The LA Lakers’ new recruitment John Lucas III and franchise superstar LeBron James have history between them.
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According to recent reports, John Lucas III has been hired as the Lakers’ new assistant coach to Frank Vogel. Lucas is a former NBA player who played point guard position for the Chicago Bulls.
The LA Lakers have made significant changes to their roaster as well as their coaching staff this year. The purple and gold team wants to make most of King James’ prime as his championship window seems to be closing.
The Lakers hired John Lucas III to their coaching staff, sources told ESPN. Lucas carved out a respectable journeyman NBA run at PG in a career that included stints in the G League, Europe and China. He joins LAL after coaching with MIN. … And he has some history with LeBron. pic.twitter.com/BBi8EXjn22
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) September 11, 2021
Lucas has played a major chunk of his career in international leagues, including Snaidero Udine in Italy, TAU Cerámica of the Spanish ACB League, and the Shangai Sharks of the CBA.
However, Lucas III is most remembered for being the subject of LeBron James’ high-flying dunk. It is still regarded as one of the most monster dunks of recent times.
When LeBron James leaped over John Lucas III for a jam.
James’ iconic dunk over Lucas was a sure-shot display of the freakish athletic ability of the former Miami Heat player. A 6″8′ James sprung over a 5″11′ Bulls point guard John Lucas III.
The marvelous play took place in 2012 when James played for the Miami Heat. The iconic play has Dwyane Wade playing the perfect architect who spots James cutting in and gives him an alley-oop pass to jam it over Lucas.
A couple of years later, Lucas had ironically signed with the Miami Heat and was asked about James’ iconic dunk during the media day.
Ah, man, he said when asked about the dunk at Media Day, right after officially signing with the Heat for one of the final spots on the training camp roster. I got off the plane yesterday, and somebody was like, Hey, that’s the dude LeBron jumped over! When I got off the plane, I was like, well, welcome to Miami! That’s what I said to myself.
You know, it’s good, he said. Hey, it was a hell of a play. I mean, I haven’t watched it in a while, but every time I walk into the locker room—they’ve got the big picture of him jumping before you enter into the locker room. So, I’m always reminded of what happened here. Juwan Howard pointed it out to me. But, you know, it’s part of the game.
(via: SB Nation)
Though Lucas was the subject of an iconic dunk, he is all respect for James. Lucas acknowledges that the play was nothing short of a spectacular display of athleticism by the 4x NBA champion.
There is no denying that the iconic dunk will be a topic of trash-talking in the Lakers locker room. However, as far as Lucas’ relationship with James goes, things look optimistic.
