The Los Angeles Lakers have acquired a player whom analysts are revering as a breakout candidate for the 2025-26 season: Jake LaRavia. LaRavia flew under the radar in 2024-25, but his quiet emergence as a 3-and-D wing with offensive versatility appears to have turned enough heads to warrant newfound hype.
The result of LaRavia's quiet emergence was a new contract with the Lakers and praise as one of the more subtlely brilliant signings of the summer.
LaRavia, 23, was selected at No. 19 overall in the 2022 NBA Draft. The Memphis Grizzlies declined his fourth-year club option, however, which made him eligible for free agency in 2025—a development that HoopsHype believes Memphis could soon come to regret.