Lakers’ Austin Reaves surprised by former teacher he once called ‘mom’

The Los Angeles Lakers are gearing up for their first-round playoff matchup against the Houston Rockets, and Austin Reaves remains focused on getting his body right for the postseason grind.

But while basketball stays at the forefront, something happened recently that took him back to his roots in a way he did not see coming.

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Reaves sat down for an interview with NBC News, and what seemed like a routine conversation turned into one of the more emotional moments of his career.

He talked about his upbringing in Arkansas and the people who shaped him before the NBA entered the picture. One name kept surfacing, Priscilla Callahan, his former high school teacher.

“She was one of my teachers growing up. She kept me moving forward. So yeah, a lot of thanks to her. One of my teachers, Miss Callahan, was one of the biggest influences as a teacher and as a student. I wasn’t the greatest student in the world, but she did her best to keep me on the path and make me see the bigger picture.”

Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves

Austin Reaves gets surprise from high school teacher

Later in the interview, Callahan walked into the room and the surprise hit immediately. Reaves froze for a second before the two embraced, and the weight of the moment became clear to everyone watching. It did not look staged, just raw emotion spilling over from someone who genuinely appreciated the woman standing in front of him.

Callahan did more than teach. She showed up. She ran the yearbook, attended games, and made herself available to students in ways that went beyond the classroom. That consistency built trust, and over time, players started calling her “mom.”

Reaves did too. She remembered one instance where that nickname caused a bit of confusion in front of his actual mother.