As one of the most iconic franchises in all of professional sports, the Los Angeles Lakers have regularly drawn crowds at games outside their Southern California roots. The same can be said for LeBron James, and marrying the two has meant widespread adulation outside Los Angeles.
Of course, that doesn’t apply to all road games. Such as when the Lakers play the Portland Trail Blazers or San Antonio Spurs. But against a team like the Memphis Grizzlies, it has not been uncommon for Lakers fans to pack the FedEx Forum.
That was the case Saturday night when James and company rolled into town to complete a two-game road trip. He and the Lakers electrified the crowd in an emphatic victory, and James also made it a memorable night for a Grizzlies employee.
Upon checking out in the fourth quarter for good, James signaled for the woman and gifted her a pair of his game-worn Nike LeBron 16. James explained she was someone he’s regularly noticed on visits to Memphis, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“Every year I’ve come here she’s always worn a very exclusive pair of my shoes. I’ve always noticed it and never said anything to her. And tonight I said something to her for the first time and she was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve always been Team LeBron. Always.’ So she got a pair of LeBron’s.”
The shoes came from a night in which James only scored 20 points but stuffed the stat sheet with 8 rebounds and 9 assists, marking a second consecutive game in which he nearly recorded a triple-double. He was one of six players to score in double-figures against the Grizzlies.
Kyle Kuzma also scored 20 points to tie for the team lead, while Josh Hart and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope each had 16.
