In a thrilling FIBA World Cup preparation game against Germany a week ago, Austin Reaves made a dunk which ended up in an iconic photo. The dunk occurred when Reaves stole the ball and ran to a fastbreak.
What made this dunk special was the presence of his Team USA teammate, Tyrese Haliburton, who was right behind him and leaped in tandem with Reaves.
The Lakers guard, looking at the photo, expressed his delight. He jokingly mentioned that Haliburton had claimed not to have much bounce, a statement he now disputes.
“Tyrese told me that he didn’t have bounce which I’m not listening to anymore cause he’s every bit of 2-3 inches higher than me, not saying that I’m very athletic,” he said.
“This is one of my favorite pictures of all time, honestly,” Reaves commented as he gazed at the captivating snapshot.
Interestingly, Haliburton revealed that Reaves initially hesitated about whether to attempt the dunk. “Austin wasn’t going to dunk it at first,” the Pacers All-Star point guard explained. “He’s like ‘Should I dunk?’ I’m like ‘Yeah, dunk the ball.’ So I think we’re all just happy to get the W.”
Reaves confirmed Haliburton’s account, saying that Haliburton was yelling at him to go for the dunk immediately after the steal. “I was thinking about dribbling it out, but once I heard him yelling at me, I was like, ‘All right, I guess I got to,'” Reaves chuckled.
