NBA sideline reporter Craig Sager has "become perhaps the most revered figure in the league" as he battles leukemia, as fans "can't walk into an arena during a TNT broadcast without seeing SAGER STRONG signs," according to a cover story by Lee Jenkins of SI. In the past month, Rockets C Dwight Howard "hosted a blood drive in Sager's honor" and Lakers sideline reporter Mike Trudell "persuaded his counterparts across the league to don their most brazen attire for a night." Warriors G Stephen Curry also "interrupted an interview with Sager -- specifically, a question about fatigue -- to point out the irony." Sager in April '14 was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and since then he has "undergone two bone marrow transplants, 21 bone marrow biopsies and more than 20 chemo cycles -- one that spanned two weeks for 24 hours a day." Sager has "slipped out of remission twice, most recently in February, though he did not tell anybody for fear he'd get pulled off coverage" of the NBA's All-Star weekend in Toronto. Sager still "lives outside Atlanta, but he spends most of his time at the Marriott Medical Center in Houston, where he is in the midst of a clinical trial." Sager and his doctor, Naveen Pemmaraju, are "hoping that the clinical trial -- a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy -- puts him back in remission and eligible for a third bone marrow transplant, not unprecedented but extremely uncommon." Sager: "Am I naive? Maybe. Am I in denial? No. I know the severity. But I have faith. I have support. I have hope. Hope is as important as breath" (SI, 5/2 issue).
PART OF THE FABRIC: In Florida, David Dorsey noted SI Managing Editor Chris Stone "made the decision to put Sager on the cover." Sager said, "When they told me I'd be on the cover, I thought it was an April Fool's joke. I thought they were kidding." Jenkins, who wrote the story, said, "I only knew I was doing it the beginning of last week. I didn't start really reporting it until last Monday. I flew out to Detroit on Wednesday. It was a pretty quick turnaround. But when you have a subject like Craig ... He was fantastic. I write about premier players. I love writing about them. But when you're writing about somebody whose gift is telling stories ... his gift is storytelling. I'm basically asking him to do what he does for people all the time. It was a very enjoyable process." Jenkins added of Sager, "He's such a part of the fabric of the league. Then you add knowing what he's going through, that resonates in a different way and with a different audience. It's not just the hardcore NBA audience. This is something that's relatable"(Ft. Myers NEWS-PRESS, 4/28).
