National Basketball Association

Cleveland Cavaliers Face Atlanta Hawks In First Ever Unity Game

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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On October 10, the Atlanta Hawks will celebrate diversity as they take on the NBA champions in their first ever “Unity Game”.

On October 10, the Atlanta Hawks will be hosting an exhibition game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7:30 p.m. EST in Phillips Arena. This won’t be your typical game. The Atlanta Hawks will be hosting a Unity Game against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the preseason.

The Unity Game is meant to be an experience that brings people of different backgrounds together through basketball, a sport that crosses borders its efforts to bring people of any demographic closer to their fulfillment of the American Dream. An idea that came about after all-employee internal forum on July 19th, following a series of unjustified killings nationwide, the Unity Game is the Atlanta Hawks way of bringing piece to the community.

In celebration of “multicultural groups, diverse populations, and organizations committed to improve relations amongst different groups”, the Atlanta Hawks staff will also participate in six service projects within the city of Atlanta. They will also participate in the 46th Atlanta Pride Festival that takes place on October 8 and October 9.

This game will be especially memorable as LeBron James has been one of the most vocal and socially conscience athletes of all-time. Recently, James hasn’t been as outspoken except for his ESPY’s appearance alongside Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Paul to decry gun violence. Wade’s cousin was murdered in Chicago due to gun violence less than two weeks ago and it only adds to publicity surrounding the cause.

However, it’ll be nice to see James taking another stand against social issues within America. In August, James pledged $41 million for high school children to be able to attend college through scholarship acceptance. The rates to attend college and get a secondary education is an issue not often talked about as a problem in and of itself, but by extension of discussions about low-income households and the differences in pay for due to race and gender.

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James is also a consistent donator the Boys & Girls Club of America and the founder of the LeBron James Family Foundation. The LeBron James Family Foundation is an organization that helps low-income families with issues like paying for college but also with issues like paying for rent. Non-violent societal issues like the challenges for low-income families should also be addressed in the Unity Game as well and the organizations that help students of low-income families attend college should be celebrated. James’ presence is only a reminder of that fact.

In celebrating diversity, the city of Atlanta has the perfect basketball club for the occasion. Dennis Schröder is German-born, Thabo Sefalosha is Swiss-born, and Tiago Splitter is Brazilian. There is also a fair mix of African-American and white players in the rest of the roster with Dwight Howard, Kent Bazemore, Kyle Korver, and Kris Humphries. Once a franchise under fire for racist remarks from former owner Bruce Levenson and general manager Danny Ferry, the Atlanta Hawks franchise finally looks to be turning the corner.

What do you think of the Atlanta Hawks “Unity Game”? If you’re in the area, will you be in attendance? Let us know in the comments section and follow @KJG_NBA and @30for30Albertie on Twitter.

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