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Why it’s good Lakers’ wings ‘annoy’ star player

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Cite

Price, K. (2026, October 3). Why it’s good Lakers’ wings ‘annoy’ star player. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/03/sports/why-its-good-lakers-best-defenders-annoy-star-player/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

New York Post · collected 2026-10-03 · by Khobi Price

Quick Summary

Austin Reaves praised his Lakers teammates' defensive skills during training camp, saying they "annoy the hell out of him." The compliments highlight the rigorous defense provided by players like Adou Thiero, Matisse Thybulle, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Quentin Grimes. Coach JJ Redick emphasized that this competition benefits both the stars and the wings, as it sharpens their defensive skills against talented offensive players like Luka Doncic and Reaves himself.
Written by AI on 2026-10-03, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Lakers star guard Austin Reaves praised his teammates' defense during training camp, saying they "annoy the hell out of me" with their rigorous defensive play. This includes second-year forward Adou Thiero's athleticism and Matisse Thybulle's disruptive skills since joining the NBA in 2019. The article also highlights Jarred Vanderbilt and Quentin Grimes, who are expected to return to strong defensive roles, and Jake LaRavia, who has improved significantly on that end of the floor since entering the league in 2022. Head coach JJ Redick believes this competition will benefit the team's overall defense, emphasizing it as a key part of their training regimen.

Written for “Lakers Team Dynamics” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Lakers Team Dynamics
Sports · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
New York Post
Hedges 0 of 33 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles describe different interactions during the Lakers' training camp with distinct players providing comments.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
25
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 25 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-03 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

New York Post · 15511 article(s) · 35 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 35 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Khobi Price
56 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The Lakers will be without one of their starting wings when they kick off NBA Cup Group Play action against the Warriors on Friday night at Chase Center.
🔮 And he would’ve liked to return to the franchise.
🔮 The Lakers couldn’t stop Portland from anywhere on the court: The Blazers shot 59% from the field and 50% on 3s.
🔮 Coach JJ Redick responded “still working through that” when asked if there was an update on when Carr could make his regular season debut. “He was able to do a full practice,” Redick said.
🔮 The league announced Monday afternoon that Ziaire Williams was assessed a postgame flopping fine of $2,000 upon league office review.
🔮 After making the 3 that tied the game at 116, the 6-foot-8 guard slid into the proper help defensive position to take a charge against Keyonte George driving into the paint before the Jazz guard could make the kickout pass to Doncic’s man, Ace Bailey, in the corner.
🔮 Ziaire Williams and Matisse Thybulle both scored 11 points.
🔮 “He has a really intense way about him that I think will be really good for our group and guys will feed off that,” coach JJ Redick said.
🔮 It isn’t often that Lakers superstar Luka Doncic will joke around with an opponent – especially during a game.
🔮 The Lakers are projected to have one of the league’s easiest schedules through the first 10 games of the season for each team when accounting for opponents’ projected over/under win total for the 2026-27 season.
Also by Khobi Price
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 56 articles by Khobi Price →

Topics

All-Defensive Kings Knicks Lakers NBA

Subjects

Lakers ORG · 8× Reaves PERSON · 6× NBA ORG · 4× Doncic PERSON · 3× Thybulle PERSON · 3× Luka PERSON · 2× Adou Thiero’s PERSON · 1× Austin Reaves PERSON · 1× Jarred Vanderbilt PERSON · 1× Matisse Thybulle’s PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Matisse Thybulle’s anticipation and active hands, having been one of the NBA’s most disruptive defenders since entering the league in 2019. And that’s before addressing Jarred Vanderbilt and Quentin Grimes, the latter of whom the Lakers are expecting to get back to embracing the defensive side of the ball after standing out on that end early in his career with the Knicks.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-03
🔮 With Reaves referring to the rigor of defense he’s had to go up against during each of the Lakers’ practices, the praise couldn’t have been any higher.
2026-10-03 · New York Post
Why it’s good Lakers’ wings ‘annoy’ star player · assertive framing

Claims (25 extracted, 0 hedged)

Lakers star guard Austin Reaves gave the team’s group of wings one of the best compliments they can hear. asserted
they → give → compliments
“They all annoy the hell out of me,” Reaves said after the first few days of training camp. asserted
Reaves → annoy → camp
With Reaves referring to the rigor of defense he’s had to go up against during each of the Lakers’ practices, the praise couldn’t have been any higher. asserted
praise → refer → practices
Adou Thiero’s combination of size and athleticism, with Reaves saying the second-year forward is already “one of the best athletes in the league”. asserted
forward → say → league
Matisse Thybulle’s anticipation and active hands, having been one of the NBA’s most disruptive defenders since entering the league in 2019. And that’s before addressing Jarred Vanderbilt and Quentin Grimes, the latter of whom the Lakers are expecting to get back to embracing the defensive side of the ball after standing out on that end early in his career with the Knicks. asserted
Lakers → enter → Knicks
Or Jake LaRavia, who’s improved significantly on that end of the floor since entering the NBA in 2022. asserted
who → improve → 2022
These are the types of defensive challenges the Lakers stars have been going up against on a daily basis. asserted
stars → go → basis
“It’s going to be a healthy competition and it gets you better,” coach JJ Redick said Saturday. asserted
Redick → go → ?
“It’s going to make Austin better when Ziaire is picking them up full court every possession and Matisse is in the passing lane trying to blow things up. asserted
Matisse → go → things
Adou, with his physicality…those guys are getting better from practicing that way.” But the challenge, and benefits, go both ways. asserted
challenge → get → physicality
Just like the Lakers wings are helping make the team’s stars better, Doncic and Reaves are also making the Lakers’ best perimeter defenders even better. asserted
defenders → help → ?
“I mean, you have to work so hard – they’re so talented,” Thybulle said Saturday. asserted
Thybulle → mean → ?
“For me it’s great because getting to play against two of the best offensive players in the NBA every day just primes you for – it primes all of us, but me specifically – just primes you for what to expect. asserted
it → ’ → what
“It was a big thing when you’re growing up that practice should be harder than the games. asserted
practice → grow → games
And I think in the NBA it’s a little different because you just have to pace yourself for such a long season, but guarding Luka and AR, practice is definitely going to be harder than the games.” asserted
practice → think → games
As a two-time All-Defensive team honoree in 2021 and ‘22, Thybulle has been one of the most impactful perimeter defenders for a while now. But he’s still learning. asserted
he → learn → while
And going against Doncic and Reaves have helped provide lessons. asserted
going → go → lessons
“The importance of just being solid,” Thybulle responded when asked what he’s learned defensively during his career. asserted
he → respond → career
“The best offensive players in the league, Luka being probably one of the best, changes pace so well. asserted
Luka → change → pace
As I’m growing in this league, growing as a defender, learning when to change pace and go for steals vs. [sitting] back, [being] solid and [making] it more of a cat-and-mouse game as opposed to trying to be in every passing lane every single time. asserted
it → grow → lane
With the Lakers set to travel up north for preseason exhibitions against the Kings (Monday) and Warriors (Tuesday), players will soon be able to showcase how much it’s helped against each other over the last week. asserted
it → set → week
And with the Lakers hoping to have a significant defensive improvement from last season, Doncic and Reaves have been helping the team with the challenges they’ve brought offensively. asserted
they → hop → challenges
“It’s going to make me better on the defensive end just picking them up full court,” Bronny James said. asserted
James → go → them
“I’m annoyed by them, they get annoyed with me in practice. asserted
they → annoy → practice
Just continuing to do that will make me better for sure.” asserted
me → continue → that
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