The reason Lakers' Jake LaRavia is crucial to title hopes and a post-LeBron future

Billy Heyen

The reason Lakers' Jake LaRavia is crucial to title hopes and a post-LeBron future image

The Los Angeles Lakers are in the midst of two different timelines.

And that's what makes new guy Jake LaRavia so important.

On the one hand, the Lakers still have LeBron James, probably just for this season. It's a chance to win another title with one of the best players ever.

On the other hand, the Lakers are now Luka Doncic's team. He's the generational superstar they're counting on leading them into a new era.

LaRavia fits both timelines, and so he could be as important as any player in the non-LeBron/Luka category this season.

He was a first-round pick just three seasons ago, and he stands in at 6-foot-9 with great length for a guy whose most impactful skill is his shooting.

Last season for the Memphis Grizzlies, he shot 38.5% from 3-point range. The year prior? A scorching 44.4%.

"He’s only 23, and in his best moments, he’s a big ballhandler who can make open shots (37.1 percent career from 3) and set up teammates with live-dribble passes," writes The Athletic's John Hollinger. "He’s also been a pesky ball thief (2.2 steals per 100 possessions last season)."

Hollinger goes on to ask these questions:

"Can he be a long-term starter, a potential answer to one piece of what a post-LeBron future might look like in L.A.? Or is he just a guy, in scouts’ terms, somebody who can play 20 relatively inoffensive minutes a night but won’t have value as more than a back-of-rotation forward?"

The Lakers' ceiling, both this season and going forward, could depend on LaRavia lining up more with the first hope there than the second.

He's never going to be their best player, and that's fine. But five guys have to be on the floor at once. And if LaRavia can prove to L.A. that he belongs in that grouping more often than not, for the foreseeable future, it'll be a major step toward raising another banner, whether with LeBron or Luka.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle