‘Who is No. 12?’ NBA is discovering Jake LaRavia, who has found a comfort zone with Lakers

Countless fans around the league this season have found themselves exactly where Anthony Edwards did — asking, “Who is this No. 12 on the Lakers?”

“I heard everything. I heard the dude in the crowd, first off, say ‘Who’s number 12?’ I saw Anthony Edwards do his little throw both arms up, like, ‘I don’t know,'” the Lakers’ Jake LaRavia said of his viral moment. “And then, if you saw the video, I put my arms up at the free throw line, so just kind of like playing along with it.

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“But I just find that kind of stuff funny. It’s amusing to me. It is what it is. I just continue to do what I do.”

What LaRavia does is just hoop.

The rest of the nation is about to see what No. 12 can do up close when the Lakers take on the Clippers Tuesday night on NBA Coast 2 Coast on NBC and Peacock — in what will be a critical NBA Cup game.

It’s all about that fit

What matters for role players in the NBA, as much as talent or skill, is fit.

LaRavia brings a well-rounded and a bit of an old-school game that is a hand-in-glove fit in Los Angeles, where he has quickly become a critical cog in the Lakers’ attack. While

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“The way that we play, and me being able to play off-ball and read when cut, and just when to space the floor and be able to get catch and shoot 3s, and reading closeouts and stuff like that, I definitely feel very comfortable,” LaRavia said.

While he’s averaging 10.3 points and 4.3 rebounds a game, what makes him invaluable is his willingness to do the little things. He’s been a physical and opportunistic defender. He also has consistently played with pace, getting downcourt and finishing plays in transition — occasionally on highlight reel look-ahead touchdown passes from Doncic or Reaves.

Most impressively, he has shown some secondary playmaking skills we haven’t seen much from him before.

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LaRavia said he played his same game in Memphis and Sacramento (his first stops around the NBA), but the fit is just more natural in Los Angeles. LaRavia’s jack-of-all-trades game can get glossed over by scouts and front offices — “But what is he elite at?” — and when the Lakers signed him this…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/no-12-nba-discovering-jake-130100196.html

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Publish date : 2025-11-25 13:01:00

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