Connecting on and off the floor

[Lakers, from B12] slides, each with a photo. The speaker has 20 seconds to explain each slide fora total presentation time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

- ERIC THAYER Los Angeles Times

LUKA DONCIC and the injured LeBron James interact during a recent game.

(ERIC THAYER Los Angeles Times)

The Lakers’ version consists of five slides: where you're from; favorite basketball memory; person, event or thing that has impacted your life; your non-basketball happy place; and dealer’s choice.

“A lot of times most of the interactions you'll have with your teammates is on the basketball court,” forward Jake LaRavia said. “So it’s good to just kind of either learn some stuff about them outside of basketball, like hobbies and stuff like that, where they come from. And that just helps you kind of understand who the person isa little bit better.”

Assistant coach Scott Brooks started his presentation witha photo ofa walnut, symbolizing the walnut farm he worked on during the weekends to help his family make ends meet. LaRavia showed a photo of his driveway as the origin of his basketball journey. Doncic spoke about how his daughter, Gabriela, changed his life.