A young girl received the surprise of her life when she realised LeBron James sat next to her during the Lakers-Golden State Warriors game on Saturday. The basketball legend had been ruled out of Los Angeles' game against the Warriors due to an ankle injury, but he still made a short trip to San Fransico to watch the Lakers win.
When he reached the courtside, NBA's (National Basketball Association) all-time scoring leader then casually pulled up next to a 12-year-old fan. The stunned girl, who has been identified as Gaia, became starstruck as her eyes widened and her mouth dropped when LeBron James, wearing a bright green beanie, sat next to her. Seemingly unable to control her excitement, the 12-year-old covered her mouth and looked away from James.
Taking to Twitter, NBA shared the clip showing the girl's reaction. "This young fan's reaction to sitting next to LeBron," the caption of the post read.
Watch the video below:
LeBron James shared the video of Gaia's stunned reaction on his Instagram story as well. "This is exactly why I love what I do," he wrote.
Moreover, the 12-year-old girl even got to meet the Basketball player and have a picture taken backstage. The Lakers caught the moment on camera, with James filmed giving Gaia a high five and the Lakers captioning the image on Instagram of the two together as "wholesome".
"I'm not as tall as him, obviously, so I could only see his shoes," Gaia told ESPN, still sitting next to James on the sidelines. "When I looked up, I see Lebron James, and what's going through my mind is just like 'oh my god. The greatest player of all time in basketball is sitting next to me,'" she added.
When asked if she had any words with the player, she said that she was told not to interact with the players and didn't want to bother him. The 12-year-old also revealed that she had asked for the tickets three months prior in hopes of seeing LeBron James play. However, when she found out that the Lakers player would be sitting out because of an ankle injury, she was "sad" and didn't know if the superstar was travelling with the team.
The 12-year-old ultimately met James backstage and snapped a picture with him after the Lakers defeated the Warriors 109-103.
