Jake LaRavia, a forward for the Los Angeles Lakers, struggled with his shooting during December, recording 41.0% from the field and 25.7% from three-point range over 12 games. He also had a minus-57 rating and committed 14 turnovers against 21 assists in that period.
Despite these challenges, LaRavia remained confident as the new year began. The Lakers demonstrated their trust in him by moving him into the starting lineup due to injuries to Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura. In response, LaRavia scored a total of 47 points across two January wins against the Memphis Grizzlies, making 17 of his 28 field goal attempts and seven out of sixteen three-pointers. He added six assists with only one turnover and finished with a plus-15 rating over those games.
LaRavia credited his improvement to ongoing support from teammates and coaches: “I think I’m just trusting the work that I’ve been putting in recently,” he said. “Obviously, [my] shot was struggling early on and Coach was telling me [and] players telling me just keep shooting the ball. They trust me, I trust myself so it’s really just about going into the game and doing it.”
He emphasized his willingness to follow instructions from staff: “I just feel like I’m very much a player where when you tell me the things that you want me to do, I’m going to just go out there and do them,” LaRavia said. “I’ve had plenty of conversations with JJ [Redick], with my coach Beau [Levesque] and they tell me what they want me to do out there and I just go out there and I try my best to do that every game.
“Shots aren’t going to fall every game but I can control the effort that I bring to the game. Crashing every time, they talk about offensive crash rate. Just trying to do that every night and just bring in energy to this team.”
The Lakers have faced recent difficulties due to injuries but managed consecutive victories over Memphis as they prepare for an upcoming matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday. LaRavia noted facing his former team: “I had my game against them when I was with Sacramento after they traded me. It’s fun to play against the guys that I know. But there’s nothing outside of just the fact that it’s a regular game,” he said.
With several players sidelined, including Rui Hachimura who will miss at least two more games due to a calf injury according to head coach JJ Redick, LaRavia is expected to continue playing an important role for Los Angeles as one of their few two-way wings.