LOS ANGELES Two days after the Los Angeles Chargers used their first-round pick on safety Derwin James, he stood in the teams media room, watching the clubs second- and third-round picks, Uchenna Nwosu and Justin Jones, conduct their first interviews as NFL players.
While they talked about their dreams coming true, James was caught in the back of the room in a daydream of his own.
James is a basketball fan, he said. Loves the game and wowed Florida State fans with a between-the-legs windmill slam while in college to help signal his knee was healthy.
So, while his future teammates talked football, he jab stepped. He bounced an imaginary ball between his legs, crossed over and stepped back.
He flicked the imaginary ball through an imaginary basket, scoring two points for his favorite team.
And that team?
LeBron James.
When the Los Angeles Lakers reached an agreement to sign James to a four-year, $154-million contract, they didnt just get the NBAs best player, a workhorse, do-it-all athlete with unmatched skill, size, strength and speed.
They also acquired the army of fans who care more about the name on the back of the jersey than the one on the front.
I never in a million years thought I would ever be a Lakers fan … (facepalm emoji) welp, Pittsburgh Steelers running back LeVeon Bell tweeted. yall can call me a bandwagon all yall want … lol where LeBron goes, I GO!
If the Lakers fan base wasnt already strong, its about to be invaded by people who have followed James from Cleveland to Miami and back to Cleveland as he piedpipered them through the Eastern Conference.
One of those people, former UCLA basketball player Josiah Johnson, has been spreading the gospel of LeBron on social media for most of James career.
LeBron is bigger than the NBA, Johnson said. Look at his Twitter followers, his Instagram followers.
James has 41.9 million followers on Twitter. The NBA has 27.9 million. Another 39.1 million follow James on Instagram compared to 29.3 million for the NBAs official account.
Johnson, the son of Los Angeles basketball legend Marques Johnson, co-created the Comedy Central show Legends of Chamberlain Heights and is a supervising producer of scripted content at Attn:, a Los Angeles-based media company.
