LeBron James Sends Eight-Word Message to New Lakers Teammate

The Los Angeles Lakers played the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night in an NBA preseason game. This was the third preseason contest for the Lakers and their first win.

Falling to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns prior to this game, Los Angeles responded with a 107-102 victory in Milwaukee. LeBron James played just 16 minutes in this game, recording 11 points, six rebounds and three assists.

It was the bench for Los Angeles that came through, with rookies Dalton Knecht and Quincy Olivari each scoring in double figures. Knecht led all Lakers reserves with 13 points, and Olivari added 11 in just nine minutes.

Olivari signed an Exhibit-10 contract with the Lakers earlier this offseason. The 6-foot-3 guard has no prior NBA experience.

Sending a message to his new teammate on Instagram, James wrote, "Yeaaaaaaahhhhh Q! They know who 41 is now."

James is referencing a viral post on social media that reacted to Olivari taking a picture with the NBA's all-time leading scorer during media day.

"Even if #41 doesn’t make the team Lebron is a real one for that," @DeuceThomas wrote on X.

This post tallied 2.3 million views on X. Not many people knew who No. 41 on the Lakers was, but he certainly opened eyes with his performance on Thursday.

Along with his 11 points off the bench, Olivari added five rebounds and two assists. The 23-year-old guard was not drafted out of Xavier but is getting an opportunity in the preseason with Los Angeles.

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