Damar Hamlin Nails Game-Winning Step-Back Three At His Charity Basketball Game

Did you know that Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin can play basketball? I certainly didn’t, not until last night anyway.

On Saturday evening, Hamlin hosted a celebrity basketball game at North Alleghany High School for his "Chasin M’s Foundation," which is an organization "dedicated to the development, health, and safety of youth through sports, engagement activities, training, and programming." A star-studded cast of former and current athletes showed up, and many of them had ties to Pittsburgh in some way.

Nov 26, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin (3) takes the field for action against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Among the former and current athletes who attended were University of Pittsburgh basketball legend DeJuan Blair, New Jersey Nets forward Cameron Johnson, University of Pittsburgh football star Aaron Donald and former NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who was born in Pittsburgh. Even Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson showed up to support Hamlin. Additionally, Flava Flav (along with a couple of other musicians), showed up for the game.

"Pittsburgh, we don't really have a basketball team, so we don't get to show our love for it a lot," Hamlin said. "So I thought it’d be a cool idea to bring the city out."

Even with all the talent on the court, it was Hamlin (who played basketball at Central Catholic High School), who stole the show. With the score knotted at 117 in the final seconds, Hamlin had the ball on the perimeter. After jab-stepping at his opponent, he nailed a game-winning step-back three and sent the crowd into a frenzy.

Hamlin said before the game that the competition level was going to be a mix between serious and measured, since lots of athletes didn’t want to injure themselves. But nonetheless, he still considered it a great night. Of course, hitting the game-winner helped out too.

"Nobody coming I had to extend myself far for," Hamlin said. "Just people truly investing into me and investing in the mission they see I’m on, so they want to come show my city some love."