By Sam Blazer on

Most All-Star experiences in sports are lackluster. Whether it is the way the weekend is set up or the lack of athlete enthusiasm, most of them stink. The NBA is the one exception to this rule.

The three-point contest and the dunk competition are both fun, while at the same time showing off the player’s skills. Each year, they try to add something different to make it exciting.

With the unfortunate passing of Craig Sager, Foot Locker, the NBA and TNT found a way to remember the media legend. They decided to do a three-point competition involving multiple people from different walks of life taking shots. For every shot that was made, $10,000 was added to the total.

Reggie Miller interrupted Ernie Johnson and threw his name in to participate. He also brought in Demar Derozan, James Harden, Candace Parker, DJ Khaled, Anthony Anderson and Michael B. Jordan. All would take turns shooting threes to raise money for the Sager Strong Foundation.

And despite the questionable shooting form DJ Khaled came up huge with the bank three! James Harden came through with some clutch threes as well. They raised $130,000 but that wasn’t enough.

Steph Curry tried hitting some half court shots to try and get the total to $500,000 for the charity. Despite multiple attempts, Steph wasn’t able to come through. But they found a way to make it right and hit half a million, courtesy of Shaquille O’Neal and Craig Sager’s son, Ryan.

What a special, special moment. One that many people won’t forget.

If the NBA decides to do a game of knockout every All-Star weekend to raise money for the Sager Strong Foundation, who would say no? It goes to a great cause and you could get so many groups of people to participate. It is great to see philanthropy and sports go hand in hand.

About Sam Blazer

Sam is a self proclaimed chess prodigy. He once placed seventh in the state of Ohio in Chess when he was in kindergarten. He will rarely if ever mention though that only eight people were entered in this tournament. Contact him at sblaze17@gmail.com

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