National Basketball Association

Helping Hand

Updated Jul. 17, 2020 3:37 p.m. ET

With the NBA, NHL, NASCAR and other major sports leagues and sporting events suspended or canceled, professional athletes are using their platforms to facilitate financial support for arena workers and those affected by COVID-19 across the nation. Each day, we will feature a philanthropic effort taking place in the sports world.

Over the course of his 13 NBA seasons, Al Horford has represented the picture of stability for multiple franchises.

Now, he's trying to bring the same stability to his home country of the Dominican Republic, as well as in the United States, in places he's called home since 2000.

Horford's basketball journey has taken him across the United States. He grew up in the Dominican Republic before his family moved to the United States when Horford was a teenager. He attended Grande Ledge High School near Lansing, Michigan.

After high school, Horford played his college basketball at the University of Florida under current Oklahoma City Thunder coach Billy Donovan.

Horford, alongside future NBA stalwarts Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer, helped lead the Gators to back-to-back NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007.

Horford was selected with the third pick in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks and spent nine years with the franchise and was a 3-time All-Star. He then signed with the Boston Celtics in 2016 as a free agent and spent three seasons in Boston, where he was a 2-time All-Star.

In 2019, Horford once again made a move in free agency, signing with the Philadelphia 76ers.