“She’s With Travis Kelce Now”: Austin Reaves ‘Pines’ Over Taylor Swift 79 Days After Refuting Dating Rumors

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. For the good part of the last 3 weeks, this has been one of the biggest storylines surrounding the NFL and sports in general. The ‘Blank Space‘ artist and the 2x Superbowl winner have been rumored to be together since mid-September. While this has caused a lot of discussions in the media, there might not have been anyone impacted by it more than Austin Reaves. The Lakers’ star might have just let his true feelings slip when ESPN Los Angeles asked the players to shoot their shot with their celebrity crushes.

This isn’t the first time Austin Reaves and Taylor Swift have been mentioned in the same sentence. In June, an X user put out a tweet saying Austin and Swift were seen in an Arkansas bar together. This led to a flurry of dating rumors that Austin addressed when he was on All The Smoke 79 days ago.

Austin Reaves named Taylor Swift as his celebrity crush

In what appears to be footage from Media Day, ESPN Los Angeles was seen asking Lakers players about their celebrity crushes. The first one in the video was Rui Hachimura. Initially, he was shy and didn’t know what to answer before finally naming Rihanna. Christian Wood claimed he had no celebrity crush, as did Gabe Vincent. Jalen Hood-Schifino had an answer that would please his girlfriend as he named her his crush.

The most interesting answer came from the Lakers’ $56 Million signee Austin Reaves. When he was asked to name his celebrity crush, Reaves said,

“She’s with Travis Kelce now”

In honor of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, we asked the #Lakers to shoot their shot with their celebrity crushes 💘 pic.twitter.com/FaBGg5c8vS

— ESPN Los Angeles (@ESPNLosAngeles) October 6, 2023

The pain in Austin’s voice could clearly be heard. However, it comes as a surprise. 79 days ago, back in July, Reaves was on All The Smoke and asked about the TS rumor. Reaves said,

“I’ve never met her, never talked to her. It’s all bullsh*t!”

The best time for him to shoot his shot would have been when she was single, and they were both linked via that rumor. Now that she’s with Kelce, ‘pining’ over her, even if it’s jokingly, would get Reaves nothing more than a few laughs and awes.

What’s next for Austin?

Having signed a $56 Million deal with the Lakers this offseason, Austin Reaves must be feeling pretty good. He was a key part of the Team USA squad that went to the Philippines. After a busy summer, between the rumors and the FIBA WC, Reaves is back with his Lakers family.

To start things off, Reaves would join LeBron James in not playing on Saturday against the Warriors. When the season comes around though, Reaves will have a big role to play. With LeBron James now entering his 21st season and possibly not playing as many minutes, Reaves would have to pitch in more.

Another big change might be Reaves playing PG instead of SG. He’s talked to the Head Coach about this, as per his comment during a post-practice interview.

Austin Reaves said he and Darvin Ham have had several conversations about him playing more point guard this season. Ham referenced using Reaves at point guard in certain lineups last week.

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) October 2, 2023

We’ll have to see how the Lakers utilize their 25-year-old guard to the best. With the team having championship aspirations, Reaves would have to play a significant role. We’ll have to see how he rises to the occasion.