NBA All-Star Break is a jam-packed weekend for the players involved.
The Wolves were represented by center Karl-Anthony Towns in the Rising Stars Challenge.
A look at his schedule going into the break:
Tuesday: Play in Minnesota against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Fly to Denver after.
Wednesday: Play in Denver against the Nuggets.
Thursday morning: Fly to New Orleans for All-Star Weekend.
After arriving in New Orleans, Towns took part in his media circuit on Thursday before other media appearances throughout the night. And then on Friday, he had Rising Stars practice in the morning to gear up for Friday night’s game.
But during the time in between, Towns and his fellow Rising Stars participants went out to volunteer in the community.
The group went to William Hart Elementary in New Orleans to help build a playground for the school along with a basketball court.
“We’re just so thrilled to be out here,” Todd Jacobson, NBA Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility, said. “ . . . It’ something this school has been looking forward to for a long time. They needed a safe place for the kids to play . . . It’s transformative. It started out as just a grass field and now they’ll have an entire playground and new basketball courts.”
There were more than 14,000 volunteers that day around the city and Towns, during some downtime, was glad he was just able to participate.
“This means the world,” Towns said. “Our schedules and what they are. The little time that we get to do these things, we cherish it. This is awesome.”
It will be a playground and basketball court that will be available to the school, along with a place the community can go to feel safe.
“The school, these kids are extremely excited because they have not had a playground or any equipment for many, many years,” Angela Harris, a fourth-grade teacher at William Hart, said. “The neighborhood is excited because it’s so beautiful looking at the changes that are being made.”
There were plenty of things to be excited for on the court over All-Star Weekend. But we should be equally, if not more, excited about what happened off it.