LOS ANGELES — Baron Davis hosted the 3rd Annual All-Star Kickball Game on Saturday at UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Why kickball?
"It's something that everybody can play," the two-time NBA All-Star said. "Everybody can find their inner child and it's a way of just connecting people. It's probably one of the safest and easiest games to play."
The game benefited Davis' Rising Stars of America Foundation. The foundation's mission is to utilize athletics to teach values to the youth. TV and movie stars along with professional athletes, including Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, participated in the game.
Davis has served as a mentor to the kids his foundation supports, as well as most of the LA-area players who were in attendance, which included Amir Johnson, Nick Young, DeMar DeRozan, Dijon Thompson, Dorrell Wright, Bobby Brown, Brandon Heath, Pooh Jeter and Trevor Ariza.
"They're my brothers," Davis said. "I watched these dudes grow up and I believed in them from the time they were in middle school and high school and I just always supported them because I know when you give people the right support that they can make it, and you see a lot of these guys put in the hard work and they made it."
Said Brown, the former Cal State Fullerton guard who'll be playing in Italy this season, "I've known him since I was a little kid, growing up watching him play. We grew up in the same community, same neighborhood, and he's just been like a big brother. From there on out, (he) showed me the ropes. Showed me the do's and the don'ts as far as basketball."
Not forgetting what Davis did for them has inspired the younger generation to do the same.
"We're just trying to help the younger guys that's coming up after us, and that's one thing that Baron's been doing since he's been in the league: mentoring guys like us, helping us get better as we prolong our career," said DeRozan, the former USC guard who'll be entering his fourth season with the Toronto Raptors.
The kickball game was the culmination of a week's worth of festivities that included the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Baron Davis Reading and Learning Center in South Los Angeles and the Rising Stars of America Basketball Camp.
Davis' Rising Stars of America Foundation was founded in 2004.
