Jake LaRavia has been impressing for the Los Angeles Lakers so far this season. And now, just a couple of short weeks into the season, the Lakers fanbase his collectively beginning to wonder something. With LaRavia's age and upside, could he potentially become a real heavy-minutes difference-maker for this team?
LaRavia just turned 24 years old on Monday. He's already played three full seasons in the league, but he's still a young guy with quite a bit more room to grow. And in the grand scheme of things, I don't think many Lakers fans really anticipated him coming in and doing much of anything beyond filling out some extra minutes toward the end of the bench this season.
LA sort of took a flyer on him from Sacramento in the hopes that perhaps a guy who was barely cracking 20 minutes per game over the course of the last two seasons still had another level up he could take. What we are seeing through the first couple of weeks of this season is that he absolutely has more room to grow.
Jake LaRavia still has a lot of upside
Standing at 6-foot-7 and weighing around 235 pounds, LaRavia has the size and build to play multiple wing or forward spots, which of course makes him a highly valued archetype in the NBA today. There are multiple roles he can fill, and his youth has already been of value to a veteran-laden Laker squad.
On this roster, what's needed is players that can compliment Luka Doncic above all else. If Jake keeps up anything resembling his current shooting splits and defensive output, he is unquestionably going to be a guy the Lakers strongly desire to keep around in the long-term. Through his first seven games, LaRavia is making 60% of his shots from the floor and 50% of his three-point attempts, averaging 12.9 points per game.
This is nothing short of a dream outcome if you're the Lakers. A guy like Jake LaRavia playing well above his pay grade and fitting perfectly into what this team is trying to do was nothing short of the perfect outcome after signing him to a two-year, $12 million deal this past summer. Should this current trajectory hold for him, he's going to be a player loved by Laker nation for a long time.