Fidel Olmos, a Los Angeles Lakers fan, won himself $100,000 by making a half-court shot during Tuesday’s game against the Toronto Raptors.
This fan hit a half-court shot for $100K and D-Lo couldn’t believe it 😂🤯 https://t.co/xGpygKe166
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 10, 2024
D’Angelo Russell was stunned that Olmos made the shot and the arena erupted as he celebrated winning the big prize. We are so used to seeing fans fail at these contests and even easier ones than this, as the pressure gets to them, but Olmos kept his cool.
The original prize money is just $25,000 for these, but as fans keep missing, it goes up. Olmos now walks away a rich man and the Lakers gave him another reason to be happy as well, as they won 132-131 to improve to 19-19 on the season.
NBA Fans Reacted To The Fan Hitting The Shot
The fans in the arena were buzzing after Olmos hit the shot, and so were the ones on X. They were full of praise for him as they reacted to the viral clip.
One said he deserved every penny.
https://twitter.com/iamhodler_/status/1744954691044180407
One said Olmos is a better shooter than most Lakers players.
That fan is a better shooter than most of the players on the lakers roster 😭
— 🦇 (@Shadowiscold) January 10, 2024
Another said the Lakers could use a shooter like him.
Yeah lakers could use that guy
— MagicMike (@riveramichael13) January 10, 2024
One joked that the Detroit Pistons need him.
Pistons need him
— Los 🌲 (@carlosdodge22) January 10, 2024
A fan joked that Russell would never make that shot.
https://twitter.com/RareGoatee/status/1744954640280482107
LeBron James and the Lakers could certainly use a sniper like Olmos. Jokes aside, this was really quite impressive, and I’m glad that a fan went viral for the right reasons here after what happened in November.
Back then, a Lakers fan missed a half-court shot for $55,000 and then rolled his ankle. Instead of earning a big prize, he might have had to spend a fair bit of money at some hospital to treat his injury.
Fidel Olmos Revealed How He Would Spend The Money
We don’t always get to hear from these individuals, but ESPN’s Dave McMenamin managed to catch up with Olmos afterward. During the interview, he revealed he had only managed to hit a couple of these in his life.
“At the basketball gym, I would say maybe two and that was just messing around by myself,” Olmos said. “This was probably the most pressured one I felt for sure.”
He was offered the opportunity to take that shot right when he arrived at the arena. Olmos said he was just giving himself positive affirmations in his mind after that and was confident he would make it. McMenamin then asked what he planned to do with the money.
“Pay off debt and then take care of some people and then treat myself after and just go from there,” Olmos replied.
Fidel Olmos of Redlands, Calif. hit the half court shot tonight. The 34-year-old Lakers fan told ESPN he had probably only hit two half court shots in his life while messing around at the gym before hitting the $100,000 moneymaker tonight. pic.twitter.com/CvoYcdMzxT
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 10, 2024
Olmos said he doesn’t even remember celebrating after making the shot. He waved at Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura afterward and the two appear to have given him a thumbs up. Olmos didn’t see LeBron, however, but he isn’t losing too much sleep over that.
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