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Mascots, NBA Superstars Involved in Bizarre Mr. Beast Cash Grab

Highlight of NBA All-Star Weekend had everything.

Kyle Koster

Mr. Beast's money was truly up for grabs.
Mr. Beast's money was truly up for grabs. / Rak on X

The NBA All-Star Weekend generated a lot of opinions and there was certainly no shortage of stuff going on as the league tried out a bunch of different events. At one point a fan named Jaren came out onto the Chase Center court and beat Damian Lillard in a shooting contest, a feat that earned him a six-figure payday from Mr. Beast.

That triumphant moment created one of the stranger scenes a sports fan could ever hope to see as NBA superstars and mascots alike found themselves in front of a giant pile of money and general chaos breaking out.

It was the type of thing where "LMAO" is the only appropriate response.

There's just so much going in there. Kyrie Irving slyly walking away with a fistful of bills before Kevin Durant intervenes to throw it back into the mix like he was resetting the Shoe Carnival coupon machine. Mascots realizing that their real identities were obscured and the perfect crime was materialize should they want to throw it all away. A throng of camera people treating this like the biggest story on the planet, jostling for a spot.

They say the perfect clip doesn't exist. They are wrong.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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