Iconic NBA shots tend to fall into several distinct categories. You have your candid shots (Michael Jordan crying while holding his first Larry O’Brien Trophy) and your live game shots (Kawhi Leonard and Joel Embiid in a split second before Leonard’s banger sent Embiid’s 76ers home from the knockouts). Then you have off-the-court style photos: Google “Isiah Thomas Fur Coats” and you’ll see clear lines for modern-appropriate monarchs like LeBron and Russell Westbrook.
But this 1986 picture of Jack Nicholson by Brian Lanker– where the star is being lifted in the arms of Lakers players like Michael Cooper, Byron Scott, Kurt Rambis and Magic Johnson, all wearing sunglasses – seems to belong in a completely different category. The Lakers — especially the team era — have always been the vanguard of the NBA, even when they’re mediocre, there’s always the feeling they won’t last long. Nicholson, well, he’s Jack. You can just say that very common name, and people will likely have images of Nicholson shouting “You can’t deal with the truth” running through their heads, even if their father or brother has the same name. .
Finding a photo of Nicholson in the 70s or 80s where he didn’t look good was a daunting task. For example, in the Lakers photo, he’s wearing a yellow shirt, white pants, and a pair of bright yellow laces. That might sound pretty basic, but at the time Nicholson was one of the biggest actors in the world, appearing in the midst of a series of fantastic films spanning decades (from the 1980s to the late 1980s). The Shining until 1989 Batman), all of which raise the cool factor by 19 billion. In addition, he hangs out with the boys from the era-defining basketball team he helped make his way to fame, even though he was never the right fit. Victory timeAdam McKay’s new series about those Lakers, has only a few glimpses of Jack (played by Max E. Williams), but it’s still hard to imagine Showtime without him.
Nicholson and his friend, record producer Lou Adler, have had season tickets since the early 1970s. In an interview, Jeff Pearlman — author of Showtimes: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers Kingdoms, book Victory time based on— saying that making sure everyone knows Jack is at the games is part of the Lakers experience. “Jerry Buss wanted to create ‘this’,” he said. “He bought the team in 1979 when the NBA was about basketball, not entertainment. Buss thinks entertainment is sold – basketball is the 1A for entertainment – so it’s the Laker Girls, the Forum Club, loud music, etc. A big part of that is flirting celebrities, and Jack is the guy OF. “
