Why Jake LaRavia is actually excited to guard Kevin Durant in the playoffs

The Los Angeles Lakers will not have it easy in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs.

Apart from the fact that they will be without two of their top players, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, sidelined with injuries, the Lakers are also facing Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets in the opening round.

The Lakers have homecourt advantage, but that can only go as far. If Los Angeles is to pass its test in the first round, it will need its defense to slow down Rockets superstar Kevin Durant.

Lakers forward Jake LaRavia knows that bottling up Durant is a tall order, but he is embracing the challenge.

“Yeah, I always, you know, take those challenges with pride and obviously guarded him in the matches that we’ve had previously, you know, one of the greatest scores ever, so it’ll be very exciting for me to take that challenge,” LaRavia told reporters on Tuesday, via Daniel Starkand of Lakers Nation.

Durant played in all three games between the Lakers and the Rockets in the 2025-26 NBA regular season. He averaged 20.3 points in those contests, below his season average of 26.0, but he shot 56.1 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from behind the arc.

The former NBA Most Valuable Player remains the focal point of the Rockets’ offense, but LaRavia and the Lakers can’t just put their defensive focus entirely on Durant, as Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr. and Reed Sheppard are all dangerous scorers as well.

Game 1 of the Lakers-Rockets series will be played on Saturday at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

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