For kids who grows up playing and watching sports, players you grow up watching can sometimes feel like superheroes, unbelievable to the eye, inspiring. When it comes to support for the community, NBA players sometimes can fee like superheroes. From their NBA cares services all throughout the year, to their more team-based community charities that they run, the NBA as an organizational, is one of the most donative professional sports organizations in the world. Not only that, but individual players and executives go out their own way to create even more foundations and organizations to help causes dear to their hearts.
Canadian Rookie and 7th overall pick in the year’s NBA draft, Jamal Murray wants to do the same thing. In his own hometown community of Waterloo, Ontario, after an 18-month old infant was struck by an SUV in a parking lot in late July. Jamal Murray did not hesitate to reach out to his hometown and find a way to help. Per Jeff Hicks of the The Waterloo Chronicle:
Murray wasted little time during his comforting sunny afternoon visit to the same Amos Avenue complex, where 18-month old Mohamed Abdalla died in late July.
Surrounded by children, Murray spun a basketball on one finger, like a modern-day Meadowlark Lemon. He dribbled once and smiled often.
Smiles had been forced since little Mohamed was struck by an SUV while playing in the parking lot of the complex his big family lived in. That was understandable.
Some kids argued over who was Murray’s No. 1 fan. One boy pledged to give the six-foot-five Denver Nugget a mile-high hug.
That was what this appearance was all about for Murray, who signed autographs under a tall pine and handed out 120 backpacks filled with school supplies donated by some supportive corporations. This was a community party in the middle of a sorrow-stricken complex desperate for some good cheer.
“This is for them,” Murray said. “I want them to feel good.”
Murray, who said he was due to return to Denver on Monday with his first NBA season looming, intends to do more community events around Kitchener-Waterloo in the future.
“This is my place,” said Murray, who wants to set a good example for his nine-year-old little brother Lamar. “This is my home.”
Murray will now have his new home of mountain high Denver Colorado to worry about, and with the NBA season creeping its way up. You can be sure that Jamal is preparing for the NBA season.
