Charlotte Hornets NBA Draft Profile: Austin Reaves

The Charlotte Hornets own their own first-round pick and are owed second-round picks from the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Clippers. Over the next couple of months, leading up to the 2021 NBA Draft, Swarm & Sting will take a look at prospects hoping to hear their name called on draft night.

We’ve spent a good amount of energy focusing on players that may be available when the Hornets pick in the first round with the 11th overall selection, but now we turn the page to focus on a number of players who may still be on the board when Charlotte picks at No. 56 and 57.

Age: 23

Height: 6′5″

Weight: 197 lbs

College Stats/Awards

Austin Reaves enters the 2021 NBA Draft as one of the more experienced players at the NCAA level. Reaves spent two seasons at Wichita State before transferring and finishing his college career at Oklahoma.

During the 2020-21 season, Reaves played in and started 25 games averaging 18.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.6 assists, while shooting 44.3% from the field.

Primary Strengths

Last season, Reaves was Oklahoma’s first option on offense and their best shot creator. He is a confident and creative scorer and improved his scoring efficiency during his last season with the Sooners.

Reaves scored mostly with his jump shot but has a lot of tricks in his bags; he is also good at scoring from attacking the rim and in catch and shoot situations. Reaves is also a good free-throw shooter; he averaged 84.4% from the line during his two seasons at Oklahoma.

Reaves is a solid playmaker who is good at finding the open man off the bounce. He is also a solid defender for his size.

Primary Weaknesses

Reaves can be a streaky shooter and often relies on his jump shoot too much which leads to him taking questionable attempts.

He has good feet but struggles to defend quicker players and does not have a good first step off the dribble.

Draft Projection

Experienced but older; teams may feel like Reaves does not have much upside. He is a skilled guard who can shoot and get teammates involved with his passing. He’ll need to make better decisions when shooting the ball and take a big leap forward defensively to stick on an NBA roster. Reaves will likely come off the board at the end of the second round or go undrafted and look to stand out in summer league play.

The draft lottery will be held on Tuesday, June 22 on ESPN. The 2021 NBA Draft will be held on Thursday, July 29 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The draft will be televised on ABC (first-round only) and ESPN.