LOS ANGELES — Taking pictures guard for the Lakers Austin Reaves is open to a brand new nickname.
Throughout a surprisingly profitable rookie season by which Reaves went from undrafted prospect to two-way choose to signal a two-year deal and turn out to be a starter, he picked up a few nicknames from the Lakers trustworthy: “AR -fifteen”. and “Hillbilly Kobe”.
Reaves can be advantageous distancing himself from each.
“I don’t condone the gun violence that happens in our nation,” Reaves advised ESPN. “However you actually cannot management what [nickname] folks offer you I imply, I did not come out and say my identify was that. There have been others, just like the ‘Hillbilly Kobe’, that are most likely not the perfect within the state of affairs that’s taking place, with the demise of Kobe”.
Earlier this week, the College of Florida quarterback anthony richardsonwho, like Reaves, wears the quantity 15 on his uniform, additionally left the AR-15 affiliation.
“Whereas a nickname is only a nickname and ‘AR-15’ was merely a illustration of my initials mixed with my jersey quantity, it is very important me that my identify and model are not related to the assault rifle I used to be utilized in mass shootings, which I don’t condone in any manner, form or type,” Richardson shared in an announcement on Twitter.
Reaves, 24, got here throughout Richardson’s story and was impressed by the rising 21-year-old.
“I am comfortable for him. I would like him to make use of his voice,” Reaves mentioned. “Everybody ought to have the ability to converse freely about what they consider. I really feel like extra folks have to take positions like this and say what they actually really feel as a result of that is how issues are put. That is the way you pose questions to boost eyebrows and examine issues. That is how I am comfortable for him and I want him nothing however the perfect”.
An AR-15 semi-automatic rifle was the weapon used at an elementary college in Uvalde, Texas, in Might when 21 folks, most of them youngsters, had been killed. It has been the weapon of selection in 11 mass shootings in the USA since 2012, in keeping with USA Right now.
“Each time one thing like this occurs, your coronary heart simply sinks and you are feeling for the households that had been connected to all of that,” Reaves mentioned.
Reaves wore quantity 12 “all his life,” however had to decide on a distinct quantity when he got here to Los Angeles as a result of Kendrick Nun I already claimed it. After attempting on quantity 31 throughout summer time league final 12 months, the quantity his brother wears and the quantity his mom wears on the basketball courtroom, he determined a smaller quantity would match him higher.
“I actually did not like the way it turned out,” he mentioned of the quantity 31. “15 is similar to 12. 5 and two are simply reversed.”
Though the Newark, Arkansas native grew up capturing weapons, that use was very completely different from how artillery has been part of the general public massacres plaguing the US.
“It is actually simply farmland,” Reaves mentioned of his small hometown of simply 1,200. “Individuals hunt. You hunt deer. You hunt duck. You hunt turkey. You do all these issues.”
He is hoping his play subsequent season will encourage Lakers followers to give you a brand new tag for him.
“I am at all times open to new concepts,” he mentioned. “As a result of there’s at all times one other one that might keep and may very well be higher than one other earlier one. So I am at all times open to new issues and other people actually opening their brains and considering of recent issues for me. These issues additionally assist us in model conditions. and issues like that”.
Particularly after the Lakers’ struggles final season, Reaves expects to be labeled a winner.
“The primary aim is simply to win basketball video games,” Reaves mentioned when requested to look forward to his targets for his sophomore season. “That is all I care about. Profitable. Final 12 months was a disappointment, however it’s a must to flip the web page and work out how we will mix this to make it work.”