Miami rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. has been making his mark within the NBA this season and although he attended UCLA, it was a aid he wasn’t drafted to the Lakers, he says.
The Heat ended up drafting Jaquez at quantity 18 general within the draft, one decide after the Lakers’ Jalen Hood-Schifino.
Jaquez is as LA as they arrive, as he was born in Irvine and grew up in Camarillo, plus performed 4 years of school basketball at UCLA.
Some would say it will have made good sense for the younger star to don the purple and gold, however he’s truly glad the Lakers didn’t decide him.
“I wanted to get away,” Jaquez Jr. instructed The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “I feel, for myself, I believed it was necessary for me to have the ability to exit of my consolation zone and expertise one thing new.
“I didn’t need to be a man that mentioned, ‘Oh, I just stayed in Southern California all my life. I wanted to go live in a different, new place. And that’s why I used to be very excited to go to Miami.
“It was new. Everyone compares it, but I think it’s very, very different.”
Lakers followers will get to see what they missed out on as Jaquez and the remainder of the Miami squad will descend upon Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night time.
So far this season, the 22-year-old is averaging 13.7 factors, 3.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 steal per sport on 50.4 p.c capturing from the sphere and 35.4 p.c from three.
He has stepped up loads of instances within the absence of key Heat gamers and had a breakout sport on Christmas Day, the place he grew to become simply the fifth rookie in NBA historical past to document no less than 30 factors and ten rebounds on Christmas behind Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Walt Bellamy, and Patrick Ewing.
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