This Lakers fan illustrated all 82 games -- and went viral doing so - ESPN

Los Angeles-based artist Jack Perkins started a new tradition this season. After each Los Angeles Lakers game, Perkins — known on social media by his @purehoop handle — recapped the result with comic-strip-style illustrations. Each of them focused on a theme of the specific game.

Throughout the highs and lows of Los Angeles' 82-game regular season, the detail of Perkins' work evolved. The attention and anticipation on social media did, too.

«I feel like if you look at some of the earlier ones I was just trying to do them in an hour and sort of [a] quick recap,» Perkins told ESPN. «But I don't know. Part of the excitement of doing them and then just seeing the reaction, it's kind of morphed into something a little more involved, which is cool.»

After Luka Doncic delivered his best performance as a Laker — a 32-point, 10-rebound, 7-assist effort in a 123-100 February win over the Denver Nuggets — the on-court statement was undeniable. But for Perkins, capturing it in illustration proved to be a challenge.

So as Perkins faced the task of recapping Doncic's momentous game, he found inspiration in a previous piece.

When the Nuggets defeated the Lakers earlier in the season, he drew Denver center Nikola Jokic walking out of a tunnel, a spray can on the ground with «Nikola» painted on a wall and «LA» illustrated similar to the Lakers' logo.

Pickax and gold nugget in hand, Doncic walks out of a similar tunnel with «Doncic was here» scraped over «Denver Nuggets.» Both posts garnered over three million combined views on X, with Perkins' Doncic-inspired post accounting for more than two million and the Jokic-inspired post drawing just under one million.

Payback. pic.twitter.com/vYuXfBIW30

Posted a day after the game, his piece