When the Los Angeles Lakers found out LeBron James was slated to miss a big chunk of the start to 2025-26, it was an absolute given that Austin Reaves would step into the role of secondary star behind Luka Doncic. The quietly interesting question was who becomes the third scoring option.
Anyone thinking Rui Hachimura would get the honors had justification in that thought. In all fairness to those people, the Lakers forward has been tremendous, closely trailing behind at fourth in both the points per game and field goals attempted per game.