During this summer's Olympic Games, there will be one popular figure missing from the sidelines. NBC Sports announced today that, Craig Sager will miss the Rio Olympics.
NBC Olympics Statement on Craig Sager: https://t.co/98lZ5e70Nf pic.twitter.com/d44noHryBH
— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) July 28, 2016
It's sad news for the basketball world as it would have been Sager's fifth straight time covering the Olympics. He was slated to complete the commentating cast together with Marv Albert and Doug Collins.
The 65-year-old sideline reporter is scheduled to have his third bone marrow transplant at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. This comes after first announcing his battle with Leukemia back in 2014. He went into remission after a first bone marrow transplant but the disease returned in March 2015. He received a second transplant in 2015, and just last March, he announced he was no longer in remission.
In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, the 34-year-year Turner Sports veteran sideline reporter was in high spirits and said he'll be ready for the NBA season's opening night and that he'll still be watching the Olympics.
“My body isn't getting stronger, so they want to do it while I'm strong enough. Third transplants are kind of rare, so hopefully we will get it done and I'll be ready in time for (NBA) opening night.
“I'll be watching it all,” he said of the Olympics. “It's sad that some of the biggest names in golf and basketball have withdrawn, but it's still the greatest spectacle. The greatest honor, the greatest thing in sports is to be an Olympian.”
Despite knowing since February that a third transplant was needed, Sager said “there is a sense of urgency” to go through with the procedure at this time.
Sager will be missed during the Games but everyone will be rooting for him to finally beat the disease.
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