WATCH: Roki Sasaki learns special hand sign from Japanese star Rui Hachimura at Dodgers $6,500,000 pitcher's first Lakers game

Newly-minted Los Angeles Dodger Roki Sasaki spent time touring the City of Angels ahead of his official unveiling at Chavez Ravine. The young fireballer was spotted and acknowledged during an NBA game between the hometown LA Lakers and the Washington Wizards at the Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles.

Roki Sasaki was introduced to Japanese basketball star Rui Hachimura of the Lakers. The two young stars linked up and chatted as Hachimura taught Sasaki the famous "LA" hand sign.

Here's the video:

"Welcome to LA, Roki" - @ lakers on Instagram

Interestingly, the word Rui was given to the basketball player by his grandfather, who was a fan of baseball. Rui translates to "base" or fortress" in the Japanese language of Nihongo.

Sasaki also shook hands and chatted a while with NBA icon LeBron James during the pre-game warm-ups.

As a souvenir, the young hurler was awarded a purple Lakers jersey bearing his name and the No. 11, which he has decided to use for his highly anticipated MLB debut with the Dodgers.

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Dodgers' hard sell to land Roki Sasaki

In an unprecedented move, NPB phenom Roki Sasaki asked his parent club Chiba Lotte Marines to post him way earlier than his supposed eligibility age and tenure. That made him eligible to sign an international free agent's minor league contract where the Marines would receive some change in return for investing and nurturing his talent.

The 23-year-old followed his posting by signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers who had the lowest signing bonus pool in MLB, at $5.1 million. In contrast, the Padres were willing to spend $10 million in signing bonus for the young star.

Eventually, Sasaki chose LA, as it hard sold itself as having a friendly Japanese-American community and pitcher development system. There was also an appearance from part-owner Magic Johnson, a back-and-forth between Sasaki and Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto — and most importantly, the sustained success the Dodgers have had in the past decade.