The 12-year-old girl caught on camera ‘freaking out completely’ when LeBron James sat next to her during the Lakers game on Saturday got to meet him and have a picture taken backstage. The Lakers caught the moment on camera, with James filmed giving young Gaia a high five and the Lakers captioning the picture on Instagram of the two together as ‘wholesome.’
James shared the video of Gaia’s stunned reaction on his Instagram story, writing: ‘This is exactly why I love what I do!’ ‘The King’ was out of his team’s game against Golden State Warriors on Saturday with an ankle issue – he hasn’t played since becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer on Tuesday night and now has a record 38,390 career points to his name.
It meant he took a seat courtside on Saturday, which happened to be right next to young Gaia and her brother. She didn’t immediately realize it was LeBron, but once she did she was visibly shocked, holding her hands over her mouth and turning to her brother and sneaking the occasional glimpse up at James.
ESPN sideline reporter Lisa Salters made her way to interview Gaia and asked about the experience of sitting next to greatness. Amusingly, James was still sat there as the question and answer took place. ‘I asked for these tickets over three months ago because I was so excited,’ she said. ‘I was really hoping LeBron would break the record at this game and when he broke it, I was like, “Congratulations,”‘ she said.
Salters continued: ‘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, I see LeBron James and what’s going through my mind is, “Oh my God, the greatest player of all-time in basketball is sitting next to me.” I just freaked out completely. I’m just thinking “oh my goodness this is the best moment of my life.”‘
To round a brilliant evening for Gaia, the Lakers clinched a 109-103 victory against Western Conference rivals Golden State. They next play on Monday night against Portland Trail Blazers and it is not yet known if James will be able to play. But the 38-year-old is still basking in the glory of his magnificent achievement on Tuesday night. He was spotted wearing a beaded bracelet on his wrist that read 38,388 – the total he needed to hit to eclipse the 38-year record set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Pictured: James was wearing a beaded bracelet that marked him becoming the NBA’s all-time top scorer.
