LOS ANGELES — Lakers coach JJ Redick acknowledged every NBA team — even the good to great ones — will cycle through multiple identities during the regular season.

His team is in the midst of another identity change — one that features fourth-year guard Austin Reaves even more as a ball-handler and on-ball playmaker than he was earlier in the season.

Redick and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka spoke throughout the offseason and preseason about Reaves getting more on-ball responsibilities.

Those came in doses in the first month of the season as the Lakers cycled through starting lineups and the offensive hierarchy. But over the last few weeks — and especially the last three games — Reaves’ on-ball responsibilities have skyrocketed.

And the Lakers have benefited from it. Reaves’ increased workload was on display in a 122-110 home loss to the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday, a defeat in which Reaves tied a career-high with 35 points to go with 10 assists and nine rebounds.

“He’s a hooper,” Anthony Davis said of Reaves. “Obviously he has a little bit more on his plate with ball-handling responsibilities when Gabe (Vincent) is out and when LeBron (James) is out of the game, but he’s used to it. He’s been in the league long enough now where he knows how to run the point guard position. So it’s going to be more reps, he’s ready for it and we got the utmost confidence in him to run the point.”

In his first 19 games before being sidelined with a pelvis injury, Reaves was third on the team in usage rate (21.3%) — a smidge higher than his 19.8% usage rate from the 2023-24 season — behind Davis (29.7%) and James (26.8%), and just ahead of the recently-traded D’Angelo Russell (20.4%). He averaged 16.7 points (44% shooting, 35.5% on 3-pointers), 4.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 33.7 minutes.

In his eight games since returning from injury in the Dec. 13 road loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Reaves’ usage rate has risen (24.1%; third-best on the Lakers), helping him average 22.1 points (46.8% shooting, 37.7% on 3s), 7.8 assists and 6.3 rebounds in 36.3 minutes.

And in the last three games, Reaves has been on another stratosphere: a team-best 28.7% usage rate to go with averages of 29 points (50% shooting, 44.4% on 3s), 12 assists and 8.3 rebounds in 39.3 minutes.

“Just like I always say, play the game the right way and just do what the game calls for,” Reaves said of his mindset taking on a larger role in the offense. “If it’s scoring, score. If it’s not, make plays. But at the end of the day, just get us organized, get us into stuff that we need to get in.

“Obviously, get Bron and AD the ball, because good things happen when that happens. Just trying to be a floor general, a coach out there that they can trust to run things through.”

The Lakers have had an offensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions) of 116.7 with Reaves on the floor over the last eight games compared to an 85.1 offensive rating with him on the bench.

Over the last three games: a 126.4 offensive rating with Reaves playing vs. an 86.8 offensive rating with Reaves sitting.

Some of Reaves’ uptick in usage has been circumstantial.

James missed two of the last eight games — the Dec. 13 loss to the Timberwolves and Saturday’s home win over the Sacramento Kings, a game Reaves finished with a career-high 16 assists to go with 26 points and six rebounds. Vincent missed most of Saturday’s game and wasn’t available on Tuesday because of a strained left oblique.

The Lakers traded Russell, who was fourth on the team in usage rate, to the Brooklyn Nets and acquired Dorian Finney-Smith, a low-usage forward, and Shake Milton, whose role on the team will likely diminish once Vincent is available again.

But Reaves’ increased ball-handling responsibilities are purposeful. A continuation of preseason points of emphasis that were aided by multiple starting lineup changes that led to Reaves being the primary ball-handling backcourt option.

“He’s naturally going to have the ball,” Redick said on Saturday. “He is the primary handler. He’s naturally going to be involved in pick-and-rolls and dribble handoffs.

“A lot of the stuff we do to start halves and start quarters is all movement-based, and he’s a primary part of any movement stuff we do. The movement piece, and then also being able to be the primary handler, this is who he is to me.”

There will be growing pains — which Reaves and Redick acknowledged.

Reaves has also averaged three turnovers over the last eight games, and four turnovers over the last three contests, up from the 2.3 turnovers he averaged in his first 19 games.

“I’m excited,” Reaves said. “I’m going to do dumb things. I’m going to mess up. I’m going to do dumb things and I’m going to learn from them. That’s all I can really do.

“I’m taking on this role on the fly, trading D-Lo, getting more on-ball reps. I’m just gonna learn. This is my fourth year in the league. Every day I can still learn something new. I’m really excited to continue to learn, to continue to grow and become a better player.”