LeBron James. Jayson Tatum. Aaron Gordon. Dejounte Murray. Paolo Banchero. Chet Holmgren. Isaiah Thomas. MarJon Beauchamp. Tari Eason.
The “Crawsover” pro am in Seattle — put on by former NBA star Jamal Crawford in his hometown — was star-studded like never before on Sunday. LeBron was mobbed just walking in the door.
There were about 3,000 fans in the building — the game was streamed live on NBA.com and the NBA app — and the fans got a show for a little while.
However, the game was cut short for the safety of the players because of condensation on the floor, making it wet and slippery. It was a humid day for Seattle, and combined with the crowded gym, wet spots started appearing on the court. While the crew tried to mop them up new ones would appear just as fast. Players were concerned, and when Beauchamp slipped and fell in the second quarter, the players decided the risk of injury was too great and called the game off.
Dejounte Murray made a push this summer for more NBA players to play in pro-ams, saying the people who attend these low-cost games — the Crawsover is free to fans — in smaller gyms are fans who often can’t afford a high-priced NBA ticket. It’s a way for the players to give back and be with some of the game’s biggest fans. Those comments seemed to resonate with players — this was LeBron’s second pro am of the summer.
Murray and Banchero, who seemed to have a beef starting during an earlier pro-am this summer, squashed that and were all good on Saturday in Seattle (this video also shows the slipping issue).
It was a historic day cut short in a Seattle gym, but a historic day nonetheless.
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Watch highlights from star-studded Crawsover pro am in Seattle, which was cut short originally appeared on NBCSports.com
