Talk about a close call! Oscar nominee Regina King got a little too close for comfort while watching the Philadelphia 76ers game against the New York Knicks from the front row of Madison Square Garden in NYC.
After chasing a loose ball in the third quarter of the game on Wednesday, February 13, power forward Joel Embiid chose to take a flying leap into the crowd rather than crash headfirst into the If Beale Street Could Talk actress, 48.
He ultimately missed King, grazing her hair with his foot as he launched his body over hers, but wound up colliding with an MSG Network statistician.
Video footage from the scary moment quickly began to circulate, showing the television director putting her hand up as a shield as she braced herself for impact.
The Jerry Maguire star posted about her scare on Twitter late Wednesday night. “Yoooo. Thank you God and @JoelEmbiid for your athletic abilities. Crisis averted.”
The athlete, 24, also spoke out about the incident, telling ESPN on Wednesday that his quick-thinking move was an impromptu one. “I haven’t done that since my rookie season — and it just happened,” he said. “It’s good that I saved her life, I guess, but someone else had to, like, take that. I’m sorry about that.”
The NBA star’s teammate Ben Simmons, who was later spotted hitting the town with Kendall Jenner, also commented on the near-miss, telling the outlet of the statistician, “I didn’t see him, but I know he’s going to feel it tomorrow.”
The statistician continued to work for the duration of the game, according to the outlet.
The 76ers won the game with a final score of 126 to 111.
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