Oklahoma Professional Athletes

Oklahoma alumni had a week to remember in the NBA's opening days, with Austin Reaves turning heads in Los Angeles and Trae Young quarterbacking Washington's most intriguing new partnership in years.

Austin Reaves: The Lakers' Engine

The El Dorado, Arkansas native wasted no time reminding anyone who needed reminding that he is, emphatically, not a role player anymore. Reaves opened the Lakers' season on Thursday with 23 points, six assists, four rebounds, two steals and a block in a 127-105 dismantling of the Golden State Warriors — a performance that contributed to a dominant third quarter in which L.A. outscored Golden State 36-16. He then turned around two days later and topped himself, dropping a game-high 28 points with nine assists and a plus-14 in a 125-117 win over the Clippers.

Back-to-back games of 23 and 28 points, with nine assists in the second outing. Through two games, Reaves looks less like a complementary piece alongside Luka Dončić and more like a co-star capable of carrying a night when the offense needs it. The Lakers are 2-0, and the former Sooner is a big reason why.

Off the court, Reaves has been equally candid — reflecting publicly on LeBron James' departure to Philadelphia and weighing in on the culture shift in the Lakers locker room. On the court, the only shift that matters is the one in expectation: Reaves is now operating as a genuine No. 2 option on a title contender.

Trae Young: Running Washington's New Offense

Trae Young's situation in Washington is the more complex story. Paired with Anthony Davis — who made a franchise-record debut with 34 points and 12 rebounds against Milwaukee — Young has a legitimate co-star for the first time since his Atlanta days. In the Wizards' season-opening 128-116 win over the Bucks on Wednesday, Young posted 20 points and 13 assists, controlling the game's tempo and immediately vouching for Davis as a future MVP candidate.

Two days later, the Raptors handed Washington a reality check, 112-102. Young was still productive — 22 points, 12 assists — but Toronto's defense disrupted Washington's flow enough to earn the road win. The defeat underscores the work still ahead for a team still building chemistry around two high-usage stars.

Still, the early returns are legitimately encouraging. Young has posted 20+ points and 12+ assists in each of Washington's first two games. The question for the Wizards isn't whether the talent is there — it clearly is — but how quickly Young and Davis can sync into something cohesive enough to hold up over an 82-game season.

The Rest of the Sooners

Buddy Hield has had a quiet start with Chicago. He was limited to 13 minutes in a blowout loss to the Raptors on Wednesday, then played 15 minutes and scored 13 points in a Bulls win over Milwaukee on Friday — his best moment of the week, even if his role off the bench remains a secondary one on a rebuilding club.

Jeremiah Fears, the Pelicans' rookie point guard, has seen early action but has yet to make a major impact. He logged 20 and 23 minutes in New Orleans' first two games — both losses — with modest totals of 8 and 7 points respectively. The sample size is tiny, but the early-season minus numbers reflect a Pelicans team still finding itself. Fears is one to watch, not one to judge yet.

Two former Sooners are entering the 2026-27 NBA season as the faces of their respective franchises — and both have the contracts to prove it.

Austin Reaves: $180M, Zero Trade Requests, and the Keys to the Locker Room

Austin Reaves is locked in Los Angeles. The Lakers signed him to a four-year, $180 million extension this offseason, cementing his status as the second-most important piece of the franchise behind Luka Doncic — a standing that held even as trade offers came in. According to Heavy Sports, the Lakers rejected at least two significant swap proposals involving Reaves during the offseason, including one centered on a 28-year-old All-Star guard and another involving Finals MVP wing Jaylen Brown.

The front office's message was clear. Now Reaves is sending one of his own inside the locker room.

With LeBron James now in Philadelphia, Reaves has stepped into a leadership vacuum that, according to insiders, he's filling more naturally than even Doncic. A ClutchPoints report noted that Reaves — not the superstar Slovenian — is the most outspoken voice in the Lakers' building. Head coach JJ Redick, entering his third season, has openly discussed MVP-caliber expectations for Doncic, but it's Reaves who's setting the tone culturally. Sports Illustrated reported that he's taken on an elder-statesman role, mentoring younger players like Adou Thiero in a manner reminiscent of a former Lakers champion.

On the court, preseason was encouraging. Reaves continued to produce during the Lakers' exhibition slate, though the team split results — including a 121-106 loss to Denver in which Nuggets forward Cam Johnson was ejected for elbowing Reaves in the face with a Flagrant 2 foul. LA's projected opening-night lineup of Doncic, Reaves, Quentin Grimes, Ziaire Williams, and Walker Kessler has drawn genuine championship buzz. Kendrick Perkins went as far as declaring the Lakers' offense the best in the NBA entering the new season.

Trae Young: Fresh Start, New Number, $212 Million Buy-In

Trae Young's move to Washington was always going to raise eyebrows. Leaving Atlanta after eight seasons, declining a $49 million player option, and signing a four-year, $212 million extension with a rebuilding Wizards squad isn't conventional franchise-player logic. But Young has been direct about his reasoning: he wanted to be in Washington and felt genuine alignment with the organization's direction.

The reset extends to his jersey. Young switched from No. 11 — his number throughout his Hawks tenure — to No. 3 in Washington, a nod to Chris Paul and Allen Iverson, but also, per ClutchPoints, something carrying deeper personal meaning as he turns the page on his career.

With the No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa now in the fold, Young is already playing the veteran. After Washington's preseason finale — a 107-106 loss to the Pelicans — Young offered pointed advice to the rookie: focus on winning, not individual numbers. It's the kind of message that signals Young sees himself as a cornerstone, not just a star waiting out a rebuild.

Meanwhile, in New Orleans

Jeremiah Fears, the third active Oklahoma alum in the league, is drawing real attention in New Orleans. Sports Illustrated named Fears a central priority for the Pelicans heading into the season, with the young point guard's development framed as central to the franchise's new direction under coach Jamahl Mosley. Fears' trajectory bears watching as the regular season gets underway.

The 2026-27 NBA season tips off with Oklahoma alumni holding down significant roles at three different franchises. Reaves and Young, in particular, are no longer prospects or complementary pieces — they're the story.

Oklahoma alumni are making noise across the NBA this preseason, and the storylines couldn't be more different — a freshly paid star returning from injury in L.A., a point guard with Finals ambitions in Washington, and a young Pelican turning defensive heads in New Orleans.

Austin Reaves: $180M Man Makes His Return

The biggest Sooner story of the week had nothing to do with a box score. Austin Reaves locked in a five-year, $180 million extension with the Lakers this offseason — a deal that survived reported interest from the Detroit Pistons — and then finally suited up for his preseason debut against the Sacramento Kings on October 5. The Lakers won 114-110, and while Reaves was predictably rusty after his absence, his presence alone settled questions about the team's backcourt heading into 2026-27.

Reaves enters the season as Luka Doncic's primary co-star, with the two already generating chemistry storylines. Reaves revealed this week that Doncic was notably "sheltered" after his trade from Dallas — "We didn't really speak" — before the relationship blossomed into one of the league's more dynamic backcourt partnerships. Reaves has even joked about paying fans to trash-talk Doncic to unlock what he calls "Super Saiyan energy" from the Slovenian superstar. Teammate Sandro Mamukelashvili described the Reaves-Doncic combination as a core offensive engine capable of making a serious title push. Lakers coach JJ Redick, for his part, is managing the roster carefully amid Walker Kessler's finger injury — but getting Reaves back healthy is the headline win of the week.

There was one eyebrow-raising subplot: Reaves was spotted wearing Nike Kobe sneakers during the preseason game rather than his signature Rigorer shoes, prompting speculation that his sneaker deal may be on its way out.

Trae Young: Wizards or Bust

In Washington, Trae Young isn't hedging. The four-time All-Star made clear this week that his goal for 2026-27 is simple: reach the NBA Finals. That's not idle preseason talk — the Wizards gave Young real ammunition this offseason, assembling a "Big 3" alongside Anthony Davis and top rookie AJ Dybantsa. The trio's preseason debut against the Knicks drew strong reviews, with Young torching New York in a performance that had ESPN's Kendrick Perkins making bold predictions about Washington's ceiling.

The Sporting News noted that Washington has "a legitimate core entering 2026-27 for the first time in a while," and Davis dispelled any trade rumors by committing fully to the Wizards' rebuild-turned-contention window. Whether Young's Finals aspirations are realistic is debatable, but the infrastructure around him is no longer laughable — and that alone is a meaningful shift for a franchise that has been a punchline for most of the decade.

Jeremiah Fears: The One to Watch in New Orleans

The youngest Sooner in the league is quietly building a preseason reputation. Pelicans rookie Jeremiah Fears shone in New Orleans' preseason loss to the Heat, with Sports Illustrated flagging him as a breakout candidate despite the team's broader struggles. New head coach Jamahl Mosley is pushing Fears hard on the defensive end — a deliberate challenge designed to elevate his overall game, per ClutchPoints. The Pelicans' starting lineup still has questions, but Fears is not one of them. He's emerging as the kind of player who makes the roster better just by being on the floor — and at this stage of his career, that's exactly the trajectory Oklahoma fans should want to see.