There’s something poetic about Puka Nacua, a Rams wide receiver, staring down LeBron James highlights before game day. What better way to feel rooted in L.A.?
NFL player Puka Nacua watches LeBron James career highlights before every game 😅
(h/t @NFL_DovKleiman)pic.twitter.com/Ey86eHBvgK
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) October 4, 2025
Matthew Stafford recently shared that Puka Nacua—on the eve of every game—watches LeBron highlight reels. He cues up the dunks, chase-down blocks, late-game pull-ups, the moments where LeBron just refuses to lose. But for Nacua, it’s not just about basketball; it’s about mindset, resilience, especially within a city that lives and breathes legends.
Whatever he’s doing, it’s working. Through Week 4 of the 2025 NFL season, Nacua leads the league with 42 receptions and 503 yards, including a 13-catch, 170-yard day against the Colts. He’s picking up first downs and explosive plays at a historic pace — all while still only in his third season.
From a Lakers fan’s lens, it feels like Nacua is tapping into something bigger than route running or separation. He’s trying to mirror that calm under fire, the aura of inevitability LeBron carries down the stretch. In L.A., it’s not uncommon to see athletes across different sports borrow cues from one another—but this feels especially organic. The same city, the same legacy burden, and the same hunger to leave your imprint.
Of course, LeBron’s highlight reels are more than just highlight reels. They are a spectacle of greatness. What inspires Nacua is how those plays look effortless only in hindsight. Watching seemingly impossible shots go in, rim protection, threading passes—these are micro-moments of confidence made public. That’s something you can take on the field when you’re enduring hit after hit.
That video ritual doesn’t guarantee touchdowns, but it signals who Puka wants to be when the stakes rise. And for fans who bleed both purple and gold, as well as blue and gold, the overlap is electric. A Rams receiver borrowing from a Laker icon. The city’s nightly narrative is enriched by such cross-sport respect.
So, while he’s hauling in receptions on Sundays, the same highlight loops you catch on Lakers socials may be echoing in his mental space. It’s not about rings in this context; it’s about how you carry yourself under pressure. And if nothing else, it sharply illustrates that in Los Angeles—where legends are built in arenas and stadiums, on courts and fields—the distance between sports is often just a mindset.
