DALLAS – The Dallas Mavericks have selected veteran guard Jalen Brunson as the team’s nominee for the November NBA Cares Community Assist Award, presented by Kaiser Permanente, for his continuous efforts to support children and families across the North Texas community.
“Jalen has a clear passion for giving back to his communities,” said Hannah Sherertz, Dallas Mavs director of community relations & Mavs Foundation. “Everywhere he goes in the community, whether it be Mavs Basketball Academy Camps, his own personal camps in his hometown or serving in his new home of Dallas, he makes fast friends with everyone he meets and has really made an impact in our community.”
Brunson was selected because of various service projects with area homeless and children with special needs. Brunson also spent many hours with Dallas-Fort Worth youth at Mavs Basketball Academy camps this summer.
“It’s no surprise that Jalen jumped in to help tipoff our Season of Giving this year and he’s sure to be a staple in the community throughout the rest of the season,” Sherertz added.
The NBA Cares Award is one of the special honors any NBA player can receive during the season. Each team selects their most charitable player for the month to earn a nomination and then a league committee chooses the player who best reflects the passion that the NBA and its players share for giving back to their communities.
For the both the Mavericks and the NBA, the competition is always steep in a philanthropic league with players that dedicate countless hours to various organizations and causes in hopes of injecting love, hope and encouragement for those who need it most.
Brunson spent the week of Thanksgiving dishing out slices of pizza to folks in need of a good meal and a place to stay as the Mavericks partnered with Pizza Hut to donate time and food for the less fortunate to tip off the NBA Cares’ Season of Giving.
More than 60,000 pizzas were donated by Pizza Hut to locations nationwide.
“Mostly, it’s just great to be here,” Brunson said. “The folks here get to have some good pizza and hopefully get to smile a little. I know it puts a smile on my face to do this.”
A week earlier, he joined his teammate Jackson for a first-of-its-kind that happened for the Mavericks.
Of the hundreds of junior camps and clinics that the team has organized through the years, a Jr. NBA Clinic at Prestonwood was the first one staged specifically for special-needs children.
Brunson and Jackson, barely 12 hours after arriving home from New York at the end of a six-day road trip, helped the Mavs Basketball Academy host the group, giving them a full taste of basketball fundamentals, emphasizing the fun.
They participated in drills and games with Brunson and Jackson, who both spoke to the group about basketball and life lessons.
Mostly about the life skills that basketball can help develop.
Brunson said this camp – one of many he has been part of – hit home because it was for kids with special needs. None of these will ever be star players at any level.
But the beauty of basketball is that you can have fun doing it at any level.
“It’s important to give back,” said Brunson, who recently lost one of his best friends from high school, Nathan, who suffered from muscular dystrophy and serves as a reminder to him about the power of love and service.
“Even if we weren’t in the NBA, this is something I definitely would be doing. The youth are our next generation. It’s important, not just to them but to me as well.”
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