Lakers sign 23-year-old shooter with a B+ rating: biggest advantage is his age, $6 million annual salary is a great deal

On July 1st Beijing time, the Lakers finalized a 2-year, $12 million deal with 23-year-old shooter Jack LaRavia. ESPN then rated this signing a B+. Data expert Kevin Pelton’s remarks were as follows—

He is optimistic about the Lakers acquiring LaRavia, but emphasizes an important prerequisite: the team must still figure out who will fill the starting center position.

Selected as the 19th overall pick in the 2022 draft by the Grizzlies, LaRavia had his rookie contract option for the 2025-26 season declined before last season. He then delivered the best season of his career, shooting 42.3% from three-point range and improving his true shooting percentage from 53.8% in his first two seasons to 59.1%.

Although the Grizzlies traded LaRavia to the Kings at the trade deadline, the declined option limited the Kings’ ability to re-sign him. This season, the Kings could offer LaRavia no more than $5.6 million—the value of that option. The Lakers matched roughly that amount with their two-year contract.

For the Lakers, the biggest benefit of signing LaRavia lies in his age. At 23, he is still developing as a contributor; if this is purely a two-year deal, the Lakers will have the early bird rights to re-sign him in the summer of 2027, when he will be 25.

Based on LaRavia’s age and performance, Pelton’s data projection system places him just outside the top 20 free agents. If this forecast is roughly correct, $6 million annually should be a reasonable deal. Since LaRavia’s contract exceeds the bi-annual exception amount, it likely comes from the Lakers’ full mid-level exception of $14.1 million. This leaves the Lakers about $8 million remaining to spend, most likely on adding a center.

Splitting the mid-level exception will help the Lakers improve roster depth more than allocating the entire amount to one player. After seeing Fini Smith reach a deal with the Rockets earlier, without splitting the exception, the number of reliable rotation players for the Lakers would remain unchanged.