11 Months After Klay Thompson’s Impersonator Incident, Crypto.com Arena Lets Austin Reaves Look Alike Walk Free

Online personality Erick Decker, commonly known by his alias “Airrack,” managed to sneak into the LA Lakers’ Crypto.com arena. The YouTube personality impersonated Lakers’ shooting guard Austin Reaves and managed to get past all security layers. The arena security allowed him to walk off scot-free although it is unclear whether the incident took place in game 3 or 4. Not the first time such an incident took place. Klay Thompson too had an impersonator sneak into an NBA arena once!

Airrack is the second player impersonator who has managed to sneak past security at an NBA arena. Earlier in 2022, YouTuber Dawson Gurley managed to sneak past 5 levels of security at the Chase Arena before game 5 of the 2022 NBA Finals! And trust us, he looks a lot like Klay Thompson.

Austin Reaves lookalike walks into Crypto.com arena but luckily gets off scot-free

As Airrack bears a slight resemblance to the 24-year-old Austin Reaves, he had to put on an elaborate disguise before he could attempt to sneak in. He wanted to try and fool the security during the high-wire Western Conference Semifinals. The LA Lakers hosted the Golden State Warriors for games 3 and 4.

While it is unclear during which game the incident took place, Airrack posted a video revealing the details of the prank. He ended up renting a car of the exact same model that Austin Reaves uses, bought a pre-game outfit that the player wears, and wore contacts to change his eye color from blue to brown. Talk about dedication.

This was followed by a nervy, but successful attempt to walk inside the Crypto.com arena pretending to be a player. After being questioned at the main gate, “Austin Reaves” was able to walk past the metal detectors, and not a single person batted an eye.

This guy successfully impersonated Austin Reaves and snuck into a Lakers playoff game at the Crypt.

He was walking in areas closed off for players/media/employees only, including the court 🤯

(via @airrack) pic.twitter.com/6DsdlaMh6b

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 10, 2023

The video, shared by Clutchpoints on Twitter, shows Airrack successfully making it to the main court alongside all the other players. Of course, he was eventually caught but has since been released without any charges.

Austin Reaves’s impersonator follows in the footsteps of YouTuber Dawson Gurley

Dawson Gurley not only bore more resemblance to the player he was impersonating, Klay Thompson, but he also had experience doing it before. The popular YouTuber would habitually walk around San Francisco pretending to be the legendary Warriors’ player.

Gurley would regularly sign autographs, interact with fans, and play a variety of pranks. However, things went out of hand when he decided to sneak into the Chase Arena before game 5 of the 2022 NBA Finals.

Gurley managed to walk past 5 layers of security and had even been hooping for around ten minutes before he was caught. The YouTuber’s antics, however, led to a permanent ban for him from the Chase Center. And he has never been seen again.

This is why we think Airrack is quite lucky to have gotten away without any consequences for his actions.