LOS ANGELES – Since JJ Redick became head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the things he’s challenged budding star Austin Reaves with is taking on more of a leadership role. This season, as one of the faces of the franchise alongside Luka Doncic and fresh off signing a new lucrative contract, that role becomes much more important.

Redick is a firm believer in accountability, and owning some form of leadership, regardless of status or role on the team, is something he’s challenged each player on the roster to do. With Austin Reaves, leadership isn’t so much being extremely vocal during timeouts or on the bench or in practice, he prefers developing relationships with each of his Lakers teammates and building in that way.

“People lead in different ways. I’m not someone that’s gonna sit out here and scream at people. I like to talk to people one-on-one, have real conversations that way. People will never feel like I’m trying to embarrass them in front of people,” Reaves told reporters during Media Day. “If it’s practice, whenever we have a down period of time, just pulling people to the side, talking to them about what I see. Just trying to give everybody my input, how I see things to help them move forward.”

Since Reaves joined the Lakers, he’s had an example to follow in terms of being a leader with LeBron James. This is the first time in his career that he will not be teammates with the 24-year veteran. And to add to that, the Lakers overhauled their roster this offseason.

Counting the two-way contracts, there are 11 new faces on the team. The lone returners are Reaves, Doncic, Jake LaRavia, Bronny James, Dalton Knecht, Jarred Vanderbilt, Adou Thiero and Chris Mañon. Having joined the Lakers in 2021, Reaves is now the longest-tenured player on the team. But for him, his approach remains the same. There isn’t anything grand he has to do differently as far as stepping into a leading role.

“It’s different for everybody. I’m not gonna lead the same way Bron does. I’m not gonna lead the same way Luka does,” Reaves continued. “I like to do things a little different. Like I was talking about, do it more one-on-one conversations. There will be times where I need to speak up in group settings, and I’ll do that when the time comes. But I think you just gotta be true to yourself and do what’s comfortable for you.”

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Reaves is coming off a career year in which he was in the running for his first All-Star appearance before a calf injury sidelined him and took him out of the mix. He appeared in 51 games at a little over 34 minutes per game, while averaging a career-high 23.3 points.

He also averaged 4.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.1 steals with splits of 49 percent shooting from the field, 36 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 87.1 percent shooting from the free-throw line. Reaves has improved every single season he’s been in the NBA, and he realizes expectations might be a little higher due to his new deal and pecking order on the roster.

But one thing Reaves has stressed is that he does whatever the game calls for. Some nights might require him to be more of a scorer. Other nights he might need to do more playmaking. And as he prepares for his sixth year in the NBA, that’s the same approach he’s going to bring.

“I don’t think anything really changes about how I approach the game. I go into every game wanting to win the game, whatever that looks like,” Reaves said. “It’s not like I’m sitting here saying I got to score 25 points a night. It’s just whatever I can do to help our team be successful on every single night. It could be do that one night, do something else the other night. So whatever the case may be night to night is what I’m going to try to do to help my team be successful.”s