Jake LaRavia got off to a start start in his first season with the Los Angeles Lakers, establishing himself as a solid two-way wing off the bench.
It didn’t take long for head coach JJ Redick to trust LaRavia on both ends of the floor as he was often a staple of lineups alongside the stars and held up well guarding scoring wings. While LaRavia will never be a household name, he’s an ideal glue guy on a Los Angeles roster that needs people who can fill in multiple gaps.
LaRavia unfortunately fell into a slump shooting the basketball, which in turn coincided with the Lakers’ recent losing stretch. Going into Friday night’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies, he was shooting just 30.9% from 3 this season and 22.6% in his last 10 games.
He finally broke out with a huge performance in the win against his former team, however. Following the 128-121 victory, LaRavia admitted it felt good to finally see his outside shots fall even though he has remained confident.
“To be honest, I feel like I go into every game with that mentality. Some games it happens, some games it doesn’t, it really just depends. Tonight, I got going pretty early and the ball was finding me, especially in that first half, and I was just able to get going and stay aggressive and finally knock down some shots,” LaRavia said.
“So, that felt good, and just got to continue to trust my shot and I tell all the guys just to continue to trust in me and my offensive game.”
In order to get back on track shooting it from deep, LaRavia credited his work with Lakers assistant coach Beau Levesque.
“The amount of work that I put in, I think I said this last time, I started working with Beau [Levesque], and he says control the input and the output’s going to show for itself. So that’s kind of what I’m doing right now. I’m just working on my shot, starting with the basics again, and just kind of going from there, and hopefully I can find my rhythm again, and tonight was just the start.”
Against the Grizzlies, LaRavia was a catalyst early as he worked the defensive end and glass to earn scoring opportunities. However, the most encouraging part of his performance was the 3-point shooting as he knocked down 3-of-6 of his attempts. Overall, LaRavia scored 21 points and they came within the flow of the offense, positive signs for him moving forward.
It’s hard to expect LaRavia to be this efficient scoring the basketball every night, but being able to drain open threes would go a long way in him earning an even bigger role. Luka Doncic and LeBron James demand a defense’s undivided attention, so having someone like LaRavia who can make them pay from distance is a massive plus for a Lakers offense that needs the role players to step up more.
Jake LaRavia pleased with Lakers’ response after being called out
LaRavia’s rough shooting stretch didn’t help the Lakers at the end of 2025 as they lost in embarrassing fashion to several teams. For example, Los Angeles were thrashed by the Houston Rockets on Christmas Day, prompting head coach JJ Redick to plan a more intense practice.
Redick made sure to point out mistakes in their film session and LaRavia ended up pleased with his and the team’s response as they bounced back with a win agains the Sacramento Kings.
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