NBA: 5 Way-too-early Most Improved Player predictions for 2023-24

2. Austin Reaves, Los Angeles Lakers 

Austin Reaves burst onto the scene for the Los Angeles Lakers last season. Specifically, in the second half of the season and in the playoffs. Reaves went from being a bench player to a key piece in the playoffs for the Lakers. That has kind of been the story for Reaves in his playing days.

It is still a complete mystery how teams missed this guy. He averaged 17/4/4 in his first playoffs and showed how sound he was offensively throughout the Lakers’ run to the conference finals. With LeBron James getting older each season and Anthony Davis dealing with injury issues a lot of the time, there will be plenty of chances for Austin Reaves on offense.

I’m sure the Lakers will look to him to score a fair amount and they will attempt to get him going for stretches. Reaves showed what he can do at the highest level of basketball, so it is only fair to assume his averages increase quite a bit. He averaged 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 3.4 assists on very efficient shooting splits.

Reaves can work on the perimeter, and he is especially effective at getting to his spot in the mid-range. All these qualities in his game are big reasons why the Lakers were able to improve so much at the deadline last year. Yes, the trades they made actually made their team a lot better but Reaves developing into that third guy for Los Angeles put them over the hump.

At times Reaves will be the third, second, or first option on the floor for the Lakers, and for all those reasons he will experience a big jump in his numbers, and due to his lack of a role at times last season, his numbers were lower than they should have been.