WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two Washington nonprofits will split $20,000 after Wizards guard Trae Young was picked as the offseason winner of the Bob Lanier Community Assist Award, part of the NBA Cares program. The league and the players union announced the choice Monday.
The money, from the NBA and the NBPA Foundation, goes to DC Central Kitchen and the DC College Access Program. It is the third time in his career that Young has won the community award.
The grant adds to what Young had already pledged in the city. After he arrived in Washington, he and his family foundation committed $100,000 to the same two groups, $50,000 apiece. DC CAP helps students from the District’s public and public charter high schools get into college and finish, while DC Central Kitchen feeds people through school meals and hunger programs and trains cooks for kitchen jobs.
Young also spent three days around his birthday at events across the region. He visited three schools, Monument Academy, Friendship Technology Prep and Thurgood Marshall High, to talk with students about mental health and perseverance, and dropped in on young patients at MedStar Georgetown Hospital with signed jerseys.
A youth skills clinic tied to those events drew more than 175 children, with Young working through drills alongside Jr. Wizards coaches.
The award is named for Hall of Famer Bob Lanier, who served as an NBA Cares ambassador for more than three decades. Young’s foundation has also put more than $4 million into youth sports facilities in his home state of Oklahoma.
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