The LeBron James era in Los Angeles has officially blasted off, and Lakers fans could not be more excited. The man who has taken his team to the NBA finals for eight consecutive years rocked the basketball world this offseason when he announced he’d be playing in the Western conference for the first time in his NBA career.
His debut lived up to the hype. 26 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, and a steal. That’s called filling out the stat sheet, unfortunately there was one blemish during the Thursday night match – the Lakers lost.
This was thanks in large part to Canadian Nik Stauskas, who was making a much lower-profile debut of his own. The former Sacramento King, Philadelphia 76er, and Brooklyn Net joined the Portland Trail Blazers in the offseason. While his debut certainly didn’t out-shine LeBron, it was much more unexpected and debatably more impactful as a result. At one point he scored 16 points on a Blazers’ 18-point stretch.
The internet wasn’t going to let LeBron by that easy…
Is Nik Stauskas in line for an appearance in Space Jam 3? He certainly has the entertainment gene.
(H/T Brian Windhorst)
