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Who Is Jake LaRavia? Everything You Need to Know About Newest Lakers Forward

Gabe Smallson|
Mar 20, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Jake LaRavia (33) looks on during the fourth quarter of the game against the Chicago Bulls at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images
Mar 20, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Jake LaRavia (33) looks on during the fourth quarter of the game against the Chicago Bulls at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images | Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

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Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are signing Jake LaRavia to a two-year, $12 million deal.

The 6-foot-8 power forward last played with the Sacramento Kings and is coming off of a 6.9 points per game average on 48 percent shooting from the field. The Pasadena, CA native now moves much closer to where he grew up as he prepares to don the purple and gold for the first time.

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LaRavia started his NBA career as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies, drafted with the No. 19 overall pick in 2022.

Playing just 11.8 minutes per game, LaRavia put up 3.0 points per game in 35 appearances his rookie year. During his sophomore campaign, he upped his totals to 10.8 points per game during 23 minutes on average in 35 appearances once again.

This past season started with 47 games in Memphis, putting up 7.3 points per game, before being traded to the Sacramento Kings at the trade deadline. He suited up in Sacramento for the final 19 games of his campaign, collecting 6.1 points per game in 19.3 minutes per contest.

His year would end early, fracturing his thumb towards the end of the season and not playing beyond March 25.

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Per ESPN's Shams Charania, LaRavia is likely going to replace the Dorian Finney-Smith-sized hole in the Lakers' rotation after Finney-Smith inked a four-year, $53 million deal with the Houston Rockets on Monday.

Before LaRavia's thumb fracture, he was in the middle of ending his season on an extremely positive trend. During his last 10 games, LaRavia averaged 9.0 points and 1.3 steals per game on 51 percent shooting from the field.

The Lakers will look to get a healed LaRavia to provide his height and quality shooting to space the floor.

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For more news and notes on the Los Angeles Lakers, visit Los Angeles Lakers on SI.

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Gabe Smallson
GABE SMALLSON

Gabe Smallson is a sportswriter based in Los Angeles. His focus is sports and entertainment content. Gabe has previously worked at DodgersNation and Newsweek. He graduated from San Francisco State University in 2020 and is a Masters Candidate at the University of Southern California. You can get in touch with Gabe by emailing gabe.smallson@lasportsreport.com. You can find him on X @gabesmallson

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