Austin Reaves Is Quietly Outshooting Everyone in LA's 3-0 Start
Reaves is hitting 63% from the field through three games while Luka Doncic dropped 52 on the Jazz. Both Lakers made the Player of the Week ballot.
A 63% shooting guard dishing 7.5 dimes is still rostered as a role player.
- Reaves: 26.7 PPG, 6.3 APG, 63% FG over 3 games
- Doncic dropped 52 on the Jazz on Sunday
- Doncic ranks No. 2 in scoring at 34.3 PPG
- Lakers opened the season 3-0
- Reaves is our No. 29 overall, No. 13 among guards
Two Lakers landed on the Western Conference Player of the Week ballot, and the headline name isn't the only one earning it. Luka Doncic got there the loud way — a 52-point explosion against the Jazz on Sunday that pushed him to No. 2 in the league in scoring at 34.3 points per game. But Austin Reaves has been the steadier story through LA's 3-0 start.
Reaves is averaging 26.7 points, 6.3 assists and shooting an absurd 63% from the field over the first three games. That's not a hot quarter — that's a guard playing efficient, high-usage basketball from the jump. In our database he's logging 42.9 fantasy points per game so far this season (2026-27), with a line of 25.5 points, 3 boards and 7.5 dimes across his tracked games.
The nomination field was stacked. Doncic and Reaves shared the West ballot with Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Amen Thompson, while the East put up Cade Cunningham, Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson, Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam. Memphis guard Ty Jerome actually tops the league in scoring at 34.7 per game, edging Doncic by a hair, with both leading their teams to 3-0 starts.
What's Actually Interesting About Luka
Here's the twist: Doncic didn't start the year sharp. He struggled through the Lakers' first two games before the 52-point Sunday reset everything. That matters for fantasy managers who panicked early — this is Luka finding his gear, not a decline. His No. 2 scoring rank tells you where the floor sits once he's rolling.
The Fantasy Fallout
Doncic needs no sales pitch; ride him and enjoy. The real move is Reaves. He's still carried as our No. 29 overall and No. 13 among guards, which feels light for someone posting 42.9 fantasy points per game early (2026-27) with elite efficiency and a near-doubled assist rate. If a manager in your league is treating him like a third option, that's your window.
Buy low on Reaves before the 63% clip and the 3-0 glow forces a market correction. The assists are real, the shooting will regress but his role won't, and he's doing this alongside Luka rather than at his expense. Start him with confidence and chase him in trades if you don't have him.
