NEW YORK (AP) -Before they take to the basketball court in New Orleans, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan will help unveil a new one.
The court refurbishment and dedication at the Mahalia Jackson School in Central City was among the plans the NBA announced Thursday for its “All-Star Day of Service” next Friday, two days before the All-Star game at New Orleans Arena.
Players will take part in 10 projects throughout the city, ranging from the rebuilding of homes to the construction of playgrounds. The league expects more than 2,500 people in town for the weekend to participate in one of the community efforts.
“This is a standard operating procedure for us. It’s who we are and what we do,” commissioner David Stern said. “We’re doing it a little bit more in New Orleans for a couple of reasons, but the most important of which in some way is to demonstrate how the city is in fact coming back.”
rina had devastated the region. Two months earlier, the Hornets hosted the Los Angeles Lakers in the first professional sports event in New Orleans after the hurricane.
This season, every visiting team will take part in a community service activity.
“I’ve done a lot of stuff in New Orleans as it is, I’m looking forward to doing some more,” Lakers All-Star Kobe Bryant said earlier this week. “But that’s one of the places that I’ve really been active in. It’s something else for us to do in New Orleans.”
Bryant will be part of crew that will construct homes with Habitat for Humanity. LeBron James is part of a team helping restore existing homes that have been abandoned, while others will aid in the cleaning up and improvement of schools.
Garnett, Duncan and some other players who endorse adidas will be at the community center, where three playgrounds will be built. Adidas is one of the sponsors of that event, one of the 30 partner organizations contributing millions of dollars and product donations.
The weekend won’t be all work, though.
“The Friday activity is sort of a Friday day of giving. But after that, hey, I mean just as the people who came to the Sugar Bowl, the BCS championship, the Mardi Gras, this is a town that knows how to host a big party. We’re going to party some,” Stern said. “But Friday is an opportunity to have a day of service. Because this is an American city and this is everybody’s city and we have to do a good job of helping them out.”
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