ORLANDO, Fla. — Lakers forward Jake LaRavia already knew about the achievement.

When speaking with the California Post inside of the visitor’s locker room at Kaseya Center beforethe Lakers’ road win over the Heat on Thursday, LaRavia recalled exactly how many games ago he set a new career-high for the most games he’s played in a regular season.

It happened duringthe March 14 home win over the Nuggets, which was the 67th game LaRavia played this season, surpassing his 66 games played in 2024-25. It was also the Lakers’ 67th game of the season.

And with LaRavia having played in every game of the Lakers’ ongoing six-game trip that continued with Saturday’s matchup against the Magic at Kia Center, he remained on pace to play in all 82 regular season games – a goal he said that he set for himself after last season.

“I was on pace for whatever it was last season, then I got hurt when I was in Sacramento,” LaRavia told the Post. “It was kind of like the first three years of my career, kind of just had been riddled with injuries. So it’s unfortunate. It’s not like I could have controlled any of those things.

“However…everyone says the same thing: the best ability is availability. So I just really tried to make that my goal this year. I’m on pace right now. And hopefully, God willing, everything stays on track and I’m good to play all 82. But I’m just glad that I’ve been able to have a healthy stretch.”

LaRavia played in the first 33 games of 2024-25, and 66 of 72 games, before sitting out of the final couple of weeks of the season after suffering a broken left thumb — the type of injury that was largely out of his control.

But LaRavia’s taken a stronger grasp of the things that can be controlled to help him not just be available every game, but play however many minutes the Lakers need from the 24-year-old forward.

LaRavia’s 1,732 minutes played entering Saturday may not sound like a lot (they ranked No. 83 across the league entering the weekend), but they’re 383 more minutes than he played last season.

He said he’s been on a “pretty strict diet” since hiring a chef before the start of last season. But the biggest change for this season has been his work in the weight room.

Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos