Of the free agents the Los Angeles Lakers brought in this offseason, the most unknown is wing Jake LaRavia. A former first round pick in 2022, LaRavia has shown flashes of his potential during his time with the Memphis Grizzlies and Sacramento Kings, but has yet to put it all together.
Now with the Lakers, LaRavia has the perfect opportunity to carve out a real role as a two-way wing. Addressing this team’s perimeter defense this offseason was a priority for the Lakers front office and LaRavia fits that mold perfectly while also being a career 37.1% 3-point shooter.
As far as his role on this Lakers team, LaRavia discussed what head coach JJ Redick has laid out for him.
“It’s been really good since I’ve got here, we’ve had a lot of good conversations, me and JJ,” LaRavia said at Lakers Media Day. “About my role, he kind of just told me to be myself out there, that he’s not gonna specify one or two things, or three things that he wants me to do and to go out there and just do that. He wants me to be a basketball player, be who I am when I’m out there.
“He knows how hard I play. He knows that I make winning plays, that I make the right play. I can be a connector out there as well. Obviously bringing shooting and defense to the team. He just wants me to go out there and be free. Be a basketball player at the end of the day and go out there and hoop.”
Redick is surely looking to make LaRavia as comfortable as possible in his first season with the Lakers and thus is simply empowering him to play his game and do things the right way. And the wing believes what he does fits perfectly next to the Lakers’ stars.
“I think I can compliment Austin [Reaves], Luka [Doncic] and LeBron [James] very well and how they play,” LaRavia added. “Just providing the spacing on the offensive side and defensively just being able to take some pressure off them by guarding the opposing team’s better wing player.
“And then also just, like I said about playing hard and making the winning plays and getting on the ground. You guys will all see soon enough how I play October 21st when the season starts. But I just go out there and I try and win every night and I try and impact winning and obviously that’s what the Lakers organization is about so I’m excited to put on a show.”
The opportunity will undoubtedly be there for LaRavia to show what he can do on the big stage the Lakers provide. If he can show the ability to defend at a high level while also knocking down open threes, it will be impossible for Redick to keep him off the court.
Lakers wing Jake LaRavia believes JJ Redick can maximize him as a shooter
It will be imperative for Jake LaRavia to knock down open shots to stay in the rotation and the Lakers wing believes JJ Redick will maximize his shooting potential.
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