JUNE 24: The trade is complete, the Grizzlies and Timberwolves announced in a pair of press releases. Officially, LaRavia’s draft rights head to Memphis along with a 2023 second-round pick in exchange for the draft rights to No. 22 pick Walker Kessler and No. 29 pick TyTy Washington.
It’s unclear if that ’23 second-rounder is Minnesota’s own or the Knicks’ second-round pick that the Wolves acquired earlier in the draft.
The Wolves are flipping Washington to the Rockets in a separate trade.
JUNE 23: The Grizzlies have agreed to acquire the No. 19 pick from the Timberwolves and will select Wake Forest forward Jake LaRavia, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). In exchange, Minnesota will receive the No. 22 and No. 29 selections in tonight’s draft, with the Grizzlies also gaining a second-round pick, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links).
It’s apparently a 2023 second-rounder, Chris Hine of the Star Tribune tweets.
LaRavia, who spent two seasons at Indiana State, moved up draft boards in recent weeks after averaging 14.6 PPG, 6.6 RPG and 3.7 APG for the Demon Deacons last season. With Kyle Anderson entering free agency, LaRavia could compete for a rotation spot in his rookie campaign.
He improved his stock during workouts, as he was originally projected as a borderline first-rounder.
Parlaying two first-rounders for the No. 19 selection doesn’t seem like great value, as Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian notes, but Grizzlies executive Zach Kleiman is unfazed by perceptions as long as he gets the player he wants. Kleiman has traded up for every pick on his watch with the exception of Ja Morant, Herrington adds (Twitter links).
Gonna be tough for Memphis to win this trade. Laravia wasn’t even the best player on Wake last yr
And probably could have picked Jake at 22 lol
Could’ve got him at 29 smh. Not sure how you trade up with both first (not 22 and like 2 2nds) and take him, when a guy like Branham was on the board. Especially when they most likely already knew they were trading Melton. Branham would’ve been a great replacement for him. Wouldn’t have provided the same D as Melton, but he is incredibly efficient offensively and really young too.
Don’t get either one of their picks, both seemed like a decent reach. Reminds me of Ziaire last year.
Ziaire was a great pick tho
Meh the jury is still out, it has only been one season. I would’ve preferred Moody over him. Time will tell.
Well he was definitely better than Moody this yr
Wouldn’t say that. Z definitely had more opportunity/court time this year than Moody, but I like what Moody did with his court time more.
They both did well. I think Moody was better able with his style to take advange of limited-minute intensity, and GSW can really work the ball around.
I suspect Williams was often told to just stand on the 3pt line and wait for a kick-out… Less engaging.
And now more competition at forward comes in! Well that’s the need right now. I like what they got. Kleinman’s hot.
That trade was likely available for CLE at 14 too… 22+29 for 19. Ogbaji better translate. Roddy went #23, there it is.
Really good draft for Minny. They got a lot better defensively (so did OKC) with Kessler & WMoore. Now all they gotta do is add an elite shooter by shipping out D’lo for Kennard & Twin to have this squad ready to win some playoff series in the west
Crazy thought, but maybe Kleiman doesn’t care if he wins trades. I mean in his day job. Of course, when he’s playing fantasy, it’s important to him.