance was reminiscent of Larry Bird in how he established himself as the best player on the court. And if you thought it was just a fluke, on Monday night Reeves comes back with 41 points against the Portland Trailblazers in a loss.
Fans Say Austin Reaves Is A No. 1 Option
The Lakers had seven players ruled out against the Blazers, including LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Gabe Vincent, Marcus Smart, Jaxson Hayes, Maxi Kleber, and Adou Thiero. That allowed Austin to let it fly as the No. 1 primary creator and scorer.
Now people are talking about Reaves as a guy who could lead his own NBA team. Get those kinds of buckets on a nightly basis and carry the entire franchise. Reaves isn’t the only white player who was kicking ass and taking names on Monday night. Utah Jazz star Lauri Markkanen went off for 51 and 14 rebounds against the Phoenix Suns.
Markkanen can light it up, averaging over 23 points per game twice in his nine-year NBA career. The Finnish big man has stepped it up so far this season, averaging 34. 7 points per game, which places him fourth in scoring behind SGA and Reeves, both averaging 35.8 points per game.
Greek Freak (36 ppg) and Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (37 ppg) are leading the league through four games. When is the last time two white players (not named Joker or Luka) were in the Top four in the league in scoring average?
Will Reaves Get Shots When Luka & Bron Return, Will Lakers Pay Him Like No. 1?
While Markkanen will get his shots all season for a Jazz team not expected to do much in the Wild West, Reaves’ shots will decrease significantly once Luka returns and then he will probably go back to his role player status upon LeBron James’ return.
For now, he can let get buckets and set up a nice bag for himself in the future. He’s forcing the Lakers to either let him go get paid or pay him like Luka.
Reaves is currently on a four-year, $54 million contract with the Lakers, which he signed in 2023, and is in the final year of this deal. He turned down a four-year, $89.2 million extension in the 2025 offseason and is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2026. He is expected to decline his $14.9 million player option for the 2026-27 season to seek a huge bag on the open market, with some projections a $40M per year haul. With LeBron’s Lakers future up in the air, but ending sooner rather than later, it would be wise to have Reaves signed to make up for some of that lost production.
In the meantime, he can just become a legend. Jerry West would be proud.
White Fans Debate Greatest White Player Ever
White fans, who never got to see Larry Bird – or even Chris Mullin– are already celebrating him as an all-time great.
That led to a heated discussion about the greatest white players of all time.
“That’s a great five! Then throw in Bill Walton, George Mikan, Bob Pettit, Kevin McHale, Rick Barry, John Havlicek, Bob Cousy, John Stockton, Gail Goodrich, Steve Nash, Bobby Jones, Sharman, Billy Cunningham, Luka Doncic and Dan Issel,” added one fan.
Another fan criticized the list for ignoring the European groundbreakers that paved the way.
“Detlef Schrempf/Toni Kukoc/Drazen Petrovic/Arvydas Sabonis (The Original Better Than his SON) or where is Kevin Mchale/Steve Nash/Mark Price/John Havlicek/Dan Issel 2 name a few???,” cried one observer.
The NBA is always better when you have some killer white dudes at the top of the game. The WNBA will show you that. And there’s more of them in the NBA than ever before.
