Let's talk about Austin Reeves because it's I think it's well passed when we should have mentioned him. It really has been coming since last year. This is the guy that's made Laker fans stop crying about losing Alex crew so pretty much overnight. He's been on a tear ever since returning from injury. Laker Austin Reeves, undrafted free agent Austin Reeves. They call him what I call him, like the the Hicck, Kobe Bryant or something like that. It's crazy.
In his last nine games, Austin Reeves is averaging twenty four and six thirty eight percent from three and an average plus minus of ten point eight. That is sick. To just get him off the street and for him to contribute like this is insane. Better Yet, though the Lakers are eleven and eight since Reeves came back from injury, they are eight and ten in games he's missed so
far this year. Doesn't feel like a lot until you realize that a fifty eight percent winning percentage would with him, which is where they're playing with him in the lineup, would put them squarely in fourth place in the West. Right now, looking at a home series in the playoffs at Crypto dot com arena. I don't know. Could Austin Reeves be the new player to build around on the Los Angeles Lakers? Could he be the Lakers' most important piece? I don't know. I'm not saying he's is. I'm not
saying he's not. But he is getting He is scoring like a super score star, and he is getting superstar calls. In the last last four games, Austin Reeves has gone through the line twenty three times. Is this man Lebron James? Is this man Kevin Durant? Who in their right mind would make that script up where the undrafted free agent is getting more superstar calls? Then? I don't know. Steph Curry. Let's look at Steph Curry, all right, So last four games,
Austin Reeves has gone to line fifty three times. Steph Curry twelve times in his last four games. For comparison, our guy Sam SPINDIARRII from The Light Years podcast, tweeted this out. Curry forty five drives, two free throw attempts, Austin Reeves fifty drives, sixteen free throw attempts. Curry passed sixteen times on those drives. Reeves passed seventeen times out of those drives. So, in other words, Austin Reeves right
now is getting superstar calls from the refs. As an undrafted free agent, he is going to align an average of thirteen times per game. Joe l. Embiid currently leads the league in free throw attempts at ten per game. Austin Reeves is getting better calls a better whistle than Joel Embiid is the sane. Yes, he gets more offensive calls,
plays call for him when Lebron is out. Of course, he's averaging nine and a half points per game when Lebron is playing and sixteen points per game when Lebron is out, But that does not diminish what our hill Billy Kobe has been up to this season. He has got been nearly the same winning percentage as Lebron has when he plays the season five oh nine winning percentage versus Broun's five to eleven winning percentage. The Lakers win pretty much in every scenario with Austin Reeves. Austin Reeves
in total is twenty eight and twenty seven. Reeves without Braun is twelve and eleven. Reeves without ad is seven and six, Reeves withd lo Is seven and four, Reeves with Vanderbilt eleven and six. If you look at Austin Reeves completely for the year, he has a plus one oh seven for the season. That's top fifty. This man, this man is called the hill Billy Kobe. That's top fifty. If we redrafted. I thought about this. I went to the twenty twenty one draft, which is the year that
Austin Reeves was eligibly drafted but not drafted. If you look at it, which was a loaded draft. By the way, he probably is a mid first rounder in one of the most stack drafts in history, where you're going over. He probably gets drafted over. Jalen Suggs, probably gets drafted over, Zier Williams, James Booknight, Josh Primo, Chris Darte, Moses Moody,
Moses Mody, Corey Kisbert, maybe Davion Mitchell. That's crazy. So the Lakers live or die not with ad or Lebron, but rather a twenty four year old undrafted kid from the Haulers of Arkansas, the NBA's Western Conference. It's just very weird right now. It's very strange in the West. I don't know what's going on. Scriptwriters are on drugs. Let's move on. Kitty Cat. Kitty Cat is back. Karl Anthony Towns makes his return last night after missing a total of fifty two games. Fifty two games is how
long ago he went down. Time goes fast in the NBA, So there was a lot of drama about how bad the injury was. As you guys know, it was a Grade three calf strain, but the Wolves tried to downplay it. They said it was a Grade two calf strain. But he's finally back. Chris Finch put the ball in Karl Anthony's Towns hands against the Hawks with three point one
seconds left, and I'll be damned it worked. Karl Anthony Towns ends up going to the free throw line, pulling off a one twenty five four victory over Atlanta, which I thought that they would lose. He had twenty two four and three, He had two steals. Played very well within himself for a first game back. But more importantly, the Wolves need somebody that they can rely on at the end of games, because boy oh boy, they are
teeter tottering looking from the outside. In eight games left, more than enough time for Karl Anthony Towns to shake off the rest. But with Anthony Edwards out with an ankle injury, man, the Wolves are not healthy. If they could get aunt Man back in time, maybe they're dangerous in the playoffs. Remember they did take the Memphis Grizzlies into a very very tough series. Gonna be fun to watch. Not a lot of falter all about Carl Anthony Towns back.
I'm happy to see him on the court again until the offseason, when, of course you'll see trade rumors heating up where he'll play in twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four, because most likely the Wolves I think will move him. But shout out to Karl Anthony Towns coming back into the lineup. Shout out to Karl Anthony Towns doing something in a late game scenario, even if it is the
regular season, and the regular season doesn't matter whatsoever. Moving on Shaden Sharp, So I think people downplay this man. People are slandering Shadon Sharp's name for no reason. Yes, he is not a Rookie of the Year candidate. Yes he's not as good right now as Powell Ben Caro or Benedict Matherin or even Jalen Williams, but man last night best game of his young career. Six start, forty minutes. He was a plus twenty eight. But here's the thing
that was more exciting. Twenty four to nine and three nine rebounds. That's ridiculous. Twenty four nine rebounds, three assists and four steals for Shandon Sharp. That's a nineteen year old kid just putting up buckets, beating a Utah Jazz team. That is very tough, very tough. I think right now, this Shade Sharp performance, to me, he's only no trade list Blazers are a tanking team. They are not going anywhere.
They need another star, and you know what in order to get another star or not trading Shadon, that's it. Not for ogn Andobi, not for Pascal Siakam, not for Andrew Wiggins, no one. I think right now you're looking at a kid. I'm gonna predict it. Shaden Sharp is going to be one of the most talented people in the NBA period, hands down, six to six. His selling is the roof. As they say, with only ten games left in the season, there's not going to be a play in for us. I know that I want him
to start every single game. I want to see more Shaden sharp development. He's strapping. His defense looks really good. I want to see what he will do with thirty five minutes a game. Dare I say numbers like that will be the norm. Do not stunt this kid's development, Allow him to grow, Allow him to flourish. I know Damian Lillard looks more impatient than I am about the Blazers. He's starting to get frustrated again. But I haven't been this excited about a Blazers player since Dame Us. Of course,
we get Victor Wombiama and then everything changes. That's all the time that we have for this episode of the Heat Check check back Tuesday for an all new episode. Do not forget to watch the feed. Please follow us as the NBA season head towards the playoffs. Please download, Please subscribe, Please rate, Please review. Tell your friends about the podcast. If you like the NBA, I think we do a pretty good job of covering all the topics,
big and small, tea and nerd stuff. Follow us on social Even if TikTok gets banned in the United States, I'm moving to Canada. I'm gonna start making tiktoks from Canada and follow us also on the places that aren't getting shut down to on Twitter, on Instagram, maybe on Facebook. Maybe I'll start taking my takes to Facebook, because the heat check never sleeps, not even when the government is trying to shut my favorite social media platform down. That's all we got