He saw ‘greatness’ in the Lakers when they were at their worst

By TANIA GANGULI

You’d have to look closely or you’d miss the homemade sign nailed to a telephone pole outside the Los Angeles Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo, California.

It’s right outside the entrance to the players’ parking lot, but many of them miss its blue-and-yellow words as they drive in.

“I SEE GREATNESS IN YOU,” it says.

The sign gives no indication of who “I” might be, who “you” are or what kind of greatness you possess. But in a small yet meaningful way, the message has inspired Lakers coach Darvin Ham as he leads the team in their Western Conference semifinal series against the Golden State Warriors.

On Monday night the Lakers beat the Warriors, 104-101 in Los Angeles to take a 3-1 lead in the series. Game 5 is tonight in San Francisco at 10 p.m. ET (TNT).

Ham has even forged an unlikely friendship with the man who posted the sign: Terrance Burney, a basketball-loving airline employee whose home is filled with inspirational signs. Burney’s unceasing positivity has charmed prominent athletes and entertainers.

“It’s not just a slogan he’s trying to get picked up by some corporate sponsor or something,” Ham said. “It’s something he actually believes in. I love it.”

Neither rich nor widely known, Burney, 40, works for Delta Air Lines and lives in Los Angeles with his German shepherd, Ziva, and his girlfriend, Crystal Lewis.

He stands outside of Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles after most Lakers home games holding a handmade sign bearing his message, hoping that whoever sees it feels happier, lighter or maybe even newly confident.

“When I tell people, ‘I see greatness in you,’ it means, ‘I see God in you,’” Burney said. “So this is something that God told me to do, you know?”

Burney first held up a similar sign 15 years ago on a street corner in Highland Park, Michigan, a small city surrounded by his hometown, Detroit. He said prayer led him to do it.

In the years since, he has taken his sign all over the world, flying for free as an airline employee. He has shared his message on street corners and during protest marches, in small gyms and outside professional arenas. He has shouted it as a contestant on “The Price Is Right.”

“He’s like the Forrest Gump 2.0,” said Morris Peterson, a former NBA player who grew close with Burney after a charity event Peterson hosted with rapper Snoop Dogg to support people affected by the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. “He’s just everywhere. He’s everywhere. You might see him in Paris with the sign.”

Burney played basketball for one year at Prairie View A&M University, and in the