Austin Reaves’ girlfriend Jenna Barber was front and center for the Los Angeles Lakers star’s epic 2023 playoff run.
Although L.A.’s season came to an unceremonious conclusion on Monday night following their most recent loss to the Denver Nuggets, Reaves has emerged from the proceedings as one of the Lakers’ biggest rising stars.
Not only has he guaranteed himself a massive contract this summer, but he will likely be a focal point that the front office builds around going forward.
Barber shared a number of intimate photos this past week from a recent Lakers game, and they obviously went viral very quickly.
“Such a fan chapter in life,” she wrote in the caption.
This isn’t the first time Barber’s photos have caused a stir. Some wild pictures she published previously also went mega-viral.
Aside from that one Miami Heat cheerleader whose personal photos set the internet ablaze this week, nobody’s imagery has been as impressive as Barber’s.
Girlfriend stuff aside, Reaves was spectacular throughout the entire latter portion of the year. Where he really stepped it up, though, was in the playoffs. And in the Western Conference Finals, particularly, he really took it to a whole new level.
Against the Nuggets, Reaves averaged 21.3 points, 5.3 assists and 3.5 rebounds per outing. He also proved to be one of L.A.’s most consistent and reliable options on offense, especially with LeBron James’ shot not falling for most of the series.
After Los Angeles was eliminated in Game 4, he offered a very mature take on the season that was.
“You can’t ever take any of this for granted. I mean, I was just in the Western Conference Finals. If you told me that when I was 15 years old I would have looked at you like I had just seen a ghost, a lot of lessons learned.” Austin Reaves on the season. pic.twitter.com/46qF0tcPlY
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) May 23, 2023
“You can’t ever take any of this for granted,” he said.
“I mean, I was just in the Western Conference Finals. If you told me that when I was 15 years old I would have looked at you like I had just seen a ghost, a lot of lessons learned.”
The video speaks for itself. https://t.co/Fi2kgGiIFe
— Game 7 (@game7__) May 23, 2023
The coming months will be life-changing for both Reaves and Barber.
The former will be paid more money than he ever likely thought was possible, and the latter will have a front row seat to the whole thing.
Will Barber and Reaves quietly become the Lakers’ very own First Couple going forward? Time will tell.
Related: Los Angeles Lakers’ Offseason Plan For D’Angelo Russell
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
