Players Dwight Powell and Caleb Martin joined Mavericks CEO Rick Welts and Uptown Dallas Executive Director Kelem Butts for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 17 to celebrate the newly renovated basketball court at Griggs Park.
The ceremony was followed by a Mavs Academy basketball clinic for children from the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Dallas.
“It sheds a lot of light on how important this community is to the people here in Dallas and to the kids here,” said Caleb Martin, a forward for the Dallas Mavericks. “To be able to come out here and have a safe space to play … that’s how you grow as a player and grow as a person.”
The project continues a long-standing partnership between the Mavericks and Uptown Dallas. The court was first renovated nine years ago, when Powell — now the longest-tenured Maverick — was also on hand for the ceremony.
“I can think back to my days in the park and it was obviously a huge part of my development as an athlete, but that’s also where I made some of my best friends, that to this day, I still consider my best friends and my brothers,” said Powell, a forward-center for the Mavericks.
Today, the latest upgrades include a Sport Court playing surface designed in the Mavs colorway and featuring the downtown Dallas skyline, a new backboard and hoop, and updated landscaping surrounding the court.
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Established in 1996, the Mavs Foundation is committed to empowering youth, women, and families in need. Over the last twenty-eight years, the Foundation has provided grant funding for over $11 million to families in need and built fifty-eight safe Learn & Play spaces throughout the North Texas community, including thirty-two basketball courts and twenty-six Reading & Learning Centers.
“That’s what the Mavs Foundation does,” said Powell. “That’s what the City of Dallas does, is continually try to improve, keep our community together, and keep building our community.”
Dallas Mavs CEO Rick Welts put it best: “Dreams will be born here and memories will be made.”
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