The time had come, the Lakers decided, to make a choice.
Since trading for D’Angelo Russell and playing him with Austin Reaves, the two guards largely alternated in the spotlight surrounding LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The touches, the shots, the responsibility — it usually always was split.
But gradually over the course of this season, that changed. Russell moved to the bench, Reaves becoming the primary ballhandler. And a trade with Brooklyn in December cemented it — the Lakers had cemented it.
Reaves was going to be their guy.