HBCU’s Howard, Morgan State To Play At NBA All-Star Weekend

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BALTIMORE (AP) — Among those apt playing astatine the NBA All-Star play this play are Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Stephen Curry.

Also playing astatine All-Star weekend: the men’s teams from Howard and Morgan State.

The NBA plans to make vulnerability for historically Black colleges and universities astatine the All-Star play again this season, announcing Thursday the matchup for the inaugural NBA HBCU Classic connected Feb. 19. Howard was scheduled to play Morgan State that time astatine location successful Washington; instead, astatine the NBA’s request, the teams volition conscionable successful Cleveland connected the Saturday of All-Star weekend.

Howard diversion manager Kery Davis wasn’t definite however his hoops coach, Kenny Blakeney, would similar the thought of giving up a location Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference crippled against a rival. Turns out, Blakeney didn’t request immoderate convincing.

“This is large for everybody,” Davis said. “A rising tide lifts each boats and this is simply a large accidental for each HBCUs and for america individually successful presumption of exposing radical to our assemblage and our university’s history, traditions and excellence, rather frankly. So, helium got it close away.”

Some details are inactive being worked out. The NBA said the crippled volition beryllium nationally televised from the Wolstein Center successful Cleveland, the arena that volition play big to immoderate All-Star play events. The location of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, volition beryllium the tract of the biggest events of the weekend, specified arsenic All-Star Saturday Night and the All-Star Game itself connected Sunday.

There are nary shortage of NBA players who person worked to rise the vulnerability of HBCUs successful caller years, James, Curry and Chris Paul among them. The league said astatine All-Star play past play that it would bash its portion arsenic well. On Thursday, successful summation to announcing plans for the game, it revealed the commencement of a paid fellowship programme that volition spot HBCU students successful jobs with the league bureau and with NBA and WNBA teams.

“The NBA should beryllium commended for the foresight and willingness to code important issues surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion,” Morgan State diversion manager and vice president Ed Scott said.

Last season’s All-Star Game successful Atlanta generated astatine slightest $3 cardinal for HBCUs through donations to assistance funds — and the vulnerability those schools got during the crippled was worthy adjacent more. The tribunal was designed by artists from HBCUs; the pregame featured bands from Grambling State, Florida A&M and Clark Atlanta; and even the trio of referees assigned to the game by the NBA were each HBCU graduates.

Howard’s past is rich, with the schoolhouse dating backmost to 1867 and a database of alumni that includes Vice President Kamala Harris, Elijah Cummings, Thurgood Marshall, Toni Morrison and countless different radical salient successful their fields.

But erstwhile Davis travels the country, helium said, he’s routinely asked wherever Howard is and if it’s a Division I institution. After All-Star weekend, helium hopes, much radical volition cognize the reply to those questions.

“I deliberation it gives america an accidental to link with an assemblage who perchance don’t cognize overmuch astir us,” Davis said. “But also, not lone does it springiness an accidental to get vulnerability to the universities, it besides gives an accidental to archer the communicative of the universities — which is adjacent much important.”

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