CLEVELAND — The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) announced the local organizations that Team Durant and Team LeBron will play for in the NBA All-Star Game.
Team Durant will be playing for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, and Team LeBron will be playing for the Kent State University I Promise Scholars Program.
For the past six years, the NBA and sponsor State Farm have turned on-court assists into off-court assists, with communities organizations benefiting from every assist made.
The NBA and State Farm will donate $1,900 for every assist made during the game, with the total amount split between the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and the I Promise Scholars Program.
The NBA estimated a total of nearly $1 million will be donated to both organizations.
In addition to donating to the two Northeast Ohio organizations, the NBA and AT&T will donate $100,000 each to Howard University and Morgan State University as they face off for the first-ever NBA HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) Classic at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Wolstein Center.
Following the HBCU Classic, both teams will meet with NBA league and team executives and participate in programming regarding professional development, networking and the impact HBCUs have on society.
Ten local HBCU college students will serve as NBA interns throughout the weekend as part of the HBCU Event Shadow: All-Star program. The interns will be working alongside a variety of league office departments to learn how each contributes to the planning and execution of the weekend’s events.
The NBA will commission and showcase student artists from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, who have created original art compositions centered around their HBCU experience and sports.
The art will be displayed during All-Star Game Weekend at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the Wolstein Center and in NBA player hotels.
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