Lakers News: LeBron James Impressed By Young All-Star's Otherworldly Dunk

King James gives the leader of one of the West's best his flowers.

Los Angeles Lakers All-Star power forward LeBron James is no stranger to a nasty dunk. In fact, that's probably one of his favorite scoring options in a diverse portfolio.

After Memphis Grizzlies All-NBA point guard Ja Morant submitted his candidate for an early Dunk Of The Year finalist on Saturday, stealing the soul of Jalen Smith, James took to his Instagram Stories to discuss the slam:

(Instagram Stories)

Here's the full dunk, it's certainly well worth a watch (and a rewatch):

OH MY GOODNESS JA MORANT 😱

DUNK OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE pic.twitter.com/OQsyR28lKj

— NBA (@NBA) January 15, 2023

As you'd expect, the 30-13 Grizzlies handled the 23-22 Pacers in Indiana, blowing them out to the tune of a 130-112 final mark. The 6'2" Morant, still just 23, chipped in 23 points on 7-of-17 shooting during just 25:15 (thanks no doubt to the blowout), 10 assists, three rebounds and a block. For the season, the fourth-year point guard out of Murray State is averaging 27.5 points on .469/.326/.753 shooting splits, 7.9 assists, 5.7 rebounds and a steal for the West's No. 2 seed.

James himself is no slouch in this department, even at age 38 in his 20th NBA season. Most recently (he does this every game), the 18-time LA All-Star proved on Monday in an eventual 140-132 win over the Houston Rockets that he can still get up with the best of them. He actually did it multiple times (as you'd expect when he's scoring a season-most 48 points), but this was perhaps the most choice slam of them all:

"CLEAR THE LANE FOR THE KING." pic.twitter.com/YZ2bJbJQDF

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) January 17, 2023