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The Toronto Raptors announced Friday they will play a three-game preseason schedule as part of the 2020-21 campaign. The Raptors will travel to play two games at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte. The first game against the Hornets will played Dec. 12 at 7 p.m., followed by another game Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. The Raptors will return to their temporary home in Tampa and complete the preseason by hosting the Miami Heat at Amalie Arena on Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. Broadcast details for the preseason will be provided at a later date. 

 DATE.              OPPONENT.              LOCATION.              TIME

Dec. 12.            Charlotte.               at Charlotte.           7:00 p.m.

Dec. 14.            Charlotte.               at Charlotte.           7:00 p.m.

Dec. 18.             Miamiat                    Tampa.                7:00 p.m.

2020-21-preseason-schedule

2020-21 Preseason Schedule

NBA BOARD OF GOVERNORS APPROVES COMPETITIVE FORMAT TO RESTART 2019-20 SEASON WITH 22 TEAMS RETURNING TO PLAY

The NBA Board of Governors today approved a competitive format to restart the 2019-20 season with 22 teams returning to play and a tentative start date of Friday, July 31. The Board’s approval is the first formal step among many required to resume the season.

The NBA is working to finalize a comprehensive season restart plan with the National Basketball Players Association. The NBA and the NBPA are working with infectious disease specialists, public health experts and government officials to establish a rigorous program to prevent and mitigate the risk related to COVID-19, including a regular testing protocol and stringent safety practices. The season restart is also contingent on an agreement with The Walt Disney Company to use Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, as a single site for a campus for all games, practices and housing for the remainder of the season.

Based on the competitive format that the NBA Board of Governors approved today, the 22 returning teams would be the 16 teams (eight per conference) in current playoff positions and the six teams that are currently six games or fewer behind the eighth seed in their respective conferences. Those two groups comprise teams with the NBA’s 22 best records.

“The Board’s approval of the restart format is a necessary step toward resuming the NBA season,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “While the COVID-19 pandemic presents formidable challenges, we are hopeful of finishing the season in a safe and responsible manner based on strict protocols now being finalized with public health officials and medical experts. We also recognize that as we prepare to resume play, our society is reeling from recent tragedies of racial violence and injustice, and we will continue to work closely with our teams and players to use our collective resources and influence to address these issues in very real and concrete ways.”

The season restart would begin with eight “seeding games” for each returning team and include the possibility of a play-in tournament for the eighth and final playoff seed in each conference depending on combined records across regular-season games and seeding games. Once the 16-team playoff field is set, the NBA Playoffs would proceed in a traditional conference-based format with four rounds and best-of-seven series in each round. The NBA Finals would end no later than Oct. 12. (See below for the list of returning teams and additional details.)

If, as tentatively scheduled, the season resumes on July 31, then the 2020 NBA Draft Lottery would be rescheduled for Aug. 25, the 2020 NBA Draft would be held on Oct. 15 and the 2020-21 NBA regular season would likely begin on Dec. 1, 2020.

The 14 NBA Lottery teams would be the eight teams that do not participate in the restart and the six teams that participate in the restart but do not qualify for the playoffs. These teams would be seeded in the lottery and assigned odds based on their records through games of March 11. The 16 playoff teams would draft in inverse order of their combined records across regular-season games and seeding games.

NBA Season Restart: Competitive Format Plan

The 22 returning teams for the season restart would be the Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards from the Eastern Conference and the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies, Portland Trail Blazers, New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns from the Western Conference.

Each returning team would play eight seeding games, as selected from its remaining regular-season matchups. At the conclusion of the seeding games, the seven teams in each conference with the best combined records across regular-season games and seeding games would qualify for the playoffs.

If the team with the eighth-best combined record in its conference is more than four games ahead of the team with the ninth-best combined record in the same conference, then the team with the eighth-best record would earn the eighth playoff seed.

If the team with the eighth-best combined record in its conference (Team A) is four games or fewer ahead of the team with the ninth-best combined record in the same conference (Team B), then Teams A and B would compete in a play-in tournament to determine the eighth playoff seed. To earn the eighth playoff seed, Team A would need to defeat Team B once and Team B would need to defeat Team A two games in a row.

The 2019-20 season would conclude with a traditional playoff format with best-of-seven series in the first round, conference semifinals, conference finals and the NBA Finals.

official-league-statment-on-return-to-play

Official League Statment on Return To Play

KIGALI, RWANDA (February 20, 2020) – The first-ever Giants of Africa festival – a week-long celebration focused on youth, basketball, empowerment and education – is to be held in Kigali, Rwanda this summer. The Giants of Africa Festival will bring together boys and girls from 11 African countries to highlight and celebrate each country’s unique culture and tradition, and two hundred youth from Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon, Mali, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Somalia will participate in the week-long festivities.

His Excellency President Paul Kagame of the Republic of Rwanda was joined by Masai Ujiri, the president of the Toronto Raptors and Giants of Africa, to make the announcement. The event will run from Aug. 16 to 22, and will also feature special events and concerts open to the public.

“Over the past 17 years, I have witnessed the transformative impact that basketball can have on African youth,” Ujiri said. “This latest evolution of our Giants of Africa summer programming is going to be unbelievable. For the first time, youth from countries across Africa will have an opportunity to meet, learn about other cultures and build camaraderie with their peers, who share a common love of the game. Basketball opened so many doors for me, and I’m excited to support this next generation of African giants achieve their dreams.”

“I am sure those who will be coming here whether it is the first time or one of many times, they will discover that we are a welcoming people and country,” President Kagame said. “We won’t just be writing it on the billboards, we want to make sure the experience is real and felt by whoever comes. And the people of this country always leave our history behind us and keep going towards the future much as we draw lessons from that. We are people of high ambitions, who work hard and want to be happy despite those challenging circumstances they have had to deal with and still have to deal with.”

The festival will also include a Dream Big Leadership Conversation Series, which will focus on education and female empowerment. The series will feature discussions with thought leaders from around the world with the goal of inspiring campers to think big, be innovative, build confidence and become leaders in their own community. Africa is the youngest continent in the world, with over 60 percent of the continent’s population under 25.

Growing up in Nigeria, Ujiri’s love of basketball paved his way to become the first African-raised general manager for a major North American sports team. In 2003, he co-founded Giants of Africa, a not-for-profit that leverages basketball as a tool for young boys and girls to “Dream Big” – the motto the organization lives by – so they can maximize opportunities for their future. Over the last 17 years, Giants of Africa has conducted youth basketball camps on the continent, and has expanded its footprint and programming across the continent and beyond the game by prioritizing skills training and personal development. In addition to activating basketball camps and community outreach initiatives in August, Giants of Africa’s coaching staff also provides training and support to local coaches to hone their skills.

Fondly known as “the land of a thousand hills,” Rwanda’s stunning scenery and warm, friendly people offer unique experiences in one of the most remarkable countries in the world. Blessed with extraordinary biodiversity throughout its volcanoes and rain forests, travelers worldwide often come to catch a glimpse of the magnificent mountain gorillas and then stay to see so much more. Beyond Rwanda’s physical beauty, its economy is one of Africa’s fastest-growing and Rwanda recently received the second highest ranking among all African countries on the World Bank’s 2020 Ease of Doing Business Index. And next year, the Rwandan government will begin construction of the Green City Project outside Kigali, the first eco-city of its kind in Africa.

masai-ujiri-announces-goa-youth-festival

Masai Ujiri announces GOA Youth Festival

We can cut right to the chase—the most exciting night of All-Star Weekend is All-Star Saturday Night. All players have arrived, the controlled chaos of All-Star Media Day (we’ll get to that) is out of the way, guys get to button-down and just show up to the game as fans and supporters of friends, and the air is electric.

But first, All-Star Media Day. In Day 1’s recap I painted an almost tranquil picture of what the podium set up looked like for the Rising Stars Media Day. Things, then, were manageable. Add to that mental image about 500 more media, all crammed into the same exact space. Booths for players very quickly got ten and twenty rows deep of reporters all shouting their questions at the same time for players who tried as best the could to catch them. On top of that, fans are able to buy tickets and come for the spectacle. There are game ops, giveaways, kids ingeniously tying string to sneakers and affixing markers to them with velcro, lowering the contraptions into the player tunnels to dangle like bait in hopes someone will grab and sign a shoe. And it is loud. With music, live interviews being intermittently broadcast on the jumbotron hanging above the court, fans screaming for players, players shouting greetings to their friends as they pass in front and behind on the way to one media spot after another.

Plans are important. But All-Star Media Day quickly shows how crucial it can also be to throw the whole entire plan out the window and just run, as fast as you can, with things.

Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam were seated side-by-side in their respective podiums, scrums starting almost at the exact same time. Lowry was able to shout encouragement and questions to Siakam, and Siakam kept hit vet in his sights. Lowry’s advice to Siakam on the weekend was simple, “Run around and have fun.” He then added with the million-dollar Lowry grin, “Learn what not to do during All-Star.”

When asked what everyone should expect from Lowry this weekend he replied, “Some laughs, some fun, some jokes, some enjoyment.” And right on cue somebody broke their boom mic in two on Lowry’s shoulder. He barely flinched, eyeing the pieces as they ricocheted off his shoulder, out of the podium and onto the floor, “Somebody just broke their mic on my shoulder because I’m so strong.”

Some other key notes from a cloudy day in Chicago included the announcement that the All-Star Game MVP Award was being renamed the NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant MVP Award in tribute to the late Kobe Bryant. Basketball Africa also announced that 12 teams were set to compete in the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League, starting March 13, 2020 at the at the Dakar Arena in Dakar, Senegal.

But when the sun sunk behind the city’s towers once again, anticipation rose. The tunnels underneath the United Center were packed. Media and camera crews staking out spots, arena entertainment crews stretching in hallways where they could find enough space to lay down or extend their legs. NBA legends brushing shoulders with NBA mascots, with DJ Khalid and Queen Latifah, with me when I accidentally rounded a corner too quickly.

All-Star Saturday night continues to be the greatest sleepover in the history of the planet. Everywhere you look there is something carefree happening, everyone just happy to be there. Shaq is sticking his tongue in Kevin Garnett’s ear on national television, Rumble the Bison won’t stop doing air guitar, Fat Joe is courtside enjoying himself, hundreds of kids are on the court doing Tik Tok dances. What is anything? It’s everything.

Siakam made his Skills Challenge debut, fitting for his noted favoured nickname, P Skills. He came out confident, nudging out Patrick Beverly by putting his and the Raptors penchant for passing to the test. Unfortunately, Siakam was knocked out of the semifinal round by Bam Adebayo. Bam took it with a three-point shot that rattled around the rim before revolving slowly into the basket, like my heart taking rotating before it went down the toilet. But Adebayo went on to win, and it doesn’t hurt so much knowing you’ve fallen to the best, or that the best in this case planned to hand the trophy over to his mom.

Asked who he wanted to dedicate the win to, Adebayo said, “My mom, and it’s because all she’s been though and all the struggles and what the living conditions I had to go through. How she strived to make me happy, make our house feel home, and I can’t do nothing but give her that and keep giving her every other accolade I get.”

The Three-Point contest came next, and there were a few new rules folded in for good measure and additional confusion. Namely, a new all-green ball that players could put up from something called the Dew Zone, a slightly deeper shot. Mixed reviews on the Dew Zone from media and fans alike, but in a way if the contest is drawn out a little then we’re all winners.

The real winner, of course, was Buddy Hield. Hield, after going neck and neck with Devin Booker and silent sniper Davis Bertans, won on his final shot. Hield dedicated the trophy to people in his home country of the Bahamas, recovering from Hurricane Dorian in late summer 2019.

To open up the Dunk Contest, Damian Lillard performed alongside Lil Wayne and Dwight Howard, Pat Connaughton, Derrick Jones Jr. and Aaron Gordon took the stage. There is a kind of curtain made out of LED lights, wiring, and the framing that holds it all together that was slowly lowered from the ceiling of the United Center when stage performances happened. Media seats were behind the backdrop, with a sliver of a sightline to the stage, but it was raised when the Dunk Contest participants arrived, making the reveal even more dramatic.

There are three key elements to any successful, memorable, Dunk Contest dunk—confidence, energy, and a kind of singular vision that a player will see it through. Props are highly debated but I don’t think they hurt if they are handled with care.

On these notes, Pat Connaughton was immediately robbed. And I am the most dubious of any Milwaukee Buck. But the White Men Can’t Jump Dunk that had him hanging off the rim in costume, and the knocking the ball against the glass as he jumped over Giannis is, frankly, toying with the constructs of gravity.

Dwight Howard, though here for a good time and also a long time, by Dunk Contest standards, couldn’t quit manage to pull one out with the same finesse and energy with this showing. But it was nice to see him put the Superman cape back on in tribute.

Derrick Jones Jr. is a high flying dream. It was his birthday, a slab cake was rolled out, the arena sang him happy birthday, and unfortunately he missed his first attempt. He would go on to make up for missing that first dunk attempt in nailing a tricky 360 and mid-twist, slicing the ball between his legs, then jumping over two people to dunk, and then somehow caught a lob off the backboard, jumped over a guy, and went between the legs to nail it on the first attempt.

While this was happening, Aaron Gordon was also having himself a Dunk Contest. Dunking over Chance The Rapper multiple times was amazing, but, how does Stuff the Magic Dragon feel about getting yanked? Til Tok dunk—no, every single other Gordon dunk—YES. You have to feel like Gordon has a homemade encyclopedia full of dunk ideas that he writes in every day, like his version of journaling.

When it seemed like things couldn’t really improve, or that a tie would be called, the greatest words in All-Star vocabulary were spoken after a chanting Shaq demanded, “We want more!”: there was going to be a dunk-off between Jones Jr. and Gordon. Both pulled out incredible feats on the fly, one-upping the other until finally Gordon went and pulled Tacko Fall from the players hanging out courtside. Fall is 7-foot-5.

Did he do it? Yes. Did he get the points he deserved? No. There was concern, or rumour, or questioning, right after that the final scoring was the result of calculations gone awry, the judges brains maybe too steeped in physical feats, that it was supposed to be a tie. Whatever it was, Derrick Jones Jr. won by a single point, and the mood in the arena, while celebratory, felt jilted. Gordan in his post-contest presser admitted that was to be his last contest, as he wasn’t sure what else he had to do to win. It was a first for me, feeling the thrill of the contest, that Jones Jr. was deserving of the win, but still feeling in the lurch about the outcome. When people are so good at things, like Gordon and Jones Jr. are with dunking and basketball, you just want everyone to win.

nba-all-star-day-2-the-all-stars-came-out-and-a-dunk-contest-to-break-your-heart

NBA All-Star - Day 2: The All-Stars Came Out and a Dunk Contest to Break Your Heart

The National Basketball Association announced Monday that Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse was named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for games played in January. This marks the third time Nurse has earned the honour overall and second time this season. He was also named coach of the month for games played in October/November. 

Nurse guided the Raptors to a 12-3 record last month, including an Eastern Conference-best 9-1 record on the road. Toronto ranked fourth in the conference averaging 113.1 points and third defensively holding opponents to 106.1 points (third in the East). The team also lead the East averaging 12.8 three-pointers per game and 10.0 steals.

Highlighting the month was a season-high 10 game winning streak (Jan. 15-31), which catapulted Toronto into second-place in the Eastern Conference standings. The Raptors won by an average margin of +11.0 points per game during the streak, which included six road contests. Toronto matched a franchise-record Jan. 17 vs. Washington by scoring 140 points.   

A native of Carroll, Iowa, Nurse will coach Team Giannis at the 2020 NBA All-Star Game in Chicago. He became the first coach to win both an NBA and NBA G League championship, after guiding Toronto to its first NBA Championship last spring. 

nurse-named-eastern-conference-coach-of-the-month

Nurse Named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month

It was one thing to see the love fest that engulfed Kawhi Leonard in the wake of the Raptors’ first-ever NBA title in June. It was another thing to live it. 

Royce Lando knew for a few years that he resembled Leonard, who was then the Raptors’ low key, high result forward that had just won his second NBA Finals MVP. When he stepped off of the GO Train on June 14 from his home in Oakville, Ont. into downtown Toronto, he didn’t think he’d be as convincing as he was. 

Wearing a black Raptors’ Leonard jersey, matching shorts and a pair of white tights underneath, Lando made his way through the parade route, mingling with pieces of a crowd estimated to be near the 2 million mark. 

“I was actually shocked,” Lando said this week, taking a break from final exam prep. The 21-year-old is in his third year of a computer science degree at Brock University. 

“I was like, ‘There’s no way they’re going to fall for it, because Kawhi is super tall.’ I’m only six-feet. In my shoes I’m 6-1. 

“I was shocked. Moms were giving me their babies. I was taking pictures with families, signing autographs.” 

Lando had the basic Kawhi mannerisms down. After a year of seeing Leonard under the microscope that charted his pending free-agency, Lando said it wasn’t hard to duplicate. He walked through the crowd dropping a subdued hey-hey-hey a good four months before Leonard would have the same clip go viral on the NBA���s opening night. He’d casually slide into that strained laugh as he signed t-shirts, complete with straight-faced drawings -- “I don’t smile, so…” -- and the thousands that surrounded him all day ate it up. 

“It felt really good, like, really good,” Lando said. 

“You had a whole community of people, everyone...a lot of people showed up downtown super early and everyone was just having a good time. 

“Then just seeing the fans cheer. To look at it through I guess the athlete’s point of view was pretty cool. Everyone was so thankful for what you’d done for the city and bringing a championship. 

“It was pretty amazing. And then just the chants. Everyone is chanting your name, ‘MVP.’ I didn't realize how impactful the MVP chants are. You really feel like an MVP when they start chanting it.” 

On Wednesday, Kawhi Leonard will set foot on the court at Scotiabank Arena for the first time since the NBA Finals. It will be his first time playing in Toronto as a visitor, just six months after he took the Raptors to the top of the NBA and was the subject of those MVP chants. 

Raptors fans have been here before, in a sense. They’ve seen the star player leave their team, their city for pastures of varying shades of green. Each one up to this point -- Damon Stoudamire, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Chris Bosh -- provided simple enough paths to channel the anger, the disappointment, the hurt. 

It was simple then, so straightforward. The star player left and when they come back, the vitriol of an arena full of fans awaited them (to varying degrees of justification, perhaps, but that’s beside the point right now). Some have wilted under that chilly welcome, the boos-per-touch getting the best of them. Others...have thrived. Regardless of the outcome, fans knew how to approach these games. 

As familiar as it will be, Wednesday night will also be unlike anything the Toronto Raptors franchise has seen in its 25 years of existence. With Kawhi Leonard and Toronto, it feels like everything is always destined to be different. 

As the Raptors and the 76ers marched their way to the end of regulation in Game 7, Tresor Gray was equal parts fixated on an iPhone and his data bill. 

The 24-year-old was on a bus in West Virginia with friends, watching as Leonard’s shot bounced (and bounced and bounced and bounced) around on the rim before sitting and falling, the NBA’s first-ever Game 7 buzzer beater. History was made and the basketball world erupted in celebration. 

Having just graduated from the University of Guelph-Humber, Gray was out of the country for much of the Raptors’ playoff run. A YouTube personality and a burgeoning actor, he was hosting a graduation trip in the Bahamas when the Raptors were in the Finals. As the Raptors inched closer to their first championship, he saw Scarborough musician General Genius’ Raptor Foot video and found inspiration. He remixed the already popular clip, giving it a dancehall sound, worked name drops of Raptors players and global ambassador Drake into it and it went viral. 

“I feel like if the Raptors didn't win it probably would have had a buzz but the song did so well I think because it was more celebratory that we actually won,” Gray said. 

Gray was still in the Bahamas while the video took off. He was getting texts and calls from friends that were telling him about the attention it was getting, being played on TV shows and on the radio. 

“Looking from the outside it was pretty wild to see but I do wish that I was around more to experience it,” he said. 

He got back to Toronto on June 13, the night before the parade. Back home for the biggest single day of celebration in the team’s history, he heard his song played in crowds and basked in the team’s accomplishment. 

“It was wild because no one thought they were going to get that far, I think,” he said. 

“It was a really historic playoff run in general. They really took Toronto to another level.” 

In May, OD Toronto had just opened on Queen St. and wanted to make a splash. 

The consignment sneaker shop saw what the Raptors were doing and as longtime fans of the team, knew what they had to do. Their massive, 30-foot mural of Leonard was on the front of the building by May 8. As the playoffs progressed, the murals did too. It was modified to Leonard’s follow through on The Shot after Game 7, then shifted to a team photo, complete with Drake in the background, as they went into the Finals. 

“We had just opened up at the time and we wanted to use this shop to just do stuff for the city, local artists, local talent,” store co-owner Shahin Shamshiri said. 

Instantly, picture-takers lined the area around the store for weeks. For Shamshiri, it was the melding of two of his passions. 

“Growing up, that was our team,” he said of the Raptors. 

“I’m an immigrant. I came here from Iran when I was one. Basketball was always the thing. Toronto being so multicultural, it was always Toronto’s team. 

“This playoff run brought everybody together. Toronto's a great city. We (didn’t) really have that NBA championship team, so to get it and to see the whole city come together, we were celebrating like it was Christmas. It felt like Christmas. Everyone was in a good mood. It was nice to see that.” 

So, six months after a playoff run that brought a city and a country together, what do you do with Wednesday night? There’s still disappointment that Leonard left, that he opted not to play MJ to Pascal Siakam’s Scottie Pippen, that the city lost a year of Drake’s Back to Back pumping through Scotiabank Arena’s speakers. 

If it were anyone else that had left, the answer might be obvious, or inevitable. But with Kawhi and Toronto it’s always different. 

“I think it's going to be good. I don't think it's going to be like a LeBron or a K.D. type of situation because he didn't really do us dirty,” Gray said. 

“He came in one year and we won a championship. Obviously a lot of people wanted him to stay, but I didn't really see a whole we-hate-Kawhi type of thing. I think it's more that people were hurt that he didn’t stay, but it's like, ‘OK, we won a championship so we’ve got to at least give that to him. I think he's going to get a good reception.” 

“I think for the most part, it'll be good,” Royce said. 

“Even though he left and he didn't give us a chance to repeat, we still recognize that without him it would have been very hard to win a championship. 

“I think most people will give him a good reception. Everyone should cheer. I don’t think anyone will boo him. I hope not.” 

“They’ll cheer for him, for sure,” Shamshiri said. 

“We don’t like him in that sense anymore. But in the moment with the lights up, the Raptors giving him the ring; he earned that ring. We’re going to cheer, for sure. Maybe during the game we won’t cheer anymore. But before the game, we have a lot of respect to pay.”

So many times in his year in Toronto, all eyes would shift to Kawhi in a dire moment. We’d look to him for an answer, for guidance, for a miracle. He’s different because when it mattered the most, he delivered. 

He told his teammates when they were trailing in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals to Milwaukee to take it all in, to enjoy the moment. He’d say the same to fans at the parade on that hot mid-June day. Enjoy this, enjoy the moment. Fans should do the same on Wednesday night. 

One thing will make that moment even more enjoyable. 

“I hope he plays,” Royce said. “I don’t want to hear anything about load management. I want to beat him.”

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Back in Toronto, it's all love for Kawhi

NEW YORK, March 22, 2019 – Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam has received the February NBA Cares Community Assist Award presented by Kaiser Permanente in recognition of his efforts to empower and inspire youth in both local and global communities, the NBA announced today.  The award recognizes an NBA player each month who best reflects the passion that the league and its players share for giving back to their communities.

Kaiser Permanente and the NBA are honoring Siakam for his efforts to engage youth through the game across Canada and Africa.  Siakam visits numerous schools in Toronto and throughout Canada as an ambassador for Right To Play, encouraging students to rise above adversity through sports and education.  As a representative for the Sun Life Dunk for Diabetes program, he also inspires children to lead healthy and active lives.  Utilizing his fluency in English and French, he has empowered youth in many marginalized communities to overcome obstacles and become leaders. 

In August, the Cameroon native played in the NBA Africa Game 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa and visited the 16th edition of Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Africa, where he mentored campers in oncourt development and life skills training as an alumnus of the program.  Throughout the week, Siakam participated in a series of events that left a lasting impact in Johannesburg, including a Habitat for Humanity service project, a training camp for the Jr. NBA World Championship Africa &amp; Middle East teams and a visit to the Nelson Mandela Centre for Memory.  In December, he represented Cameroon at the Giants of Africa Gala in Toronto, part of a two-day celebration honoring Nelson Mandela and his vision that sports have the power to inspire and change the world.

 “I am excited and honored to receive the Community Assist Award for February.  My passion is basketball and I’m so lucky to be able to use this sport to give back to my community,” said Siakam.  “Basketball is bigger than just a game.  It’s an opportunity to give back to my new home of Toronto as well as Cameroon.”  

Before the Raptors’ home game against the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday (6:00 p.m. ET), NBA Canada Managing Director Dan MacKenzieand Toronto Raptors General Manager Bobby Webster will present the award to Siakam during an oncourt ceremony.  In addition, Kaiser Permanente and the NBA will donate $10,000 on Siakam’s behalf to Right To Play.

The NBA Cares Community Assist Award presented by Kaiser Permanente honors the standard set by NBA legend David Robinson, who improved the community piece by piece.  At the end of the 2018-19 regular season, the Seasonlong NBA Cares Community Assist Award winner will be announced at the 2019 NBA Awards presented by Kia.  To learn more, please visit http://www.nba.com/communityassist/.