Lakers' Reaves Defends LeBron: 'He Can Be Great, and People Would Still Kill Him'

The Los Angeles Lakers roster looks different as it prepares for the Western Conference Finals than it did in the early portion of the season with a 2-10 record, but there is still the same 38-year-old at the center of it all adding to his greatness.

LeBron James may not be the same dominant force he was in his prime, but teammate Austin Reaves still had nothing but good things to say about the team's leader following a second-round win over the Golden State Warriors.

"Honestly, he can be great, and people would still kill him because he wasn't who he was in 2013," Reaves said, per Jovan Buha of the Athletic. "But his motor from the get-go was, it was special, and his attention to detail has been on 10 since the first game against Memphis."

Los Angeles moved Russell Westbrook and brought in D'Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura and Malik Beasley in a number of moves ahead of the trade deadline, but its championship hopes were always going to come down to Anthony Davis and James.

Davis playing some of the best basketball of his career allows James to pick his spots more easily, and the all-time great is averaging 23.4 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists through 12 playoff games.

A series against Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets will pose a new challenge, but James has risen to the occasion throughout his career. Reaves surely expects nothing different in the Western Conference Finals.