Lakers' Austin Reaves joins George Mikan in exclusive basketball history

When you have to go all the way back to George Mikan to find the last time a player in Lakers history did something, you know it's an impressive feat.

That's the kind of basketball history Austin Reaves made on Thursday night for Los Angeles -- sure, he was overshadowed on the court by Luka Doncic's 51-point performance, but it was Reaves opening the record book for himself.

The milestone reached by Reaves on Thursday night against the Bulls was this: 5,000 career points.

There are only 46 players in NBA history to have reached that mark, according to Trevor Lane of Lakers Nation.

Most relevant here is that the only previous Lakers player to get to 5,000 points was Mikan.

For those wondering, yes there was a draft already at the time Mikan went undrafted, but obviously scouting and evaluation would've been in a very different place in the late 1940s.

The reality is that Mikan was the game's first true superstar.

And oh yeah -- Mikan did all his points scoring while the Lakers still played in Minneapolis (and thus, had a name that actually made sense geographically).

Mikan lasted just seven seasons in the NBA, and rule changes made things tougher on him in the closing stages of his career, but he still averaged 23.1 points and 13.4 rebounds per game in his time in the league.

Reaves has changed the trajectory of the modern Lakers by being so good as an undrafted player. Their future is brighter because they found Reaves. 

And now, Reaves has created a historic link to the first Lakers star, something not done in purple and gold since then.

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