The Lakers stole a much-needed win on Wednesday, and it was all thanks to a player whose job was not playing basketball as recently as last year.

The game had been all but lost late in the fourth quarter. The Pelicans took a 111-108 lead on a dunk from former Laker Larry Nance Jr. with 7.8 seconds left, then watched Lakers guard Lonnie Walker IV clank a would-be game-tying 3-pointer with 2.8 seconds left.

Pelicans rookie Dyson Daniels, the eighth overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft, rebounded Walker's miss and was immediately fouled. With 1.6 seconds on the clock, all Daniels had to do was make one of two free throws to effectively put the game away.

He didn't make them.

LeBron James quickly rebounded Daniels' second miss, called timeout and moved the ball up for a second try at a game-tying 3-pointer. That attempt ultimately fell to Matt Ryan (no relation to the now-benched Indianapolis Colts quarterback), who drained an off-balance, contested 3-pointer to force overtime: