This past Sunday, the Toronto Raptors faced off against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Crypto.com Arena in L.A. It makes sense that stars and celebrities from nearby Hollywood occasionally show up to take in a basketball game, and maybe the Lakers are used to that kind of thing. But coming as he does from Canada, the North in real life, Raptors guard RJ Barrett was caught by surprise when he saw none other than Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) in the stands.
The moment is captured on film. Barrett makes a tricky shot, turns to the audience, spots Coster-Waldau sitting courtside, pauses, points, says "Game of Thrones?" and then gets back to business:
Raptors star RJ Barrett spotted Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) at the Lakers game 🏀⚔️ pic.twitter.com/hRM8yNSQf2
— Jon Snow (@LordSnow) November 11, 2024
The full double-take Barrett does as he realizes Jaime Lannister is in the audience is pretty funny. Coster-Waldau seems to take it in stride.
This isn't the first time a Game of Thrones star has been recognized at a basketball game. Back when the show was still on, the mascot for Houston Rockets recognized Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) in the stands and literally bent the knee to her:
By far my favorite part of this clip is that they include all of Daenerys' many titles under Emilia Clarke's name card. If the stars don't want to be acknowledged by the players (and mascots), maybe they wanna get a box seat rather than sit courtside? But then we wouldn't get fun moments like this, so I'm not complaining.
Emilia Clarke has kept pretty busy since breaking out thanks to her role on Game of Thrones, appearing in Terminator and Star Wars movies as well as a Marvel TV show, among other smaller projects. Coster-Waldau has kept a bit of a lower profile, but he's currently filming a new show BBC historical drama called King and Conqueror where he plays the lead role of William the Conqueror, which is no small thing.
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