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
— Jack Perkins (@purehoop) February 24, 2025
Posted a day after the game, his piece capitalized on the moment — no different than Doncic did in his fourth game as a Laker.
“The immediacy is just as important as the piece itself,” Perkins said. “So I just want to make sure I developed a style that’s quick. It says what it needs to say but it’s not a super painful style that’s gonna take weeks.”
PERKINS IS KNOWN for his work chronicling the Lakers. But he grew up outside of Boston, an area where being a fan of the purple and gold is frowned upon.
The artist grew up in a family of Boston Celtics fans, but he found himself drawn to the Lakers during the 1980s, when the two teams clashed in the NBA Finals three times in four years (1984, 1985, and 1987). He’s certain Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made their way into a few of his childhood sketchbooks.
At some point, Perkins told his family: “I’m sorry, the Lakers are way cooler.”
“We’re watching the game, it’s dark and they’re showing the game in L.A., and it’s palm trees and sunny and Magic [Johnson]’s throwing behind the back passes,” he said.
That fandom coincided with Perkins’ passion for drawing, which he has been doing since he was a kid. His father taught high school art for 40-plus years. Growing up, Perkins said the encouragement for art in the house came equally from both of his parents.
Perkins ended up taking his father’s class and then majored in animation at the Rhode Island School of Design. He’s now a full-time animator who just finished work on a show with Bento Box Entertainment, the animation studio best known for producing Bob’s Burgers.
Perkins started posting seriously around 2012, after realizing he couldn’t find the merch he wanted — so he made his own. In April 2013, former LA Clippers star Blake Griffin even wore a Lob-City-themed shirt Perkins designed.
What started with custom shirts soon evolved into recap-driven illustrations, though it’s Los Angeles’ other NBA team that has remained a constant source of inspiration. That connection became official when Perkins began professionally collaborating with the Lakers ahead of the 2022-23 season.
When Pau Gasol had his jersey retired by the Lakers in March of 2023, Perkins depicted Kobe Bryant and Gasol chatting it up in the rafters. The piece quickly went viral with Gasol even reaching out to Perkins about it.
Perkins said the idea of doing seasonlong recaps was something he had been considering for a while before deciding to commit this season. The start of the year lined up with the end of Perkins’ run on a show, opening more free time.
It also coincided with a campaign full of storylines.
“With [head coach] JJ [Redick] coming over and the excitement of a new life for the Lakers and also, who knows how many more years LeBron has,” Perkins said. “So it’s like if I’m gonna do something to encapsulate a season, this felt like good timing for myself and just a good one for the Laker team to try to portray.”
There have been plenty of opportunities to do exactly that this season.
After Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant and James exchanged “too small” taunts in November, Perkins drew a grizzly bear paw towering over the two stars with its own “too small” gesture.
He returned to a similar theme when the Lakers avenged their loss one week later.
WHEN JAMES BROKE Michael Jordan’s record for most career 30-point games in January — fittingly, with a Jordan-esque fadeaway — Perkins initially didn’t know how to chronicle the milestone. But after rewatching the play, inspiration struck. He opted to draw James fading away on a jumper with Jordan’s own shadow fading right behind him.
“Looking at the replay, obviously their shot style is quite different but there’s just so much similarity with kicking the leg out,” Perkins said. “I think there’s definitely going to be something in this illustration that is like you can see the similarity and the difference. And whoever your GOAT is whatever, it’s like you can appreciate both.”
The process of settling on the theme reflects how Perkins approaches his work for each game.
He starts with a blank slate, preferring to watch the game without any preconceived ideas. Afterwards, he reflects on what stood out — whether a big moment emerged or if there was a narrative behind the action.
He then begins drawing on his iPad and each piece ranges from an hour to five hours to complete. His animation background has played a key role in going from an idea to a finished product.
“It kind of translates over into how I handle these. Where I’m blocking out a composition or an idea and if it doesn’t work I can easily scrap it and move on,” he said.
Perkins described his illustrations as cartoon- or comic-strip-style work.
Even though the majority of his followers are Lakers fans, Perkins didn’t expect this kind of response, which he called humbling to see.
He will continue recapping games in the postseason. Though he hasn’t decided yet if he’ll run it back for next season, he doesn’t think he would do recaps for another team. A lot of the pieces are on a personal level with the ups and downs of the team.
“It’s definitely taxing,” Perkins said. “But it’s also very rewarding.”
He started selling individual prints of each regular-season recap and plans to sell a mosaic-type grid that includes all 82 games on a large print as a way to remember the campaign.
“I haven’t really thought about how the additional games would connect, I guess it depends on how far they go,” Perkins said. “But yeah, that would be the dream if they take it all and they could all be depicted together as here’s your championship run season.”
If the Lakers win banner No. 18 this season, fans can revisit Perkins’ depiction of the highs and lows — cartoon- and comic-style and all.
