Austin Reaves Hires a Personal Trainer to Fix His Only Fantasy Flaw
Reaves played an All-Star level 38.7 FPTS/G in 2025-26, but injuries capped him at a career-low 51 games. Here's why that's about to change.
Elite per-game value at a discount; durability plan targets his one weakness.
- 23.3 pts, 5.5 ast in 51 games (2025-26 actual)
- 38.7 FPTS/G last season, ranked #39 overall
- Career-low 51 games played due to two Grade 2 strains
- Signed 4-year, $180M deal with the Lakers
- Hired ex-Lakers coach Ed Streit as personal trainer
Austin Reaves just handed fantasy managers the one thing they've been waiting for: a plan to stay on the floor. The Lakers guard has hired former team strength and conditioning coach Ed Streit as his personal trainer, per reporting from The Athletic, a direct response to the durability problems that capped him at a career-low 51 games in 2025-26. In those 51 games he still put up 23.3 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds — good for 38.7 fantasy points per game and our #39 overall rank (#19 among guards).
The math is simple and the ceiling is obvious. Reaves played at an All-Star level last season on a per-game basis; he just couldn't string enough games together. A Grade 2 left calf strain wiped out roughly six weeks from late December into early February, and a Grade 2 oblique strain knocked him out of the last five regular-season games plus the first four of the Rockets series. On a fresh four-year, $180M contract, availability is now the whole ballgame.
What Reaves Learned From LeBron
Reaves spent five seasons (2021-26) next to LeBron James, and only Anthony Davis logged more games alongside James as a Laker (296 to Reaves' 284). Reaves said the biggest thing he picked up from James was the daily, unglamorous work required to stay available — the stuff casual fans never see, and the kind of thing that gets harder as you age. James is the walking case study, entering a 24th season and holding the records for games played (1,622) and minutes (61,030).
Bringing in Streit — who ran the Lakers' strength program before departing last year — mirrors how James kept his own trainer, Mike Mancias, embedded on the staff. Reaves said he had a good summer and feels he's put himself in a strong spot heading into the year. For a player whose entire fantasy value has been a games-played question, that's exactly the offseason narrative you want to hear.
The Fantasy Angle
There's real postseason upside here too. Reaves averaged 20 points, 5.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds in the playoffs but shot just 40.7% from the field and 25.7% from deep while nursing that oblique — a year after a toe injury dragged down his 2025 postseason splits. Better health should keep those numbers from cratering. Meanwhile, he's the clear No. 2 behind Luka Doncic, who posted a monster 57.5 FPTS/G (our #2 overall) in 2025-26.
Verdict: buy low. Reaves' recent form dipped slightly (-3.9 fantasy points over his last five last season), and the injury-shortened campaign has him sliding in some drafts. But you're getting near top-40 per-game production from a guard who's just built a durability infrastructure around himself. If a nervous manager will sell at his #39 price, pounce — the healthy-season ceiling is a top-25 asset.
