Austin Reaves downplays Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being a foul magnet

In their upcoming NBA playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Los Angeles Lakers will have the difficult task of containing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. In the minds of many, he is on his way to winning his second straight regular-season MVP award, and with an average of 31.1 points a game, he was second in the league in scoring.

One criticism Gilgeous-Alexander often receives is that he allegedly "baits" referees into calling fouls on players trying to defend him. There is no doubt that he's a foul magnet — he averaged nine free throw attempts during the regular season, which was third in the NBA, and he made 87.9% of those attempts.

Austin Reaves will probably have to guard Gilgeous-Alexander, at least at times, and he downplayed the superstar guard's tendency to draw fouls in bunches by portraying it as merely a good strategy.

“I know that’s a tough topic to talk about because everybody blows it out of proportion,” Reaves said. “End of the day, he wants to win and is gonna do whatever it takes to win. If it’s shoot 20 free throws, so be it.

“If I shoot 20 free throws, I’d be happy. I don’t think there's any bad intentions with trying to get to the line. I think it’s somewhat of a, I don't know if I'd call it art, but how many possessions he has the ball in his hands, and how much he does attack, they’re not going to shoot zero free throws.”

Reaves himself is a player who some feel is a little overreliant on drawing fouls. He's certainly good at getting the whistle in his favor, as he took 7.3 foul shot attempts during the regular season and shot 87.1% from the charity stripe. Overall, he averaged 23.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game.

He returned from an oblique strain during Game 5 of the Lakers' first-round series against the Houston Rockets. He will need to play at the top of his ability throughout this series versus if his team is to have any chance of competing, let alone winning.