Before the Lakers’ Sunday night matchup against the Charlotte Hornets, Yitzi Teichman was ceremonially signed to a one-day contract with the Los Angeles basketball team. The 18-year-old is a cancer patient from Baltimore who was brought to the Lakers by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He signed with the franchise during a pregame press conference with general manager, Mitch Kupchak, in front of local media

“I can’t thank [the Make-A-Wish Foundation] enough. This is not even possible, and they made it possible. They were like, ‘What do you want to do for your wish?,'” Teichman said. “It was pretty easy, I want to be a Laker. I didn’t have much of a shot considering my height; so it was either I’ve got to be good at basketball or get cancer. So, I went with the cancer route.”

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The teen also had the opportunity to shoot around with the team during warmups, sit courtside during the game and talk to some of his favorite players. Teichman said he has been a Lakers fan since birth. “I was born,” he told the L.A. Times. “My first word was Kobe.”

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Write to Megan McCluskey at megan.mccluskey@time.com.