Massachusetts native, NBA champion Pat Connaughton brings trophy to hometown of Arlington
ARLINGTON, Mass. —
Massachusetts native and newly-crowned NBA champion Pat Connaughton paid a special visit to his hometown of Arlington.
Connaughton, who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, brought the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy to Fidelity House on Wednesday.
The former St. John's Prep star took photos with fans and signed autographs at the place where his basketball journey began.
“This was the first place that I really played organized basketball. It was the first place that kind of taught me not just the fundamentals of basketball, but how some of those things translated to other areas,” Connaughton said. “One of the things I always said was if I was fortunate enough to make it to the NBA, let alone win a championship, you never forget the people and the places that you came from and this is where it all started for me.”
Connaughton capped his sixth NBA season with an impressive showing in his first NBA Finals performance. He averaged 9.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game and played about 30 minutes per contest.
He shot 45.2% from the field and 42.3% from 3-point range as the Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns in six games.
Connaughton said he took it upon himself to never forget where he came from and the people that helped him achieve his dream of playing professional basketball.
"I lived here for lack of a better term. I learned how to play on the little 8-foot rims and how to dribble with my left hand," he said. "To go from a sixth-grader who was kind of short and chubby to an eighth-grader who had his first dunk on this hoop, it kind of just speaks volumes to what hard work can do and it really opened my eyes at a young age.
"To represent the people and the places that I came from that helped me get to this place, this part of my career. To represent them (and) to make them proud, and when you’re able to bring back something like the trophy to a place that lived, breathed and ate hoop -- and it hasn’t been here before -- it’s pretty cool," Connaughton added.
Connaughton, who played collegiately at Notre Dame, was originally selected by the Brooklyn Nets with the 41st overall pick in the second round of the 2015 NBA draft. The Nets then traded his draft rights to the Portland Trail Blazers, for whom Connaughton played the first three years of his pro career.
The 28-year-old signed with the Bucks as a free agent in August 2018 and competed in the Slam Dunk Contest at the 2020 NBA All-Star Game.
Connaughton has started his own nonprofit, the With Us Foundation, which creates access to athletics for kids, affording them the opportunity to learn translatable life skills and values through the healthy and enjoyable vehicle of sports.