New Lakers assistant has memorable history with LeBron James

The newest assistant coach of the Los Angeles Lakers should be plenty familiar to LeBron James and vice versa.

ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported on Saturday that the Lakers have hired former NBA guard John Lucas III to join coach Frank Vogel’s staff. The 38-year-old had a journeyman career, both in the NBA and overseas, before becoming an assistant for the Minnesota Timberwolves in recent years.

You might also remember Lucas for another reason. He was unfortunately on the receiving end of a memorable James dunk back in 2012. James, who was then with the Miami Heat, jumped clean over Lucas, a member of the Chicago Bulls, to convert an alley-oop slam.

Along with his poster dunks on Tim Duncan in 2006, on Kevin Garnett in 2008, and on Jason Terry in 2013, James’ jam over Lucas (which you can see video of here) is one of the most iconic dunks of his entire career. You can be sure that James will remind Lucas of that much during their first practice together in Los Angeles.