Jack Nicholson made a surprise appearance at the Los Angeles Lakers’ home playoff game Friday night (April 28, 2023), sitting in his customary courtside seat at the Crypto.com Arena. The legend, who turned 86 on April 22, hadn’t been seen in public since he attended the team’s opening game last season. Perhaps spurred on by the longtime fixture—he has been a Lakers season ticket holder since 1970—the team routed the Memphis Grizzlies to win their Best-of-7 first round matchup.
Before the game started, Lakers star LeBron James walked over to the acting legend to give him a hug.
Jack Nicholson 🤝 LeBron James 🤩 pic.twitter.com/pYDXnhwThR
— NBA Brasil (@NBABrasil) April 29, 2023
“It was definitely a Game 7 mentality for us,” said James after the game. “We understood that we had an opportunity to play in front of our fans, and we wanted to try to end it tonight.”
Related: Our mini-feature on Nicholson’s role in 1970’s Five Easy Pieces
