Suni Strong never doubted his range.
“I told them to have my check ready,” Strong laughed after hitting a half-court
shot to win $100,000 on the Mandalay Bay Big Shot Jackpot on Sunday.
After the end of the third quarter, the 27-year-old took one dribble and
launched the ball off the backboard and into the hoop before pumping his fist
and jumping up and down in celebration.
@ssthehunter leaves Staples Center $100K richer thanks to @MandalayBay and the
#BigShotJackpot
A post shared by Los Angeles Lakers (@lakers) on Jan 21, 2018 at 2:52pm PST
Strong — composite technician at SpaceX and a bounty hunter — admitted that he
didn’t call bank, but maintained that pick-up hoops with his friends led him to
be ready for this moment.
“To be 100 percent honest, we used to play around at the park and we would shoot
that shot and call it ‘dignity,'” said Strong, who played high school basketball
for Highland High. “To put someone off the court, we would throw it up and
scream dignity.”
The Lancaster native became the first Big Shot winner of the season and just the
seventh (including former Laker Vlade Divac) to ever win the half-court contest
since it began in 2006.
Strong’s phone had died, so he was cut off from knowing how his family and
friends were reacting. But he sure made it a special first Lakers game for his
nephew, Zosier, whose confidence in his uncle never wavered.
Strong’s plans for the $100,000 includes buying Zosier a Nintendo Switch. But
the first person being taken care of is Strong’s mom.
“Just give her whatever she wants,” he said.
A post shared by StrangeLove (@ssthehunter) on Jan 21, 2018 at 11:50am PST
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ig-shot-jackpot
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