The Los Angeles Lakers are somehow always in the news, even at .500 (38-38) they seem to be the focus of the NBA headlines on every platform.
The team made some very solid moves at the trade deadline and have gone 12-7 since, allowing them to reach .500 status for the first time this season. One of the reasons for the Lakers turning their season around has been the play of combo guard Austin Reaves.
The former Oklahoma Sooners star, who went undrafted in the 2021 NBA draft, has become a real key cog in the Lakers attack. Averaging a career-high 12 points, three assists and three rebounds per game while shooting 50 percent from the field, 39 percent from three and 87 percent from the charity stripe, Reeves also has a real knack for drawing fouls. He’s part of the reason the Lakers have a league-best 411 free throw attempt differential, which is 218 better than the Sacramento Kings, who are second with 193.
McCants Comes For Reaves
But none of that is impressive to former first-round pick Rashad McCants whose career never amounted to much as far as being impactful on a nightly basis. That still isn’t stopping him from criticizing Reaves. During a recent appearance on “Gil’s Arena” podcast, McCants a former North Carolina Tar Heels star, questioned Reaves’ rise and abilities.
“I ain’t apologizing, I was cussing y’all out last night. What? Stop it! Austin Reaves what? Fifty million? At four years for $25 million he’s stealing. I’m like Austin Reaves … NAH! Francisco Garcia got that sh*t. Y’all giving ($50 million) to him ’cause, one, he’s white, and, one, he playing with the Los Angeles Lakers, and they trash. So it’s like, if the Lakers ain’t trash he ain’t playin’.”
McCants is speaking of Reaves being in a contract year, and based on his play this season he’s expected to cash in during free agency. But why is McCants worried about another man’s money?
And what gives McCants, a former lottery pick who underachieved, the right to talk about a guy who wasn’t as fortunate but has worked his way up the ladder?
This season alone Reaves is averaging more points, assists and rebounds than McCants averaged in his mostly forgettable five-year NBA career in Minnesota and Sacramento.
McCants Has Whistleblower Ways
In a 2014 interview with ESPNs “Outside The Lines,” McCants blew the whistle on how things were done during his tenure in Chapel Hill. McCants told ESPN that he rarely went to class, didn’t write papers, and if not for a cover-up he probably would’ve been academically ineligible during the Heels 2004-2005 national championship season.
McCants also said then head coach Roy Williams and the UNC administration knew all about it. Not exactly the thing you’d expect from a former player who was reportedly treated well during his time there. By the time this interview was done, McCants had been out of the league for four seasons. He did resurface in rapper/mogul Ice Cube’s “Big 3” league, but he has no place to question anything concerning Reaves, who’s play this season has earned him some real money.
