Only a few days ago, Quincy Olivari was an unknown face on NBA Twitter. Hoop fans were curious about the #41 player who was seen clicking pictures with Lebron James on Lakers Media Day. This curiosity led to the now-viral tweet from a fan, ‘Who TF is #41?’
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Well, now after his preseason heroics, everyone knows who Olivari is and what he is capable of. While the fans had a field day after the Lakers rookie bagged a two-way contract, Olivari also chuckled at a few jokes about him.
After his 22-point game against Golden State, Olivari made an appearance on the Check Out the Stat podcast with Treasure Wilson. The rookie detailed his reaction to the trend on social media where fans were trying to find out who he was. Most athletes would’ve taken it as a sign of disrespect, but Olivari took it in good spirits.
It all started when a footage of Bronny James’ interview surfaced on the internet. In the background, LeBron was seen dapping up someone in the Lakers #41 jersey. A fan quote-tweeted the clip and wrote, “Who TF is #41 LMAO.”
Soon, Olivari was all over social media. The 23-year-old revealed that he had a good time reading some of the posts. He couldn’t help but laugh at the sense of humor of fans.
“I’m refreshing my Instagram and it’s like [more] followers. People are commenting, ‘Oh, I had to come to your page to check out if you was really cold or not.’ The first comment I saw that made me laugh, it was like, ‘Oh, that’s Savannah’s cousin’ and it was like, ‘That’s LeBron James Jr. Jr.’ So, when I was looking at that, I was laughing.”
Lakers rookie Quincy Olivari reacts to " who TF is 41?!"
New episode of #checkoutthestat out now⭐️ pic.twitter.com/tn3HzHTi1A
— Treasure Wilson (@treasurewilsxn) October 19, 2024
Despite being labeled as “One of Bronny’s homies” on social media, Olivari didn’t take any of the comments the wrong way. He was also called the mod player by fans.
But as soon as the 23-year-old got an opportunity to show his talent, he earned everyone’s respect.
Stephen Curry posted about Quincy Olivari
Olivari appeared in the 2024 NBA Draft, but remained undrafted. In August, he signed an exhibit 10 contract with the Lakers. After his good preseason run, he received the recent two-way contract. The largely unknown player is now officially a Laker.
On top of that, fans later found out that superstars like Stephen Curry, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant were well aware of Olivari.
After the last preseason game, Olivari got emotional while talking about Steph at the press conference. He said, “That’s my favorite player ever, and the first thing he told me was I’m a big fan of your game…I had his jersey. He signed it twice. I used to sleep under that jersey.”
Steph gave him a shoutout on Instagram. He wrote, “Pleasure bro. Appreciate you being a real one and letting me know the history!”
Quincy Olivari gets emotional talking about meeting Steph Curry:
“That’s my favorite player ever, and the first thing he told me was I’m a big fan of your game…I had his jersey. He signed it twice. I used to sleep under that jersey.”
(via @SpectrumSN)
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) October 19, 2024
Olivari had two good games in the preseason. He scored 11 points in the fourth quarter against Milwaukee and helped secure a win for his team. He led the Lakers in scoring in the last preseason game against the Warriors. Olivari also had seven rebounds and two assists in 39 minutes.
