{"id":516014,"date":"2026-01-04T12:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T12:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/516014\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T12:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T12:16:10","slug":"lakers-notes-laravia-hayes-knecht-vincent-trade-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/516014\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Notes: LaRavia, Hayes, Knecht, Vincent, Trade Deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lakers got a scoring boost from Jake LaRavia<\/a> in Friday\u2019s win over Memphis, writes Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times<\/a> (subscription required). Inserted into the starting lineup the past two games because of an injury to Rui Hachimura<\/a>, LaRavia sparked the offense with 11 points in the first quarter and 18 in the first half. He finished with 21 points and nine rebounds while shooting 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I just talk about roles and the amount of hats that I can wear with this team, some nights, this is what happens,\u201d LaRavia said. \u201cOther nights I\u2019m that defender, connector, crasher, like all that kind of stuff. So just continuing to play confidently throughout but also understanding what my role is going to be each game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nguyen notes that the Lakers targeted LaRavia in free agency because of his combination of three-point shooting and defensive versatility. He has helped the team survive a rash of early-season injuries, but his scoring has fluctuated as he\u2019s moved in and out of the rotation. Friday marked the first time he has reached 20 points in a game since November 2, and his three-point shooting has dropped to an uncharacteristically low 32% this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just working on my shot, starting with the basics again, and just kind of going from there,\u201d LaRavia said. \u201cAnd, you know, hopefully I can find my rhythm again. And tonight was just the start.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more on the Lakers:<\/p>\n

Jaxson Hayes<\/a> played nearly the entire fourth quarter on Friday, getting crunch time minutes ahead of starting center Deandre Ayton<\/a>, Nguyen states in the same piece. Coach JJ Redick explained that he opted to stay with Hayes because \u201che was playing better.\u201d He finished with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting in 23 minutes. \u201cHis ability to control the paint for us has been huge,\u201d Marcus Smart<\/a> said of Hayes.\u201c\u2026 Just his ability to go get the ball at the highest point when we throw it and then defensively to alter shots, whether he\u2019s blocking them or just changing shots for us, allows our defense to pick it up from our guards even more. To have that urgency that he brings, that\u2019s huge.\u201d
\nRedick promised that Dalton Knecht<\/a> will get \u201cconsistent\u201d playing time over the next few weeks, Nguyen adds. Redick also said the second-year forward will be judged by more than just his shooting percentage.
\nGabe Vincent<\/a> will miss Sunday\u2019s rematch with Memphis as he continues to experience lower back soreness, but Redick indicated that he might be available during the upcoming road trip to New Orleans and San Antonio, per Khobi Price of The Orange County Register (Twitter link<\/a>).
\nMirjam Swanson of The Orange County Register<\/a> contends that the Lakers aren\u2019t good enough to compete for a title with their current roster and calls on general manager Rob Pelinka to be aggressive at the trade deadline to avoid wasting a year of Luka Doncic<\/a>\u2018s prime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lakers got a scoring boost from Jake LaRavia in Friday\u2019s win over Memphis, writes Thuc Nhi Nguyen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,1250,1586,370,4077,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-516014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dalton-knecht","10":"tag-deandre-ayton","11":"tag-gabe-vincent","12":"tag-jake-laravia","13":"tag-jaxson-hayes"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115836786235201662","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}