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| Adam Sandler is one of the wealthiest and most iconic comedians of all time. But to his fellow pickup hoopers, he's known as much for his passing abilities as his punchlines. Illustration by ESPN |
THE MOMENT IS still fresh in his mind.
It's March 2023 and a Los Angeles-based photographer who goes by the moniker Xavier Luggage is in the middle of his first pickup basketball game at Poinsettia Recreation Center.
The park typically fills around 6 p.m. with people arriving to get games in. But it's an hour or so earlier when the attention of the players snaps toward the side of the court.
They all see him warming up, seemingly out of nowhere.
"I was like damn, that looks like Adam Sandler," Luggage told ESPN.
His friend thinks the same and freaks out. He runs toward Sandler and daps him up in the middle of the game.
The comedian has a simple reply: "I got next."
SANDLER'S RÉSUMÉ INCLUDES nine People's Choice Awards, three Grammy Award nominations and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His movies have grossed over $3 billion worldwide. In 2023, the Kennedy Center awarded him the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
But when he's off the clock, Sandler is simply another hooper -- and he just might show up at a basketball court near you. Sure, the comedian could presumably play with big names wherever he chooses, and he has, but he prefers to hoop with the locals.
Sandler (who declined a request to comment for this piece) has said in past interviews that he plays pickup basketball multiple times a week. During filming, a location scout who finds movie sets also locates courts for him. Sandler will receive texts like: "Five minutes from a good court" so he can get games in between shoots.
He has played with multiple NBA stars through the years, participating in a 2021 run with Trae Young and Tobias Harris, among various pros. In 2010, Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal called the comedianq "a damn good player" who knows the game.
But local courts are where he hones his craft.
Sandler shows up sans entourage donning his signature brightly colored, oversized polos and baggy shorts. He looks to make the extra pass. He dishes out as many compliments as assists -- regardless of whether he's on your team -- and competition reigns supreme.
Just ask the guys who have played against him.
"He's like the random older dude that pulls up to the court and you're kind of like, 'alright he's whatever,' and then you pick him up and he's making the craziest passes," Luggage said. "Not moving too much, not doing the most. But he's just got the OG game like he's been playing forever."
Luggage recalled an exchange with Sandler when the comedian matched up as his defender.
"He came up to me and he was like, 'Oh man, I hope you're not fast,'" the photographer said. "And I looked at him like, 'Oh man, you f---ed up.'"
In retrospect, it might have been Luggage who messed up by underestimating Sandler's hooping abilities.
"He was meaning to play. Not like he just came to f--- around, you know, like he wanted to win for sure ..." Luggage said of their L.A. run-in. "It was honestly pretty magical, bro."
It's a sentiment echoed by Patrick Quinn, a comedian who played in two games with Sandler in 2019.
Quinn and his friends ran into the comedian at a park in the L.A. neighborhood of Mar Vista. After engaging in a brief conversation with him at a water fountain, the group proceeded to walk away because they didn't want to bother him.
Sandler caught them before they could get far and asked: "You guys mind if I play with you?" Moments later, Sandler was screaming out plays on the court.
Quinn played against Sandler in one game, then they teamed up in the next. Sandler got competitive, putting his body against players and boxing out. His skills caught Quinn by surprise.
"He's essentially an influential person in other aspects that you're like, I wouldn't expect him to be doing these plays that seem like you gotta be playing a lot to do something like that," Quinn said. "And he was nailing them."
Sandler, unsurprisingly, sported bright colors and a large T-shirt -- his trademark look for pickup games.
Quinn said Sandler's outfit was disarming, highlighting his theory that the actor does it on purpose so "you don't think he's gonna absolutely dominate on the court." But he did that day.
"He was playing point, calling out the plays, he was calling shots out. He was doing no-look passes," Quinn said. "He was creating shots and he was going up and down the court. He was back and forth sweating, putting in some work. ... I was very impressed."
Quinn had an open mic event in 20 minutes but didn't want to stop playing with his idol. Sandler forced him off the court, advising that events like those are how Quinn would learn and grow.
Two years later, Quinn ran into Sandler at a coffee shop in Malibu, and when he mentioned they had played together, Sandler remembered Quinn, calling him by his first name.
"It was just really really cool to see somebody like that," Quinn said. "And to recognize that someone like that who's so big and so synonymous with standup and being funny and blah, blah, blah can also be so genuine and so nice."
DJ FOSTER SHARED a similar experience with Sandler.
Foster, a former assistant athletic director at Aquinas College, a small private Catholic school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, played with Sandler in June 2019. Their game took place while the comedian was in Grand Rapids for a stop on his standup tour.
Two months before he was scheduled to be in the city, the school's athletic director received a call asking whether Sandler and his crew could play basketball at Aquinas. They obliged, and Sandler arrived to play with members of his crew in tow, including Jonathan Loughran, his long-time assistant.
They suited up for five nonstop games with Foster and others from the Aquinas athletic department. Foster played alongside Sandler, their team dropping the first two games.
That's when Sandler got vocal, telling the team, "Let's go, we gotta win this," according to Foster. And they did, taking the next three games to clinch the series.
"That fifth game was pretty competitive and we were trying to win it for bragging rights and to have that story to tell the rest of your life," Foster said. "[Adam] definitely had a competitive side to him."
What stood out to Foster about Sandler's play is what Shaq and others highlighted: he knows the game and passes often.
When Foster and other members of the Aquinas athletic department had finished playing with Sandler, Foster introduced his wife to the comedian and the couple expressed their excitement in seeing him perform standup that night.
Sandler then asked the rest of the group whether they had tickets to the show. Most didn't ... but not for long. Sandler passed along a phone number to contact one of his assistants and left a dozen floor seat tickets at will call for the group.
The Aquinas athletic department, including Foster and Ryan Bertoia -- the school's men's basketball coach who was also in attendance -- filled the first five rows of the crowd that evening.
"The Adam you see on late-night talk shows and all these interviews is the one that we saw that day," Foster said. "He's just an average dude, a really good guy, complimentary ... so that made the experience even better."
JOSHUA JACKSON WAS playing at an LA Fitness in Georgia in December 2019. Sandler arrived in a similarly quiet fashion, accompanied by some friends who wanted to hoop. Jackson told ESPN that Sandler's entrance froze time, punctuated by the comedian's "alarming attire."
"He had to be wearing something from a decade ago. Like 3XL pants, wrinkled big and tall shirt," Jackson said. "He definitely had clothes that could fit a 6-foot-8 linebacker."
But none of it mattered once the ball began bouncing.
Jackson, 31, teamed up with Sandler for two games of 5-on-5. He emphasized that he'd "for sure" play pickup with Sandler again, pointing to his high IQ. Jackson said he kept up very well for his age, describing Sandler as a pass-first point guard.
There's no single moment that emphasizes that more than Jackson's viral post on X. He executed a simple back cut and squared his body with the rim to seal his 6-foot-9 defender. As Jackson turned around, what looked like a rocket flew into his hands.
"I just literally turn[ed] around and it was in my bread basket," Jackson said. "It was a perfect pocket pass. I had to go up with it."
He insists he didn't know how Sandler executed the pass, one that he described as super quick and perfect but "soft."
Jackson said he has played basketball his entire life in different states and venues. To this day, there hasn't been a pass that comes close to that one.
"It's still the best pass that I've ever received in my life," he said. "And I'm not saying that because it's Adam Sandler."
Nailing no-look, crafty passes are among Sandler's skills that seem to be second nature for him.
Luggage says he has seen Sandler make behind-the-head passes. Jackson saw Sandler deliver a behind-the-back bounce pass he described as "pretty fire." Foster said Sandler probably passes too much, but it complements his style of looking to get everyone involved.
Bertoia was also impressed with Sandler's basketball skills.
"For me, from a basketball standpoint, he took the shots that were there," he said. "He definitely tries to keep the ball moving. ... I would've enjoyed playing with him."
JACKSON CALLED SANDLER the most relatable celebrity he has played with because he didn't do it for show -- Sandler wanted to stay in the moment.
Luggage remembered how when Sandler arrived at the court, he didn't make a peep. His one security guard stood far away. Even when his friend loudly reacted to seeing the comedian, Sandler stayed humble, indicating his desire to play in the next game.
Nobody picked him up for another game after his team lost -- too many people had arrived and set teams. Sandler, likely anticipating a lengthy wait time, left.
"To be honest, I don't even remember him really leaving," Luggage said. "I just remember that he just wasn't there."
The comedian departed just as he arrived, with zero pomp and circumstance. In his wake, he left a growing legend -- not that of a Hollywood comedian, but of a mysterious pickup baller who might just show up to your local court clad in baggy clothing and calling "next."
- Anthony Gharib, ESPN
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