7:02 pm | October 18, 2018 | Go to Source | Author:
PORTLAND — With a mahogany teakwood-scented candle from White Barn burning in the empty locker stall next to him, LeBron James set the mood for his debut with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Before the Lakers embarked on what could be a roller coaster season, James was a picture of tranquility. With the likes of NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Nike co-founder Phil Knight on hand to watch, James played in his first regular-season game with his new team Thursday night against the Portland Trail Blazers.
It felt like a major event, bigger than your typical season opener, with all the hype that has followed James joining the Lakers. Before the Lakers madness started, James sat at his locker stall with the candle burning next to him, listening to his pre-game music while wearing a Nike T-shirt with an ad of himself wearing a Lakers jersey.
He seemed oblivious to the row of cameras and reporters capturing his every move in a cramped visitor’s locker room at the Moda Center. As he put his warmup gear on, an “NBA 2K” video game commercial with James in it played on a television near his locker.
Up until tonight, no one could really know what the Lakers would look like in a real game outside of simulating it on a video game. Still, James liked what he saw in the preseason.
“I love what we have done so far, I love our potential, but only time will tell,” James said at the Lakers’ morning shootaround. “And this is the first step of a long journey for us.”
The attention and hype surrounding the Lakers and James since the star decided to move to Los Angeles in free agency has been intense.
Before the team left for Portland, head coach Luke Walton stopped by Lakers controlling owner Jeanie Buss’ office at the Lakers’ facility. The two talked about how long it has seemed since James joined the team in early July to the season opener.
“It feels like it’s been about a week. It does,” Walton said of the time flying. “It’s funny, from my seat, being a coach, I said it feels like a week ago that all this happened. She was like, ‘I feel like it was five months ago.’ It’s been awhile for her; for me, it’s been short. I think that’s me just being a coach and knowing how much more I’d like to get in. It’s gone quickly.”
The Lakers certainly hope it won’t take long for their young core of prospects, including Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart, to adjust to playing alongside James. In the two other times James debuted with a new team, it took a while for him and his new teammates to adapt to one another.
The Heat stumbled to a 9-8 start in James’ first year in Miami before winning 12 consecutive games and finishing 58-24 before reaching the first of four straight NBA finals appearances.
When James returned to Cleveland, the Cavaliers opened 19-20 under David Blatt before winning 12 straight, finishing 53-29 and making the first of four straight NBA Finals.
As James walked into the arena off the team bus with cameras recording his every step, James walked closely behind Ingram. James and the Lakers are hoping Ingram takes a step toward becoming an All-Star this season.
And one of the other young prospects, Kuzma, wore the same Nike Zoom 2k3 pair of shoes that an 18-year-old James wore in his first practice as an NBA athlete in 2003. Kuzma recently signed a sponsorship deal with GOAT and wore the shoes from the sponsor during his pre-game walkup.
Of course, the most important step taken on Thursday was the Lakers’ first with James to start the season.
“Every step along the path is always different and challenging in its own right,” James said of starting a new season with a new franchise. “So no matter how comfortable you are, they all have their own feeling and you have to get better with it every single day, so I’m looking forward to this challenge.”
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