Austin Reaves Reveals What Lakers Need To Clean Up Before The Regular Season

The Los Angeles Lakers are currently 2-1 in preseason and have two more games left before they officially start their 2026-27 NBA season against the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 21. The Lakers still have issues to iron out, and Austin Reaves was asked at practice on Sunday what he feels they need to clean up before the regular season commences.

“I’m pretty sure JJ [Redick] said we’ve had 20 or more turnovers in every game,” Reaves said, via Infanity TV. “Me and Luka [Doncic] probably are the main catalyst for those. So, clean those up, clean some stuff up defensively. But I think kind of going into the preseason, stuff was let’s really dial up our intensity, and then you can kind of rein that back into more of a system when we have to, but the main focus is just to play hard.

“We’ve had a little bit of defensive mix-ups,” Reaves continued. “I think just from honestly playing too hard. So just cleaning those up, cleaning the turnovers up, and being organized offensively.”

The Lakers have indeed registered more than 20 turnovers in all three games so far. They had 21 turnovers in their opening game against the Sacramento Kings and 25 when the teams met again on Thursday. In between those two Kings games, the Lakers had 25 turnovers against the Warriors on Tuesday. They have conceded a combined 76 points from those turnovers, and that isn’t a recipe for success.

Now Reaves called himself one of the main culprits, but he has only played one game so far and had three turnovers in it. Luka Doncic, on the other hand, has played two games and has 10 turnovers.

Doncic led the NBA last season with 4.0 turnovers per game. The Slovenian’s ball-dominant style of play invariably leads to mistakes, but his offensive production makes up for it. Still, you’d like to see that number go down. The Lakers averaged 14.5 turnovers per game in 2025-26, which ranked 15th. That isn’t terrible, but they can do better.

Reaves pointed to some defensive mix-ups as well here, and having an anchor like Walker Kessler would help in that regard. Kessler, acquired via a sign-and-trade from the Utah Jazz, still hasn’t played for the Lakers in preseason after jamming his left pinky finger during training camp. He is itching to get out on the court, and we could see him on Tuesday against the Warriors.

A new arrival who has played a lot is Sandro Mamukelashvili, who has featured in all three preseason games. Reaves thinks Mamukelashvili has the basketball IQ of a point guard and wants him to be assertive when he has the ball.

Reaves, Doncic, and Kessler will be starters for the Lakers, but there still isn’t clarity on who joins them. Redick revealed he still hasn’t finalized the lineup, but the 28-year-old guard made it clear that he’ll be confident in whoever is put in.

“I’ll show up and play regardless,” Reaves said. “I think we have a lot of guys that could start. Unfortunately there’s five guys that are going to start, and like JJ said a while back, he’s pretty sure three of them and the other two, regardless of who we roll out there, we have high confidence in.”

Quentin Grimes looks the likeliest candidate for one of the two spots. Mamukelashvili has been talked about as the fifth starter, but the Lakers might be too weak defensively with him in there. The players still have two more games to make an impression, as mentioned earlier, and the first of those chances will come against the Warriors.