Last December, the Lakers won the inaugural In-Season Tournament, beating the Pacers handily in the final, despite Austin Reaves feeling under the weather. The guard walked into the arena with flu but left with the tournament win and invaluable advice from Shaquille O’Neal.
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During an appearance on the BustaJack Golf podcast, the Lakers star revealed that he met the Hall of Famer at the T-Mobile Arena before the final and told him about his predicament. Explaining what transpired, Reaves said,
“I don’t know what happened, I got so sick. I don’t know if I got COVID, flu… I laid in bed from 5 that evening till we played the next day…I’m sitting on the bench and Shaq is sitting right there and Shaq is like, ‘You good? You good young fella?’ I looked at him, I was like, ‘Not really.’ He was like, ‘Can’t be messing with these good girls out here.'”
O’Neal seemingly assumed that the young guard was feeling ill because he had been out the previous night enjoying what Sin City had to offer. However, Reaves revealed that he wasn’t partying and had no idea what led to him falling sick so quickly.
Regardless, he showed up in the final and performed admirably. He finished the game with 28 points, two rebounds and three assists off the bench. He shot 9-of-15 from the field and banked 10 of his 12 free throw attempts. Despite his ailment, the guard was determined to play well and help his team lift the trophy.
Austin Reaves detailed his flu game experience
During an appearance on JJ Redick’s The Old Man and The Three podcast, he was asked to detail his experience of playing the In-Season Tournament Final with flu. The 26-year-old said that after noticing his symptoms and the pain he was in, Reaves was not only worried about his game but was also thinking about his life. He said,
“For me not to play is tough. I don’t like to sit out games. I feel like I’m letting my team down. Finally, I got up, had a shower, and got out the door. The whole time before the game, I’m like, ‘God I can’t.’ Catching the ball hurt, everything hurt and then the game happened and I played well.”
His commitment to helping the team is one of the reasons why he has become one of the three indispensable players on the Lakers roster alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The franchise expects him to continue ascending and become a cornerstone.
