Los Angeles Sparks star Rickea Jackson was all smiles and cheers at the 2025 NFL Draft as she showed up to support her apparent date James Pearce Jr. ESPN happened to catch Jackson on camera among Pearce's loved ones, rubbing his leg in celebration as the defensive end learned he'd been drafted 26th overall to the Atlanta Falcons.

Pearce welcomed the encouragement by wrapping an arm around Jackson. The pair have been rumored to be dating before, as fans noticed that they were following each other on Instagram.

“Hold on…. is that who I think it is????” an eagle-eyed fan posted along with a screenshot of  Jackson sitting next to Pearce after his name was called.

“Look at Rickea. This why James BEEN the man lowkey lol,” one person said in approval of the couple. “Go ahead and trade Rickea to the Atlanta Dream too,” another supporter of the duo chimed in.

Jackson herself didn't officially confirm the relationship status, instead taking to X, formerly Twitter, to downplay and dodge the allegations in her comments.

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“Soooo I have a doppelganger. Wow,” Jackson coyly tweeted from her account.

Fans were confused and skeptical about her appearing to deny or escape confirming the relationship, but they mostly responded in jest and played along with Jackson's trolling.

“You could've gotten away with it if it wasn't for these pesky kids,” a person joked in response while pairing a Scooby-Doo meme with the reference.

Other admirers of Jackson had a slightly different reaction, making it known that they were feeling the pain of seemingly losing any chance they had with the Sparks' standout. “Nah I see you cheating on me on national television,” one fan quipped.

The couple both spent their college tenures at Tennessee. Jackson played for the Lady Vols for two years before going No. 4 to the Sparks in the 2024 WNBA Draft. Pearce, meanwhile, was also a Volunteers star with 17.5 sacks over his final two campaigns.