Home

Teenage Perth Wildcats fan wins $7500 Jordan shoes with miraculous half-court shot

Headshot of Craig O'Donoghue
Craig O'DonoghueThe West Australian
The RAC Arena crowd gave the teenager a huge roar for his superb shot
Camera IconThe RAC Arena crowd gave the teenager a huge roar for his superb shot Credit: Will Russell/Getty Images

It’s a scene from a movie, except this time it was real life.

A thirteen year old child is plucked from the grandstand at a professional basketball game and given one shot to win a massive prize. Oh yeah, the shot is from half court.

The prize on offer? A $7500 pair of Michael Jordan shoes.

Surely not…but last night, 13-year-old Perth Wildcats member Cooper Murphy turned opportunity into “Nothing…But…Net.”

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

Cooper entered a raffle at RAC Arena before the game and then had to sit tight after being selected to take the shot. But the nerves disappeared once he got the ball in his hands.

The Game AFL 2024

“He was stoked,” Cooper’s father Adam said.

“He was excited just to get called out to go onto the court. He was very nervous sitting there for the first quarter. But he loved the opportunity.

“He said to me that all the kids practice that shot at their basketball games on the weekend and dream that one day they will get called out.

“He loves his basketball. He lives and breathes it.”

Cooper plays for Joondalup Wolves and Greenwood Giants. He was only able to attend the match after his normal training session on Thursday night was moved to Monday due to venue unavailability for this week.

The excited year nine student didn’t get to bed until after midnight but was back at school today.

Adam and Cooper will collect the prize tomorrow and they will sit proudly alongside his other Michael Jordan memorabilia at home.

“He’s looking forward to putting it on his wall,” Adam said.

“He’s already got a Jordan uniform and Jordan hat up there. It’s been amazing. To get selected to go out on the court and then to make the shot, it really is a one in a million chance.”

Wildcats vice-captain Mitch Norton famously made a full-court shot during a game in 2020 and was mighty impressed by Murphy’s effort.

He admitted even the players were surprised by the roar of the crowd during the time-out and quickly discovered the reason behind the commotion after checking social media after the game.

“I’m sure every kid wishes they had a pair or Jordan Ones that are worth seven-and-a-half grand,” Norton said.

“It got very loud in that time-out. I know Trev paused a bit because the roar from the crowd was quite loud. Congrats to him.

“That was one hell of a shot - and in an environment like that too. It didn’t even look like missing.”

Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails