Young fan adorably freaks out when she realizes LeBron James is sitting next to her for Lakers-Warriors
LeBron James being ruled out with a foot injury for Saturday's game at the Golden State Warriors probably disappointed plenty of spectators, but it ended up making one young fan's year.
The Los Angeles Lakers star, currently sidelined with a foot injury, ended up watching the game courtside from the Lakers bench. That meant sitting next to one fan, who could not believe her eyes when she saw who had sat down next to her.
When you get to sit next to LeBron 😲❤️ pic.twitter.com/0inUHXIzve
— ESPN (@espn) February 12, 2023
Imagine "Ichiro Girl" but if she got to spend multiple hours sitting next to the player. You also have to appreciate the other person sitting next to her quickly getting a photo of her reaction.
The young fan soon went viral, to the point that the ESPN broadcast interviewed her during the second quarter. She explained that she initially requested the seats hoping to see James breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring record, but was still excited to see him play until he was ruled out. Then she got quite the surprise.
"This is like the best moment of my life." ❤️ https://t.co/zNbebfYMuY pic.twitter.com/9wPK7RZtqt
— NBA (@NBA) February 12, 2023
The girl's reaction to sitting next to James:
"So I asked for these tickets over three months ago because I was so excited, I really was hoping that LeBron would break the record at this game. And even once he broke it, I was like 'Oh my God, congratulations.' And I was so excited to come to this game ... When I heard he had a foot injury, I was sad and he didn't know if he was traveling with the team to this game or not. And then when he ended up sitting down here, I'm not as tall as him obviously, so I could only see his shoes. And then I look up and I see LeBron James.
"What's going through my mind is just like 'Oh my God, the greatest player of all time in basketball is sitting next to me.' I just freak out completely, thinking 'Oh my goodness, this is the best moment of my life.'"
She also ended up getting a photo with James after the game, which the Lakers won 109-103 behind 26 points from Dennis Schroder.