On Thursday, the Sacramento Kings made their third move of this trade deadline cycle, orchestrating a three-team deal with the Memphis Grizzlies and Washington Wizards.
In the deal, the Kings said goodbye to Alex Len, Colby Jones, and their 2028 second round pick. But, in return, they may have gotten the perfect role player for their team.
Jake LaRavia is the perfect role player for the Kings
Before the deadline, whenever we talked about the Kings' problems, we always harped on the fact that they had too much on-ball creation and not enough spacing, size, and defense.
In their first trade, the Kings parted ways with De'Aaron Fox (one of their on-ball creators) and welcomed Zach LaVine. Like Fox, LaVine can create with the ball in his hands, but unlike the former franchise icon, he can also space the floor.
In their second trade, the Kings added Jonas Valanciunas. At seven feet tall, Valanciunas gives the Kings some much-needed frontcourt depth (size).
Both of these guys offer some of the things the Kings need. However, neither of them can provide a mixture of all three. LaVine isn't super tall or a good defender, and Valanciunas isn't a floor spacer, and he's one of the worst defensive centers in the sport.
That is what makes Jake LaRavia so interesting. First off, on the season, he's a 44.4% 3-point shooter (spacing). Second, he's in the 66th percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus – arguably the best publicly available metric on the market (defense). Lastly, he's 6'8 with a 6'9.5 wingspan (size).
By the way, that size isn't just for show. It is fully functional. This season, LaRavia is in the 68th percentile in block rate among forwards (per Cleaning the Glass). Having a guy who is capable of providing secondary rim protection is huge on a team like the Kings, where Domantas Sabonis is your starting center.
LaRavia is the exact type of role player this Kings team needs, and it didn't cost the team too much to get him. On top of that, they were able to steal him from the Grizzlies – a team they very well could be facing in the first round of the playoffs. Who knows, maybe LaRavia ends up being the reason we ultimately steal the series from them.