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Shaquille O'Neal and Stephen Curry win Oscars for 'The Queen of Basketball' / News - Basketnews.com

nqajqrqw7months ago (05-17)Tennis Life122
Credit: REUTERS - Scanpix | Basketnews illustration Credit REUTERS - Scanpix | Basketnews illustration

One is a legend, one is a future legend, but both have made a short documentary about one other legend. Shaquille O'Neal and Stephen Curry won the Academy Award for a short subject documentary on Sunday for a film they produced - "The Queen of Basketball".

Stephen Curry

Stephen  CurryTeam:Golden State WarriorsPosition:PGAge:34Height:191 cmWeight:84 kgBirth place:Akron, United States of AmericaProfileNewsStatistics

The movie follows the story of Lusia Harris, the first and only woman to be officially drafted into the NBA. In 1977, then-New Orleans Jazz, currently Utah Jazz, selected Harris in the 7th round with the 137th pick overall.

She was selected ahead of 33 other men in the draft. However, Harris was pregnant at the time and never went on to pursue an NBA career.

Harris also scored the first-ever points in the women's Olympic basketball history in 1976 in Montreal. Team USA, led by Harris, went on to finish second in the competition, losing to USSR in the final.

Harris never played in any men's competition throughout her career. She's been inducted both into The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

With Harris's family in the audience, the director of the film, Ben Proudfoot used the moment to make a statement about Brittney Griner who has been detained in Russia for several months now and faces up to 10 years in prison.

"President Biden, bring Brittney Griner home," Proudfoot said after receiving the award.

Lusia Harris passed away two months ago and did not live out to see the moment a movie about her received an Academy Award.

The full 22-minute documentary:

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