Down two at home with just over seven minutes remaining against Memphis — a game the Lakers can’t afford to lose — LeBron James comes off a high ball screen and whips his patented skip pass to the weak side corner.
The player usually in that position is reliable shooter Rui Hachimura. However, he was out with a calf strain, giving way for Jake LaRavia to fill in as the starter. LaRavia instantly attacks the closeout and finishes at the rim over the shot blocker.
Coming the other way, he shows off his two-way ability and leverages his 6’9” wingspan for a steal and score.
Teams search far and wide in the 82-game grind for the perfect starting lineup. It isn’t always the most talented five players, but one that best blends skillsets while complementing the team’s stars. The Lakers have four of those spots locked up in Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves, LeBron James and Deandre Ayton.
Now, they may have found their fifth in Jake LaRavia.
“This is kind of when I just talk about roles and the amount of hats that I can wear with this team”, LaRavia said following a 21-point scoring night against Memphis. “Where some nights this is what happens, other nights, I’m that defender, connector, crasher, like all that kind of stuff. So, just continuing to play confidently throughout, but also understanding what my role is going to be each game.”
LA needs all of those hats to fill out a starting lineup that has severely underperformed. The group of LeBron, Luka, Reaves, Ayton and Rui Hachimura sports a -19.9 net rating and is clearly in need of a change.
One of those hats is making quick reads on the offensive end. LaRavia keeps the wheel moving by instantly attacking closeout and finding open spaces. Watch LeBron set up in the post and draw the double team. He kicks it weakside to Luka, who swings it over to LaRavia, who attacks the closeout for the score.
“The thing that we’ve tried to really instill and coach him on all season is 0.5 [second] decision making,” head coach J.J Redick said. “Being catch-and-shoot ready. If you are attacking a closeout and you have an advantage, maintain the advantage.”
A non-center starter surrounding Dončić, LeBron and Reaves undoubtedly needs to be able to shoot the ball. LaRavia started the season cold, but in his last ten games, he is shooting 38% from three and leads the team in catch-and-shoot attempts.
LaRavia has also shown to be the most efficient cutter on the team, scoring 1.59 points per possession, ranking him in the 90th percentile. He finds spots to roam the baseline when Dončić and LeBron operate out of the post, as shown in the clip below.
While the team needs an opportunistic scorer and shooter in that position, they just as much need that player to be willing to do all the dirty work and expend high energy without needing touches or offensive opportunities.
“Shots aren’t going to fall every game, but I can control the effort that I bring to the game,” LaRavia said. “They talk about offensive [rebounding] crash rate. I’m just trying to do that every night and just bringing energy to this team.
That crash rate has led him to be third on the team in offensive rebounds per game behind only Ayton and Jarred Vanderbilt. He flies in from the corner, either creating second-chance opportunities or finishing himself, as he does in the clip below.
The final starter clearly must also hold their own on the defensive end, needing to oscillate between different roles and positions. Larvavia leads the team in deflections at 3.4 per game and is third in steals.
He lacks some lateral quickness to stay with the twitchiest guards, but overall, he competes and stays committed to the team’s defensive strategy.
“I know he doesn’t get a lot of credit for his defense, but he’s a really good defender,” former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart said. “We just got to continue to feed his confidence on that end because we definitely are going to need him.”
Over the last ten games, lineups with LaRavia next to LeBron and Luka have a +9.9 net rating. The on-court success speaks to what putting a high-energy wing with offensive tools around stars can have. It may even benefit Hachimura to come off the bench and have more shots and plays called for him.
Hachimura finally returned against the Hawks and came off the bench for the first time this year while on a minutes restriction. The Lakers got one of their best wins of the season, blowing out the newly formed Hawks with LaRavia pouring in 17 points.
With Reaves still out, the team won’t get a look at the full starting lineup for a few more weeks. But whenever that time is, LaRavia has shown he deserves to remain in it.
You can follow Raj on X at @RajChipalu
