Turner's Craig Sager Joining ESPN on ABC for 2016 NBA Finals Game 6

Veteran Turner Sports NBA reporter Craig Sager will achieve a career first Thursday, as ESPN has assigned him to handle sideline reporting for Game 6 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers.

According to Ben Cafardo of ESPN MediaZone, Sager's role with ESPN is a one-off situation in conjunction with his impending receipt of the Jimmy V Perseverance Award at the 2016 ESPYs. Sager has had leukemia since 2014.

Thursday will mark the first time in Sager's illustrious broadcasting career that he has worked the NBA Finals.

Per Cafardo, the 64-year-old Sager is excited about the opportunity to be part of the broadcast for such a significant game:

"

I'd like to thank Turner and ESPN for approaching me with this tremendous opportunity to be part of The Finals broadcast team. I've been watching the series very closely and, while I do not want to distract in any way from the event itself, I look forward to being in the building for what will be an incredibly exciting Game 6. The NBA community is a very special one and this is a great honor.

"

Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch provided additional comments from Sager about the opportunity:

"

"Would I be interested? My God, of course! But I didn’t want to step on anyone's toes, and ESPN has a cast of hundreds. I didn’t want to take away from what Doris [Burke] or anyone else on the crew did. But yeah, I wanted to be a part of it."

[...]

There was one catch, of course. Sager was scheduled to undergo eight days of chemotherapy at Houston’s MD Anderson after the end of Western Conference Finals. "That would be the only time I could do a game, and so it had to be Game 6," Sager said. "For a while, I thought we would not have a Game 6. It’s been exciting to watch the games and now to be part of the Finals."

[...]

"People say I need rest, but I say, 'No, I don’t,'" said Sager. "This gets me going. How can you not get excited about going to the NBA Finals!"

"

Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson will call the game at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, while Doris Burke will also patrol the sidelines.

As you can see in this video from ESPNFrontRow.com, Breen and Burke are looking forward to working alongside Sager:

Sager has been a sports broadcaster since 1972 and joined Turner Sports in 1982, having covered the NBA, college basketball, Major League Baseball and college football during that time.

The Warriors are just one win away from clinching their second consecutive NBA championship. After years of being considered one of the premier NBA reporters in the business, Sager now has an opportunity to be in the building when the Larry O'Brien Trophy is hoisted.

Bleacher Report is part of the Turner Sports network.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.