Los Angeles Lakers: Top 10 moments of the 2018-19 NBA season

9. LeBron’s first two buckets as a Laker

As is the case with any superstars debut with a new team, LeBron’s first regular season appearance as a member of the Lakers was met with an incredible buzz around the league in a matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Both the fans and media wanted their first taste of getting acclimated to James in the purple and gold, as well as the first real opportunity to see how he would mesh next to his new teammates in an unfamiliar system.

He was quiet in the game’s first couple of minutes, looking to get his teammates involved rather than hunt for his own shots. Those in attendance and watching on TNT were giddy in anticipation of LeBron’s very first bucket as a Laker, almost as if the type of shot would determine his success in Los Angeles moving forward.

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If that is true, his first basket was about as good as it gets. James jumped the passing lane on an inbounds pass, took it down to the other end of the court and threw down his trademark tomahawk slam, cocking it back and dunking it through with tremendous force.

Portland would come down and retaliate with a dunk of its own a mere seconds later, but LeBron wasn’t one to only get even. He pushed the ball down the court and found himself uncontested at the rim once again, whipping out a dunk nearly identical to the one less than a minute prior.

L.A.’s bench was jumping for joy. The Laker fans in the building were ecstatic. Even the Blazer faithful were buzzing with awe. James’ power and athleticism were on full display and it seemed as though those two dunks provided a picture-perfect reminder of what Laker fans were getting themselves into after years of looking for that superstar player.