ATLANTA –- The Atlanta Hawks honored guard Kent Bazemore with the Jason Collier Memorial Trophy before tonight’s matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers. This is the 14th consecutive season the club has presented the award, earned annually by the player who most closely exemplifies the characteristics of a community ambassador displayed by Collier, the late Hawks center who passed away in 2005.
During the 2018-19 campaign, Bazemore positively impacted youth and communities throughout the city of Atlanta. In December, he participated in a Hawks’ community event in partnership with Vision To Learn where more than 60 kids at Toney Elementary School received new eyeglasses and took part in a free basketball clinic. Later that month, the Old Dominion alum participated in the “Hawks Holiday Hangout” experience where 150 youth were given a special one-of-a-kind experience at State Farm Arena as part of the team’s annual Season of Giving efforts. In February, he participated in a special “Business of Basketball” event where students from local HBCU schools (Morehouse, Spelman and Clark Atlanta) were invited to learn about the business of Hawks’ basketball through an immersive experience.
The 6-5 guard offers additional year-round charitable assistance through his ARMS Foundation whose mission is to promote, motivate and inspire any young child who aspires to be part of the next generation of leaders. This past August, Bazemore hosted an UNO tournament and Golf Tournament to raise money for his foundation’s important initiatives including high school backpack giveaways and scholarships for African American students from his hometown to attend 4-H STEM camps. Additionally, he has granted scholarships to students at Old Dominion University and Winston-Salem State University so they could attend SXSW in Austin, Texas. He also made a $20,000 investment in STEM equipment for Atlanta Public Schools which will impact more than 1,200 students and purchased robotics boards and gardening tools for Hutchinson Elementary School. Most recently, Bazemore assisted in the unveiling of a community basketball court in partnership with the Nancy Lieberman Foundation at the Thomasville Recreation Center.
Past recipients of the Jason Collier Memorial Trophy include: Josh Childress (2005-06 and 2006-07), Marvin Williams (2007-08 and 2010-11), Al Horford (2008-09), Josh Smith (2009-10), Zaza Pachulia (2011-12), Devin Harris (2012-13), Kyle Korver (2013-14), DeMarre Carroll (2014-15), Mike Muscala (2015-16), Paul Millsap (2016-17) and Malcolm Delaney (2018-19).