Austin Reaves is getting all of the attention after yet another ridiculous performance in the Los Angeles Lakers victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. A buzzer-beating game-winner will undoubtedly go on his career highlight reel, but Reaves also had some help on Wednesday night and one player who stepped up big time was Jake LaRavia.
The Lakers signed LaRavia hoping to be able to unlock his potential as a two-way wing and he put forth his best game as a Laker, knocking down 10-of-11 shots including 5-of-6 from 3-point range to finish with 27 points and eight rebounds.
Afterwards, Lakers head coach JJ Redick had a lot of praise for LaRavia about what he brings to this team both on offense and defense, wanting him to use that game as a reference point, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Very early in his Laker career, but clearly his best game as a Laker. I’m really happy for him and I know they showed something the other day, I think it was the Amazon video about reference points and for Jake as a Laker this game now is a reference point. Not only for the offense, again he’s had two of the last three games he’s been phenomenal defensively. His activity level, deflections, I mean I’ll find out but, six or seven deflections tonight. He ended up with one steal and a block, but that doesn’t really capture his level of activity defensively. And then just continuing to have confidence in his shot and belief in that was big.”
As Redick said, this is early in his Lakers career, but this kind of performance gives everyone a glimpse into why the Lakers signed LaRavia. He has always had potential, but had been unable to carve out a consistent role for himself. Playing like this however, will ensure he remains a part of Redick’s rotation.
Obviously he won’t regularly score 27 points, but if he can continue to play with that confidence on offense, while making an impact with his activity defensively there is no doubt he will be an important part of this Lakers team going forward.
Anthony Edwards & Timberwolves fans want to know who Jake LaRavia is
Jake LaRavia’s opportunity has been increased due to the injuries the Lakers have been dealing with, and he made the most of it to the point where Anthony Edwards and Timberwolves fans were wondering who he was as he was torching them.
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