LeBron James says it’s ‘beautiful thing to see’ Austin Reaves ‘showcase his talent’

After a career night from Austin Reaves, LeBron James had nothing but praise for his teammate in the midst of the best run of his career.

When the Lakers bet on Austin Reaves after trading away D’Angelo Russell, perhaps not even they would have foreseen the run he’s been on.

Dating back to a couple of games before the trade on Christmas Day, Reaves is averaging 22.2 points and 8.9 assists per game over the last 10 outings. He’s also doing that an impressive efficiency, connecting on 40.6 shooting from beyond the arc on just shy of seven attempts per game.

While it’s been clear for multiple seasons that Reaves is super talented, his current streak has been at another level. The highlight of that run of games came on Friday when Reaves scored a career-high 38 points to help the Lakers survive against the Nets.

After the contest, LeBron James, who has had a lot of great teammates throughout his career, had quite the praise for Reaves.

“He’s in his process,” LeBron said. “He’s taking the opportunity and he’s running with it. Literally running with it and I love every moment that he’s given an opportunity to go out and showcase his talent with the best players in the world and he’s showing every night that he belongs. It’s just it’s a beautiful thing to see.”

On Friday against Brooklyn, it was Reaves who took over the game late. In something that has become a growing trend, LeBron deferred to Reaves in the fourth and the guard responded, hitting six of his first seven shots to tally 15 points in the quarter.

“He’s been in big moments before and he knows what to do and we needed every bucket that he had tonight,” LeBron said. “But just the momentum and the way he was playing, he was just in a rhythm. We needed him.”

There have been some speed bumps along the way since Reaves moved into a full-time role as point guard. There are still nights where the turnover numbers rise and Reaves’ impact shrinks.

But there are also an increasing number of nights similar to Friday where Reaves looks like arguably the best player on the court and someone who is continuing to solidify himself as one of the bright stars of the future in LA.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.