LOS ANGELES — A dream can start with something simple — the sound of leather meeting hardwood, the echo of a made shot.

For Compton’s Jhase Johnson, stepping onto the Los Angeles Lakers practice court was always the goal, but he never imagined he’d be wearing the same jersey as a team of LAPD officers.

“I had no relationship at all with law enforcement,” Johnson, a sophomore at Compton Early College High School, said. “I don’t think I had a single conversation with a law enforcement officer.”

That changed when basketball brought them to the same side of the court.

The Lakers’ Building Bridges with Basketball program, designed to foster understanding between youth and law enforcement, brought Johnson and his peers together with officers unexpectedly — through the game they all love.

“I’m having conversations. I’m playing basketball with them, with something that I love. That’s a bond to hold together,” Johnson said.

The initiative, led by Sean Sheppard, founder of Game Changer, facilitated an open discussion between the students and officers about implicit bias, equity, integrity and trust — topics that often divide their communities.

“Everyone here loves the Lakers, and that’s a starting point,” Sheppard said. “It’s a common denominator where if a youth is apprehensive about speaking to a member of law enforcement, and they see they’re a Lakers fan like them, it can spark a conversation and help break down barriers.”

Among those in attendance was Lakers legend Robert Horry, who has long seen sports as a bridge between divides.

“It’s a chipping away process,” Horry said. “It’s not going to be solved in one day, but every moment like this helps.”

For Johnson, the impact went beyond the court.

“I exited the conversation hearing their perspective, that they’re normal people too,” he said. “They feel the same way that we do. And it kind of works both ways.”

The experience was one he hopes will have a lasting effect — not just for himself, but for others in his community.

“My friends at school, they don’t get to talk about, ‘Oh, I went to the Lakers facility and got a good mentorship,’ because their minds might be somewhere else,” Johnson said. “I really appreciate the Lakers for doing this for us.”

Because sometimes, the shortest distance between two worlds isn’t measured in feet or miles — it’s measured in conversation. And when it starts the right way, it builds a bridge that can’t be burned.