“Who is number 12?” Lakers linebacker Jake LaRavia told T-wolves fans that
Jake Laravia is not a household name.
The Lakers forward was a first-round pick out of Wake Forest in 2022, and he has played for three NBA teams without getting much attention — at least not until Wednesday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Starting his second straight game for an injury-plagued Los Angeles, which has been without LeBron James all season and Luka Doncic for the last three games, La Ravia scored 27 points on 10-of-11 shooting, including five of six from three-point range.
Until then, Laravia seemed to languish in obscurity. A number of fans at Target Center in Minneapolis began shouting, “Who’s No. 12?” – A real question about the identity of the sniper who burned their team.
Laravia, who was born in Pasadena and raised in Indianapolis, took notice of the bewildered crowd and more than once gave them a smile and a light wave in appreciation.
When single fan He shouted “Who’s number 12?” Early in the fourth quarter — after Laravia hit a 3-pointer to give the Lakers a 105-89 lead — he caught the attention of injured Minnesota star Anthony Edwards on the bench. Edwards responded by spreading his arms above his head and shouting, “That’s what I’m saying! I don’t know!”
FanDuel Sports Network broadcast the interaction between Edwards and the fan, and videos of it were circulated on social media. Once again, Laravia went all in, writing “LOL” in his comments One of these clips He posted the video on his page Instagram storyas well as the caption “Cap” (slang for when someone is lying) and two laughing emojis.
The Lakers won the game 116-115 thanks to a last-second goal by Austin Reeves, who scored 28 points and 16 assists. Afterward, LaRavia credited Reaves with setting up most of his shots.
“Yeah, I mean Austin has 16 assists, so I think they all came from him,” La Ravia told reporters. “But yeah, I was knocking down shots and kind of getting my rhythm back and just kept shooting it. So when it’s down, it’s down.”
Laravia previously played his best basketball late in the 2023-24 season with Memphis, scoring a career-high 32 points against Cleveland, 28 against the Lakers and 29 against Denver in the final three games of the season. He also scored 25 goals against the Lakers during a game in late March that season.
After spending the first two-and-a-half years of his career with the Grizzlies, Laravia was sent to the Sacramento Kings at last season’s trade deadline and became a free agent after not picking up his contract option this summer. He was a career-high 42.9% three-point shooter, averaging 6.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, when he was signed by the Lakers to be a complementary player to the team’s bigger names.
Necessity has given Laravia a larger role. His first start with the Lakers, which came Monday in a 122-108 loss to Portland, didn’t go well (three points on one-for-six shooting, missing three points from three-point range). La Ravia said a conversation with coach JJ Redick and general manager Rob Pelinka helped him get in the right mindset for Wednesday’s game.
“They wanted me to be more aggressive with my scoring, especially with everyone we have,” Laravia said. … Our conversation with both of them. [was] To come out here and kind of play the way I play. “I think I did just that.”
He added: “It’s very much like having a scorer’s mentality. A lot of times, I feel like when I’m in the game, I’m looking for augmented reality.” [Reaves] Or someone else getting the ball down to him, like a batter [Deandre Ayton] Or whatever, and then I go out tonight and say, “I’m going to go and record.” I’m going to be more aggressive myself so that when I make shots, I can destroy the defense and then get sacked and things like that. Just to go out there and get that scorer’s mentality.”
In addition to scoring against Minnesota, La Ravia also had eight rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block, though Reddick said his contributions were greater than the numbers show.
“For Jake as a Laker, this game now is a reference point,” Redick told reporters after the game. “Not just offensively — again, in two of the last three games, he’s been exceptional defensively. … He had six or seven turnovers tonight. He ended up with one steal and a block, but that doesn’t really reflect his level of activity defensively. And then he just continued to trust his shots and the belief in that was huge.”
Laravia will play in Memphis for the first time since Friday night when the Lakers take on the Grizzlies. Doncic is listed as questionable, and James is not expected to play.
Times staff writers Broderick Turner and Toc Nhi Nguyen contributed to this report.