The Los Angeles Lakers had a big final regular season home game on Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors. To match that, they wanted to bring in an exciting name to sing the National Anthem as part of the pregame festivities, and who better to do that than L.A. Rams defensive tackle Kobie Turner.
Turner has already begun a tour of singing the National Anthem at L.A. sporting events, as he sang the song at an L.A. Kings game back in January. He dazzled with his vocals then, and he continued to do so with his opportunity at the Lakers game. With the Rams well into the offseason, it’s the perfect chance for Turner to do fun things like sing the National Anthem.
The Rams defensive tackle shined once again, this time standing at center court of one of the most famous venues in all of sports, via the Rams:
The National Anthem tour continues at the @Lakers game for @TurnerKobie! pic.twitter.com/Hj18vQjSsf
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) April 10, 2024
After his performance, he recorded a short video giving a shoutout to a Lakers legend who shares a similar name to him:
.@TurnerKobie with a message after singing the National Anthem at the @Lakers game! 🤝 pic.twitter.com/6oVnRpfQM8
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) April 10, 2024
Turner is enjoying life after a successful first campaign in the NFL and with the Rams. The Rams bucked expectations of being a rebuilding team in order to make the playoffs and fall one point shy of beating the Detroit Lions to go to the Divisional Round. Very few people on the Rams had a more successful and surprising 2023 season than Turner.
Turner was the Rams’ third-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and wound up being one of the team’s most impactful defenders. It took him some time to get into the rhythm of the Rams defense and playing alongside Aaron Donald, but by the end of the season, he had put himself next to Donald in the history books. He tied Donald’s record of nine sacks, the most by a rookie defensive tackle in over a decade.
Rams outbid by Seahawks for Sam Howell
The Rams front office wanted to find a solid, reliable backup for quarterback Matthew Stafford. And Sean McVay and his staff had their eyes on an ideal player for that role in former Washington Commanders starter Sam Howell.
Howell turned some heads in his time in Washington. While he certainly had some ups and downs, throwing for 21 touchdowns, but also throwing 21 interceptions, he showed that he is an NFL caliber quarterback who simply needs a bit of fine tuning.
But the Rams were unable to trade for Howell as Washington sent him to the division rival Seattle Seahawks and NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that it was simply a matter of the Seahawks outbidding the Rams on a trade.
