Brock Purdy’s ascent from ultimate select of the 2022 NFL Draft to entrenched establishing quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers has few parallels in sports activities — excluding possibly within the NBA, the place Austin Reaves has passed through a indistinguishable get up over the era two seasons from undrafted to most likely probably the most remarkable participant at the Los Angeles Lakers now not named LeBron James or Anthony Davis.

Skip Bayless made the comparability between Purdy and Reaves on Thursday’s episode of “Undisputed” along his pristine co-star, three-time NFL Professional Bowler Keyshawn Johnson, and visitor longtime NBA analyst Rachael Nichols.

“I’ve never seen anything like the [difference between] Austin Reaves in college and what he turned into in pro basketball,” Bayless mentioned. “It’s like [Purdy], where I watched him a lot at Iowa State and saw none of this that I saw last year in San Francisco. … Austin Reaves at Oklahoma, I watched a majority of his games because I am a Sooner fan. He shot 28% from the college three-point line … Nobody drafted him. 

“Later he got here out right here, and I mentioned, ‘Austin Reaves is on this Lakers squad?’”

But in watching Reaves’ rapid rise last season and into the Lakers’ unlikely playoff run to the Western Conference Finals, Bayless sees similarities between the combo guard and another big-name NFL quarterback.

 “Abruptly, that first yr he shoots 32% from 3 and next ultimate yr he shot 40% from 3,” Bayless continued. “It’s Jalen Hurts-like the place unexpectedly, you change into your self on the perfect stage.”

“LeBron loves this child (Reaves) as a result of he is aware of the right way to play games basketball,” Bayless added. “He virtually all the time makes the proper play games, and LeBron — who nonetheless has the perfect IQ in all of basketball — feeds off that as a result of he can consider it. 

“Then all of a sudden, Austin Reaves down the stretch through the playoffs started to be the closer for this team because when they needed a big bucket, he would go get it.”

Johnson, a Los Angeles local and previous USC soccer standout who has adopted the Lakers carefully each as a fan and as an area sports activities radio host, identified that the staff — and its supremacy famous person — perceive Reaves’ significance to them due to the four-year, $56 million trade in he signed to stay with the staff in limited detached company. 

“Last year, he kind of came onto the scene; LeBron James signed off on it and said, ‘I can play with this guy,’ and then all of a sudden he just continued to get better and better and better,” Johnson mentioned. “He was very important to our success in the postseason on both ends of the floor. He had some streaky shooting, but when he got hot, the rest was history. … He’s a complementary shooter to LeBron James, and in LeBron’s career, he [has] had shooters around him.”

Johnson additionally expects a much-improved Lakers squad then season in comparison to the ultimate one, when the Lakers struggled earlier than a significant roster overhaul on the business closing date that incorporated jettisoning level safe Russell Westbrook and changing him with D’Angelo Russell, opening up Reaves to tackle a larger ball-handling position. 

The Lakers re-signed Russell, Reaves and fellow playoff spark plug Rui Hachimura and collected the staff possibility at the Jarred Vanderbilt’s commitment previous, which means that the Lakers have retained all 5 starters and its maximum remarkable bench participant (Hachimura) from ultimate season’s postseason run.

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