Turner Sports sideline reporter Craig Sager gave his first interview Monday since it became public that he is fighting leukemia.
Sager told SI.com that the support he has received in recent days has been “overwhelming” (SI.com, 4/21). His TNT colleagues paid tribute to him on Sunday by wearing flamboyant attire, and they were just a few of the numerous NBA broadcasters, players and coaches to offer well wishes on the first weekend of the playoffs — most notably Gregg Popovich in a sideline interview with Sager’s son.
“Pop saying he wanted me back and then promising to be nice?” Sager said of the Popovich interview, “I was like, Oh, my God, that’s unbelievable, what an honor.”
In the interview, Sager said he first began feeling ill while on assignment for the April 10 Spurs/Mavericks game. Though an initial diagnosis did not indicate cancer, a second and third opinion revealed acute myloid leukemia.
One of the longest-tenured members of the Turner Sports family, Sager assured readers that he is “hanging in there. I miss being on the sidelines, but I have no choice: I am sidelined. So instead of the 40 games in 40 nights, I have 40 veins and 40 electrolytes.”
(Interview from SI.com)
