Jake LaRavia Drafted 19th Overall by the Memphis Grizzlies (via Minnesota)

Wake Forest forward Jake LaRavia is officially off the board! The 6-8 junior has been selected by the Memphis Grizzlies (via a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves) as the 19th overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft.

LaRavia is the first player from Wake Forest to be selected in the NBA Draft since John Collins was also taken with the 19th pick in 2017 and just the 8th Demon Deacon selected in the last 20 years. All time, LaRavia is the 40th total player all time selected in the NBA Draft from Wake Forest and the 15th Demon Deacon taken in the first round, per BasketballReference.

By being selected as the 19th pick in the first round, LaRavia will automatically get a 4-year contract worth somewhere around $13 million with the first 2 years ($6mil) fully guaranteed. I think that kind of proves he made the right choice to stay in the draft. LaRavia’s draft stock seemingly improved over the past couple of days after teams figured out that he was actually 20 instead of 22 years old.

LaRavia is joining a very good Memphis Grizzlies team that finished 56-26 last season and will team up with a solid young core that includes All-Star Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Desmond Bane. This is a fantastic landing spot for LaRavia, and his passing ability will be a very good fit on a team that already has plenty of scorers.

While I certainly would have loved to have LaRavia back in the black and gold for another season, it is always great to see a player reach their goals and make it into the most competitive basketball league on the planet. It also doesn’t hurt the program that Wake Forest was able to help get him there.

Congratulations to Jake and Go Deacs!