The Knicks’ half-court shot contest went much like their free-agency plans last summer: a mediocre prize that turned out to be less than advertised.
Anthony Peterson drained a half-court shot Friday night at the Garden and his reward was $1,000 in scratch-off tickets. Just a few days after a fan in Los Angeles won $100,000 for the same shot at a Lakers game, Peterson was left having to scratch off about 200 tickets, only to find out his real prize was $500.
“Well, when they said scratch-offs I instantly got a headache because I was going to have to scratch them all off,” Peterson told The Action Network. “I thought about who I could hire to do it for me, but then figured they might want some of the money, so I negated that idea. I was sort of like, ‘What the f–k man? Some dude just won $100,000 doing the same s–t in L.A. and I get some bum ass lottery tickets.’ Still a blessing though.”
Peterson, who proclaimed himself a streetball legend in the interview, said he used that money in Cee-lo (a dice game) and won $70 off his friends.
The specific contest Peterson won was presented by New York Lottery, hence the prize. He spun a wheel to determine his challenge, and instead of landing on one of the options like hitting as many layups as he could in 30 seconds, he got stuck with having 30 seconds to hit a half-court shot.
Peterson seemed to get picked for the contest on the wrong night. Last season, a fan won $10,000 for hitting a half-court shot at the Garden, when there was a different sponsor (Chase). But after fans found out Peterson’s prize was just scratch tickets, one came to his rescue. Philanthropist Jimmy Donaldson, who goes by Mr. Beast, said on Twitter he sent Peterson $10,000 for hitting the shot.
“I was thinking about buying 10,000 dollars worth of scratch-offs and sending them to Mr. Beast as a thank you, but unfortunately I live in New York City and everything is expensive…” Peterson said, “so I’ll either buy some Disney and Tesla stocks or buy a Leica.”