Austin Reaves's Scoring Dip: Same Minutes, Fewer Efficient Touches
Comparing his first 20 and last 20 appearances of 2025-26, Reaves's minutes barely changed but his points per game fell from 28.4 to 20.65, driven by fewer shot attempts and lower efficiency rather than reduced playing time.
Published: · Figures as of September 13, 2026
Asked: Looking back at Austin Reaves's 2025-26 regular season, how did his scoring change between his first 20 and last 20 appearances? Was it mostly playing time or production per minute?
Reaves's scoring drop was almost entirely a per-minute problem, not a playing-time cut
Comparing Austin Reaves's first 20 appearances of 2025-26 (October 21 to December 7) against his last 20 (February 26 to April 2), his scoring fell from 28.4 to 20.65 points per game — a drop of 7.75 points — while his minutes barely moved, 36.7 to 36.0 per game. Whatever changed for him, it wasn't playing time.
The two windows
| First 20 (10/21–12/7) | Last 20 (2/26–4/2) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minutes/game | 36.7 | 36.0 |
| Points/game | 28.4 | 20.65 |
| Points per minute | 0.774 | 0.574 |
| FG attempts/game | 16.9 | 14.4 |
| FT attempts/game | 9.6 | 6.0 |
| True shooting % | 67.3% | 60.6% |
| Window | PPG (points per game) |
|---|---|
| First 20 (10/21-12/7) | 28.4 |
| Last 20 (2/26-4/2) | 20.65 |
| Window | PTS/MIN (points per minute) |
|---|---|
| First 20 (10/21-12/7) | 0.774 |
| Last 20 (2/26-4/2) | 0.574 |
With minutes essentially flat, the scoring collapse traces to fewer, less efficient touches: his field-goal attempts fell from 16.9 to 14.4 a game, his free-throw attempts nearly halved (9.6 to 6.0), and his true shooting fell from 67.3% to 60.6%. Both shot volume and shooting efficiency dropped — this wasn't a role cut, it was less production within the same role.
That reading matches DataBaller's own performance-shift model, which measures exactly that distinction — role indicators rather than outcomes. Its most recent read for Reaves (window games 2/26–4/2, confidence 1.0) shows minutes per game actually running slightly above his trailing-two-year baseline, while usage per minute, three-point rate, assist rate and rebound rate all sit below it. In other words, the shift the model flags isn't a benching — it's a player getting the same floor time with a smaller offensive workload and role.
One limit worth naming: this window ends April 2, before his final absence stretch and the playoff run against Oklahoma City, so it doesn't cover his postseason scoring, which the data shows falling further (he was under 30 points combined in three of his last four playoff games against the Thunder). That's a separate, smaller sample and a different context (playoff defenses), not folded into the per-minute read above.
Confidence: High that the drop is driven by shot volume and efficiency rather than playing time — both the raw box score and the model's own role indicators agree. Medium on what caused the efficiency and shot-volume decline itself; that would need a shot-location or defensive-coverage breakdown this data doesn't isolate.