Who's #41? The profitable manner Quincy Olivari launched himself to Lakers nation

All you possibly can ask of somebody like Lakers rookie Quincy Olivari is for him to be prepared, for him to not run when the chance to do one thing nice presents itself, for him to step into alternative able to capitalize.

That occurred Thursday evening in Milwaukee, as he ignited a 20-0 run to provide the Lakers and JJ Redick their first preseason win, however it wasn’t the primary time. By the point the Lakers rolled in for his or her third recreation of the preseason, the undrafted, coaching camp signee had already established he wasn’t going to let a second slip previous him.

It’s why, briefly, he obtained somewhat web well-known on media day.

Earlier than Olivari’s huge fourth quarter Thursday, when he scored 11 factors, grabbed 5 rebounds and had two assists throughout a 9-minute, 24-second shift, he had already captured Lakers followers’ consideration.

Throughout Bronny James’ interview with ESPN, Olivari discovered himself standing subsequent to LeBron James within the background of the shot. He grabbed his telephone, handed it to a staffer and posed for the image with the NBA’s all-time main scorer — whereas folks watching puzzled who precisely was sporting that No. 41 Lakers jersey.

Olivari is, in any case, with the Lakers on an “Exhibit 10” contract — a nonguaranteed coaching camp deal that may be transformed to a normal minimal deal. The extra seemingly final result in these situations is that the participant receives a bonus, ought to he stay with the group’s G-League crew for at the very least 60 days.

The clip of Bronny James going to be interviewed with LeBron James and Olivari within the background obtained shared to greater than 43.8 million customers on SportsCenter’s X account.

“Did 41 simply ask LeBron for a selfie?” one other puzzled.

Olivari posted the picture with James on his Instagram web page with the caption, “Who’s #41.”

His pals made certain Olivari, who performed 4 years at Rice earlier than a fifth season at Xavier, noticed all of the jokes — his favorites being those that in contrast him to a generic create-a-player in basketball video video games.

“They began speaking about, oh that, like, that is ‘My Participant.’ … I used to be simply crying laughing. And my homeboy, he texted me and was like, ‘You bought to capitalize on his advertising.’ So I hadn’t obtained my media day footage but, however I obtained the image with LeBron and I mentioned, ‘I am simply gonna put up it.’

“And I used the caption, ‘Who’s quantity 41?’ And that is been my mantra.”

Lakers followers know somewhat bit extra now.

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He was a precedence add for the crew in undrafted free company, with South Bay Lakers basic supervisor Nick Mazzella calling Olivari after the primary evening of the draft to recruit him.

“It was a reasonably straightforward choice to simply go there as a result of they, they needed me, in order that, that already informed me off rip,” Olivari mentioned.

The Lakers roster is at present full, together with the crew’s three two-way spots, although a kind of might be freed up with out inflicting any wage cap problems — the cleanest pathway for Olivari to earn a job with the group outdoors of the G-League.

Thursday, Olivari’s spark within the crew’s fourth-quarter comeback towards the Bucks had the Lakers bench off their ft. He created turnovers along with his full-court protection. He hit a number of three-point photographs and attacked the rim regardless of his 6-foot-3 body.

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“He has an infectious spirit and soul about him,” Redick mentioned. “It’s not that he’s some tremendous talkative, boisterous man. However he simply carries himself nicely. He carries himself with intent. His work ethic is basically excessive. And I believe folks reply to that.

“And when you’ve somebody who cares, who is an efficient teammate, who does all the suitable issues after which he is available in a recreation and is selecting up full court docket with a bloody mouth and altering all the dynamic for us as a crew, it’s straightforward to answer that as a teammate and as a training workers. And I believed he simply lit a hearth for us.”

His ardour for basketball prolonged to the postgame, when in an on-court radio interview, Olivari failed to totally combat again tears.

“He takes the sport very critically,” Redick mentioned. “He’s a participant who, I discuss care issue, he’s a participant who has a care issue for doing it the suitable manner and desirous to execute no matter imaginative and prescient you give him. I’m excited that he’s in our program, I actually am. We take a look at him as a training workers in very excessive regard.”

Learn extra: Lakers coach JJ Redick has noticed Austin Reaves’ defensive acumen

And so do his teammates.

Late Thursday evening the Lakers flew again to Los Angeles, it was LeBron James’ flip so as to add some gasoline to the Olivari web legend.

“Yeeeeaaaahhhhh Q!!,” he posted on Instagram. “They know who 41 is now.”

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This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Times.