Jake LaRavia, Lakers Agree To Two-Year, $12M Deal

I like this sign a lot. He's a good NBA player with interesting defensive skills, he can make 3s and he's very smart in off the ball movements. And he's young too, with an interesting contract.

Our bench in the last season has been bottom 5 of the league: LaRavia and Thiero could become two important pieces to make our bench better and modern.

 

lol, he attempted ten (10) midrange shots last year.

the more i see of him on defense, the more i like it. we're going to have to get it done as a team defense, and he functions great within a system, imo. same on offense. understands his strengths and weaknesses and optimizes.

he doesn't address an obvious need, but i'm pretty sure he's going to outperform his contract and his presence will probably allow us to move other players to address more obvious needs.

 

If they keep Rui which they should I think LaRivia does fit a need IMO. DFS/Rui/Lebron were all 4's- Lebron obviously has the most flexibility on offense and defense but they all come at with the same type of pace. Add in Luka who moves like a glacier and the Lakers needed a wing who can move particularly off ball just quicker.

I think an underrated reason Indiana was such a load was that they had guys at every height who could attack you with pace. Thinking through that type of team building: Lakers really need now Nesmith and McConnell roleplayer archetype to complete the roster.

 

Didn't realize this at first, but he's actually younger than Dalton. Seems clear that he's a Dalton replacement with maybe a lower ceiling, but a higher floor. Looking forward to seeing how he fits in.

 

JJ Reddick really liked DFS game. So for the Lakers to let him go, Reddick must really like this kid

 

Definitely starting to feel like LaRavia might be a replacement for Knecht..
He’s a bit taller & bigger, shot 42% from 3pt last season & is a very good perimeter defender.
Wouldn’t be surprised to see Knecht in a trade package sometime soon.

Optimistic about LaRavia. Hadn’t really heard of him before.

 

i knew of him, but admittedly was pretty ignorant of the fact that he was a plus defensive player.

 

We still need a DFS replacement. The issue with DFS wasn't his fit. He got a longer term deal from the Rockets that the Lakers wouldn't match because they want to keep the books clean for 2027.

 

I can't see a future in purple & gold for Dalton after the trade with Charlotte: that move has been so explicit about the wishes of our FO and their considerations about the player.

LaRavia is a different player, in my opinion.
Dalton in Tennessee has been a great volume scorer, with a lot of ball possessions for him to pump the ball and make shots on his own. He's not a catch and shoot player, he has interesting off the ball movement but he needs more offensive volume to show his skills. And he's not a defensive player, too many lacks on this side.

LaRavia doesn't need the ball and he's a good defender.
In my opinion, Knecht could have become an interesting volume scorer for our 2nd unit if he's been used in a different and better ways; LaRavia, instead, could be an Alex Caruso type project.

 

I actually think it’s more about the length of contract that DFS was demanding. At his age, I’m totally fine with Rob not giving him four years.
However, after watching film on LaRavia, it’s a probably a combination of both.

 

Good breakdown of young Jake: