LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant, you've been warned! Our new favorite basketball M.V.P. blows the competition out of the water – literally.
Meet Eddie, a 15-year-old sea otter living at the Oregon Zoo with major hoop dreams.
He mastered the sport last year to combat his elbow arthritis, according to the Today show. (Watch him in action below.) Within the first week of training, he started making baskets.
"He's definitely got game," said Jenny DeGroot, the zoo's lead sea otter keeper. "Sea otters have incredible dexterity, so it makes sense Eddie would have this hidden talent. They’re famous for using rocks as tools to crack open clams.”
Although Eddie won't be taking his moves to the court, his keepers say he enjoys the exercise, which helps him stay in tip-top shape for his age. At 15, he's considered "geriatric."
When zoo veterinarians discovered Eddie's condition during an X-ray scan, they knew they "had to get creative," DeGroot explained. "There aren't many natural opportunities for Eddie to work those arthritic elbow joints because sea otters don't use their front limbs to swim – they swim by moving their back legs and flippers."
So what's his signature move? The slam dunk.
"Eddie almost never misses," DeGroot added in a YouTube video, "and if he does miss he keeps going until he makes it."