Los Angeles Lakers star Austin Reaves had a great game Monday night, scoring 22 points in a win against the Utah Jazz, but he didn’t fare well in an impromptu postgame vocabulary test.
A reporter posed a question to Reaves after the game: “Austin, just as a basketball aficionado, was there a part of …”
“A what?” Reaves asked.
“Helping your vocab tonight, ‘aficionado,'” the reporter replied.
“What’s that?” Reaves asked.
“A fan,” the reporter responded.
Lakers teammate Jaxson Hayes, sitting beside Reaves, jumped in to clarify. “Big fan,” Hayes said, shaking his head in amusement.
“Someone who appreciates the game of basketball,” the reporter added.
“I didn’t know that,” Reaves said. “Thank you.”
Austin Reaves just learned the word aficionado lol
Shoutout @mcten! pic.twitter.com/BFjlmTZJE5
— Oh No He Didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) February 11, 2025
The reporter continued, asking Reaves about new teammate Luka Dončić, whose recent acquisition in a trade with the Dallas Mavericks stunned the sports world. Dončić made his Lakers debut Monday night.
“Yeah, I’m a big fan,” Reaves said. “I don’t know what word you just said.”
In addition to expanding his vocabulary, Austin Reaves has been taking a lead role with the Lakers this season and looks to be the third man in a potential new-look Big 3 in Los Angeles. Without James and Dončić on Saturday against the Pacers, he scored a career high 45 points in a surprising victory. For the season, he is also averaging a career high 19.2 points per game.
This brings to mind the time a few years ago when a reporter stumped then-Golden State Warriors teammates Steph Curry and Kevin Durant with the word, “kerfuffle.”
Screaming at this part pic.twitter.com/uAvgLkTLMx
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) May 7, 2017
“That is a word right there,” Curry joked.
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.