Milwaukee Bucks’ Pat Connaughton wins offseason NBA Cares Community Assist Award for community work

MINNEAPOLIS (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) –- Basketball has taken Pat Connaughton around the world, literally, to courts in England, France, and the United Arab Emirates. He plays the sport at the highest level, in spaces that are often the focal point of their city.

But he hasn't forgotten where it started for him – Fidelity House Arlington, a youth center in his hometown of Arlington, Massachusetts, that didn't have regulation-size court. The building wasn't heated in the winter, or air conditioned in the summer.

"But the things that I learned on that court – hard work, teamwork, leadership, accountability, discipline – helped put me in a position, because of those habits, to continue to take the game of basketball to another level, to another level, to another level," Connaughton said of his basketball beginnings. "What I've learned along the way is, there are a lot of kids who could potentially have the talent or potential to do that, but don't have a place to foster those skills or foster those habits."

As a result, Connaughton decided to use the level he reached to give kids a chance to play on the best court possible. Connaughton set his eponymous foundation on the mission to create new school facilities this offseason, which is why on Friday he was recognized as the Offseason NBA Cares Community Assist Award winner by the league for his work in Wisconsin and Massachusetts.

“The coolest part about being recognized for it is not because we do it to be recognized for it – but being recognized for it brings more awareness of what I'm doing, which can in turn help impact more youths, student-athletes over the course of time,” Connaughton said. “That's the part (of) that recognition, in my opinion, that is most honorable or most exciting or whatever the word and adjective you want to use is. I enjoy doing that because I enjoy doing it.

"My foundation is put in place to put kid's interests first in the youth athletic world. It's not something I ever have or ever will take a dime from – it's how do I continue to pour back into the next generation of student-athlete and really try to teach them and provide access to athletics that can be not just about things on the court, but those translatable life skills.”

St. Augustine Prep in Milwaukee was a beneficiary this year, as his foundation donated $50,000 to build out a new court. In September he announced a “Connaughton Court” will also be constructed at Reagan High School in Milwaukee in 2023.

By winning the award, the NBA will donate $10,000 to his foundation.

“Ten thousand dollars is a big chunk of that court, right?” he said of the donation from the league. “I'm sure as we continue to grow as a foundation, I know we'll do more courts, we may do courts that are a bigger undertaking. We may try to help a school or a community center not just do the court and the inside of their walls, but maybe the walls themselves or the roof or whatever it is. I'm sure those things will grow, but it's a sizable amount right now to have another impact on another place, especially locally in the Wisconsin-Milwaukee area. Because that's kind of where, in my opinion, the dollars that we raise and my foundation will make the biggest impact."

He plans to announce more new court buildouts sometime in the new year.

Connaughton also held youth clinics at St. Augustine Prep, Mukwonago High School and on his first refurbished court at his alma mater, St. Johns Prep, in Danvers, Massachusetts. He ended the clinics by playing one-on-one against campers of all ages and abilities.

Connaughton was presented with the award on Saturday before the Bucks host the Oklahoma City Thunder at Fiserv Forum. He was recognized by team president Peter Feigin and general manager Jon Horst.

The community assist initiative includes in-season monthly awards and a season-long honor named after Hall of Famer and former Bucks center Bob Lanier. The league instituted an offseason award six years ago to further accentuate the work done by its players.

Connaughton joins a lengthening list of current Milwaukee players to be recognized for their off-court giving. Bucks guard George Hill was a co-winner of the season-long Bob Lanier Award in 2019-20 while Jrue Holiday (January, 2021) and Khris Middleton (December 2018) earned monthly recognitions with the Bucks.

Here is the list of Offseason NBA Cares Community Assist Award winners:

2017: DeMarcus Cousins

2018: LeBron James

2019: Gorgui Dieng

2020: Donovan Mitchell

2021: Ricky Rubio

2022: Pat Connaughton