Craig Sager to miss Olympics while undergoing bone marrow transplant

NBC announced Thursday that Craig Sager will not cover the Rio Olympics, as he continues to battle leukemia. According to the network, Sager is at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, undergoing treatment.

Here’s NBC’s full statement.

Craig Sager has returned to MD Anderson to continue his fight against leukemia.  He is preparing for a third bone marrow transplant which will prevent him from covering the Olympics in Rio. We wish him the best in his continued recovery.

Sager had been slated to cover men’s basketball at his fifth straight Olympics, alongside Marv Albert and Doug Collins. He had previously said he was targeting Rio as an event he particularly hoped to cover.

Sager’s fight against cancer and his insistence over the past couple years that the disease inhibit his job as little as possible have been truly inspirational, but we’re reminded today that cancer is stubborn and life isn’t a sports movie. We’ve gotten so used to seeing Sager triumphantly standing on the sidelines, sickness be damned, that it feels almost impossible that his disease could keep him from covering an event he wants to cover, but that’s the reality.

As always, we wish Sager the best and hope to see him back on his feet and on the sidelines before long.