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Booker Among Honorary Coaches for NBA Cares Special Olympics Unified Basketball Game

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Special Olympics today announced that Phoenix Suns guard and 2016 Foot Locker Three-Point Contest participant Devin Booker, two-time Kia NBA MVP Steve Nash, NBA Legend Yao Ming, NBA All-Star Andre Drummond and 2016 BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge participant Karl-Anthony Towns have been named Honorary Coaches for the fifth annual NBA Cares Special Olympics Unified® Basketball Game at NBA All-Star 2016. They will join ESPN’s Sage Steele, Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton and NBA Cares Ambassador Isaiah Austin to lead the East and West squads. 2015 NBA Champion Stephen Curry and his father, NBA Legend Dell Curry, will tip off the game at Toronto’s Enercare Centre at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 13.

This year’s 40-minute demonstration game will feature 12 Special Olympics athletes from around the world playing alongside NBA legends and WNBA legends/players, including Bruce Bowen, Jason Collins, Tamika Catchings and Ticha Penicheiro for the West, and Detlef Schrempf, Tracy McGrady, Special Olympics Global Ambassador Elena Delle Donne and WNBA Cares Ambassador and 2003 WNBA Finals MVP Ruth Riley for the East.  The majority of Special Olympics athletes competing in the game also competed at the 2015 Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles.

First held at NBA All-Star 2012, the NBA Cares Special Olympics Unified® Basketball Game will bring together athletes with and without intellectual disabilities as teammates to showcase the power of Special Olympics, which helps to unify communities and foster an environment of acceptance and inclusion.  Following the game, NBA Legend A.C. Green, Jeremy Lamb, Rodney Hood and Lindsay Whalen will host 75 youth athletes from local Special Olympics Programs for a basketball clinic on the NBA FIT Court presented by Kumho Tire at Enercare Centre.

“The NBA Cares Special Olympics Unified® Basketball Game has become a highlight of our NBA Cares All-Star efforts,” said NBA Senior Vice President, Social Responsibility Todd Jacobson.  “We value the passion Special Olympics shares for basketball and inclusion and are looking forward to bringing together some of the best athletes from across the globe for this terrific game.”