When Paityn got sick, Strus\u2019 foundation had already decided it would introduce a new annual honor at camp \u2014 the Gary Strong Award, named for Wimmer\u2019s late father. It would go to a young person who had shown unusual resilience in the face of illness.<\/p>\n
Around that time, Paityn\u2019s story appeared on the local news. Members of the foundation\u2019s board saw it. Strus said it was likely his parents who first brought her name up. Maggie contacted Reggie via social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there anything we can do to help?\u201d she asked him.<\/p>\n
That summer, at Strus\u2019 basketball camp in the Chicago suburbs \u2014 attended by Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson, Caleb Martin, Strus\u2019 former teammate on the Heat, New Orleans Pelicans forward Herb Jones and Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray \u2014 Paityn and her parents stood near the front of the gym as campers gathered cross-legged on the hardwood after the final session.<\/p>\n
\u201cMax walks up\u2026 he dabs them up\u2026 \u2018Maximus!\u2019\u201d Sandy Castillo said later, still smiling at the memory. \u201cAnd I was like, wait \u2014 he really knows you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Strus called Paityn forward and introduced her as the inaugural recipient of the Gary Strong Award. She received a $10,000 check to help with medical expenses from six weeks in intensive care and months of rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bills are going to keep coming,\u201d Sandy said. \u201cIt\u2019s strictly set aside for medical.\u201d<\/p>\n
The relationship between Strus and the Castillos didn\u2019t end there.<\/p>\n
When Paityn returned to volleyball \u2014 something doctors once weren\u2019t sure she would do again \u2014 Strus went to a game. Oak Forest against Stagg, Strus\u2019 alma mater. Strus had just suffered the injury that has kept him out this season, and was home beginning his rehab. Strus walked in quietly and took a seat midway up the bleachers with Wimmer and his mother, and Strus\u2019s mom and sister. Reggie saw Strus first.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018There\u2019s no way,\u2019\u201d Reggie said.<\/p>\n
Paityn spotted him during warmups. A double take. A grin she tried to suppress. Then back to the line drill. Strus stayed for the match. He cheered, clapped, and talked with the Castillos afterward about school and how her legs felt now compared to when she first started to walk again.<\/p>\n
No cameras. No foundation signage. Just an NBA player in a high school gym watching a 14-year-old who had once been told recovery could take years.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s still just Max from Hickory Hills,\u201d Reggie said. \u201cWe know he has a sandwich named after him at a couple of the local sub joints around here. And he\u2019s a Miller beer sponsor. But he\u2019s still just Max.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two days before Christmas in 2024, Dylan Long went in for a sports physical.<\/p>\n
He was 15, a right-handed pitcher and third baseman from the south suburbs. Routine bloodwork showed an abnormally high white blood cell count. More tests followed. On Dec. 23, doctors told him he had Stage 2A Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma. Four masses in his chest.<\/p>\n
Chemo began Jan. 6, 2025. Dylan tried to hold his routine together. Treatment on Mondays. School on Thursdays and Fridays when he could manage it.<\/p>\n
Then came proton radiation because the largest mass sat too close to his heart. For 22 consecutive mornings, he arrived at 6:30. He was strapped down so he wouldn\u2019t move. A molded mask secured over his face. Fifteen minutes. Then school.<\/p>\n
One afternoon that spring, after chemo, he took the mound.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t imagine doing that if someone had told me I would,\u201d Dylan said.<\/p>\n
Last summer, on the morning of the same day Paityn received her check from the Strus foundation, Dylan Long also stood at center court at Strus\u2019 camp and accepted a $10,000 check as a beneficiary.<\/p>\n
The money helped with medical expenses \u2014 proton radiation is expensive even with insurance \u2014 but his mother, Gina, still circles back to something else.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not even the money,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s knowing that they cared.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strus\u2019 sister Maggie texted on radiation days. Before a PET scan, Dylan received a video message from Boston Red Sox pitcher Liam Hendriks, himself a Hodgkin survivor, wishing him luck. The video was arranged by Strus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just shows they care,\u201d Dylan said. \u201cIt was humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Long was declared in remission in November, 18 days before his 16th birthday.<\/p>\n
On a cold night in Chicago earlier this season, Strus, Maggie and Wimmer walked into a flat on Chicago\u2019s west side. It had exposed ceilings and hardwood floors and pillars holding up beams around the space, and they were escorted into a small boardroom to hang out with a grant recipient and some teenage students.<\/p>\n
The Cavs were playing the next night against the Bulls, and Strus joined them on the trip, even though he wouldn\u2019t be able to play.<\/p>\n
No Shame On U is a Chicago-based mental health nonprofit that operates inside public schools, running workshops for middle and high school students on anxiety, depression and how to respond when a classmate says something serious.<\/p>\n
The Strus foundation awarded No Shame on You a grant in late 2025 after reviewing applications from Chicago-area nonprofits. The funding allowed No Shame to expand its school-based programming after receiving more than 150 workshop requests from more than 25 schools in just three months.<\/p>\n
In 2025, the group delivered 29 workshops reaching 871 students. With the foundation\u2019s support, it expects to reach roughly 1,700 students in the coming year and complete a Teen Mental Health Guide designed to help students and families navigate moments of crisis.<\/p>\n
When the Cavaliers were in Chicago, Strus, his sister Maggie and Wimmer visited the organization\u2019s flat to sit in on a youth leadership session. They sat at a roundtable with about a dozen students who help lead peer mental health efforts in their schools.<\/p>\n
Strus asked how many students they reached. What happens when someone says they\u2019re in crisis? How do you respond when a classmate confides something heavy?<\/p>\n
He talked about pressure \u2014 about how being a public figure doesn\u2019t eliminate anxiety. That playing in the NBA doesn\u2019t erase bad days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t just want their name on something,\u201d executive director Wendy Singer said. \u201cThey want to understand the impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
Singer said the funding from Strus\u2019 foundation would allow her to double the number of in-school workshops she holds.<\/p>\n
After one middle-school workshop, she said, a boy waited until the room cleared and asked for an extra bracelet. His sister was struggling. He wanted to give her something.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal is just to create a community for all,\u201d Strus said.<\/p>\n
Joe Vardon<\/a>\u00a0is a senior NBA writer for The Athletic, based in Cleveland.\u00a0Follow Joe on Twitter\u00a0@joevardon<\/a><\/p>\n