LOS ANGELES — With the Los Angeles Lakers mired in a two-game losing streak — the last loss being a 32-point drubbing by Denver — the team turned to Coach Herman Boone from T.C. Williams High School to give them a pep talk.
Well, the actor who played the football Coach Boone in “Remember the Titans,” anyway. Denzel Washington was the latest guest in the Lakers’ “Genius Series” this week — Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka regularly invites notable speakers in entertainment and other industries to address the team — and his message came at a fortuitous time.
“It’s great,” said Lakers coach Luke Walton on Thursday. “People are frustrated and angry after those types of games, so you bring in someone like Denzel, and he talks about the things he talks about, it does a nice job of lifting spirits.”
Walton said the 63-year-old actor’s message provided welcome perspective to his team, which is 11-9 and hosts the Indiana Pacers on Thursday.
“Be good to people. Be thankful for what we have,” Walton said, paraphrasing Washington’s talk. “Start every day being humble and grateful for the lives we live and use the blessings we have to help other people.”
Washington, who often sits courtside at Staples Center across from the Lakers’ bench and played college basketball at Fordham where he was coached by former NBA coach and current ESPN analyst P.J. Carlesimo, inspired LeBron James to share part of the Oscar winner’s message on his Instagram account.
James said Washington, who was presented with a gold No. 1 Lakers uniform with “Washington” stitched across the back of it when he met the team Wednesday, gave him an African-American role model to aspire to be like when he was growing up, much the same way Will Smith and Dave Chappelle did.
“I grew up watching these guys,” James said. “I grew up admiring these guys, admiring their craft, wanting to be like certain characters they portrayed either in TV shows or movies or in standup. So, that’s what it all boils down to. I appreciate those guys and thank them more than they know.
“They had no idea that they were inspiring a kid from Akron, Ohio and these guys are in Los Angeles shooting movies and TV shows or they’re on tour doing skits and things of that nature. So, that’s what it boils down to. And where I grew up, the only real inspirations are really like drug dealers. Those are the only inspirations that you have where I grew up. And thank God I was able to be inspired by people that were doing it the right way and not the wrong way.”
James said picking a favorite Washington movie would be like selecting a favorite Jay-Z album, but did list a few that he liked best: “Man on Fire,” “Remember the Titans,” “John Q,” “Training Day,” and “He Got Game,” because, “Everybody wanted to be Jesus Shuttlesworth growing up. For me personally I did.”
Washington joins a distinguished panel of speakers to visit the Lakers before him, including hip hop artist and Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Hollywood heavyweight Jeffrey Katzenberg and Olympic and world champion sprinter Allyson Felix.
Like Lamar, Washington’s time with the team came immediately after a tough loss — Lamar spoke to the Lakers the day after their opening night loss in Portland — but Walton said that was merely a coincidence.
“They’re scheduled more in advance as far as these (speakers) have really busy schedules,” Walton said. “It’s just happened to come off of tough losses. It’s not like, ‘Tough loss, let’s bring Denzel in. He’s on speed dial.'”
ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report.