{"id":175029,"date":"2026-02-12T13:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/175029\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T13:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:57:11","slug":"lakers-deandre-ayton-makes-it-special-day-for-kids-at-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/175029\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers’ Deandre Ayton makes it special day for kids at camp"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The kids lined up on the basketball court at the National Basketball Players Assn.<\/a> facility last week, groups on two sides with smiles on their faces, all of them patiently extending their arms as they waited for their guest to arrive.<\/p>\n

When Lakers<\/a> center Deandre Ayton<\/a> peered through the glass and saw those kids, he smiled and shook his head before entering the gym. He slowly walked down the line by each kid, doing his best to slap every hand or to at least make eye contact with them.<\/p>\n

This was a basketball clinic Ayton and his Ayton Family Foundation<\/a> had been inspired to do in partnership with the NBPA, an event that the Jamaican and Bahamian Consulates aided by sending about 50 kids to participate in on-court activities and a dinner on behalf of Ayton and his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt fills me, for real, just seeing their smiles,\u201d Ayton said. \u201cAnd me being out there. You saw me going at it against one of them. He\u2019s about 6-4 and he tried to get at me. I\u2019m like, \u2018Whoa \u2026 Whoa. Bro. I got to keep these legs strong.\u2019 In about 10 years, they are going to be knocking me over. They are ready and I\u2019m loving it and they\u2019re so hip to the game and they know the terminology so I just loved it, man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of those kids got to see Ayton playing center for the Lakers against the Brooklyn Nets on Feb. 3 at Barclays Center.<\/p>\n

They saw Ayton at his efficient best, shooting three for five from the field for seven points to go along with eight rebounds and three assists.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers center Deandre Ayton (center) elevates for a dunk against the Raptors.<\/p>\n

(Kyusung Gong \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

On the Lakers recent eight-game trip, Ayton seemingly made every shot. He was six-for-six shooting with 13 points against the New York Knicks<\/a> and 12-for-14 shooting with 28 points against the Washington Wizards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shooting a high percentage has been the essence of Ayton\u2019s season \u2014 he is making 67.5% of his shots, the second-best mark in the NBA. He\u2019s averaging 13.2 points and 8.5 rebounds.<\/p>\n

So, sharing his wisdom with the kids about the game of basketball was cathartic for Ayton.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust having guys in my position visiting these camps, they don\u2019t know how much they are doing for them, just to be in their presence and in their environment. Just giving a kid a high-five, you could feel the power and the energy of how excited they are,\u201d Ayton said. \u201cThey are on you like white on rice, watching your every move, wanting to know what you say, and it\u2019s just so inspiring because I was just like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were guys that came and visited the camps when I was growing up in the Bahamas and just being inspired by them and wanting to know who are they and why they are so good to make it look so easy. It\u2019s nothing to me to come back here and do it. That\u2019s just who I am. I want to let them know that they can do it as well and however they grew up, everybody can move on from that and be motivated, self-motivated as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers spent four days in New York while playing the Knicks and Nets. Ayton could have been doing anything he wanted in the city during two days off.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers center Deandre Ayton shoots short-range shot against the Wizards.<\/p>\n

(Nick Wass \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Yet, he chose to use some of his free time to help run a camp for youths, some of whom probably can\u2019t afford to attend one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t going to lie. It\u2019s just I don\u2019t have a reason why I\u2019m doing it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just something that I wanted to do. I found that it was the time and the right time as well to be in New York City and just how the culture is out here as well. So, they know how the Jamaican, Caribbean people are. I don\u2019t know. Just having the NBPA behind me and the headquarters being here. I think it was just the right spot, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Jean, the NBPA associate vice president for Elite Youth & Basketball Activation, encourages all their members to give back to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just highlights who he is as a player and as a person,\u201d Jean said about Ayton. \u201cHe\u2019s doing a lot of great things in Jamaica and the Bahamas and in his community like that. So, it just makes us all feel better and easier to support him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ayton won the NBA Cares Bob Lanier Community Assist Award for November 2025, recognized for his philanthropic efforts in providing hurricane relief in Jamaica and supporting youth in L.A.<\/p>\n

Ayton said his mom, Andrea Ayton, is the backbone of his family and that she was always doing community work and helping others in the Bahamas.<\/p>\n

His efforts are an extension of his mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, mom started all that, that giving stuff, that just feeding the village, being that leader by action,\u201d Ayton said. \u201cI would say her love language was caring and feeding tummies, whether you\u2019re hungry or not, it didn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s just her basically showing her love and it got to this point to where we\u2019re doing more than that. We\u2019re on a platform and a position where we\u2019re so blessed. We can help people financially as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Ayton started the drills with the kids at the clinic, dignitaries from the Jamaican and Bahamian Consulates presented Ayton with a proclamation, thanking him for his generosity and kindness.<\/p>\n

It made his day that more emotional.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was stretching in the hallway and stuff like that when I saw the executives and meeting them, I said, \u2018Yo, this is bigger than I thought. This just not no camp,\u2019\u2018\u2019 Ayton said. \u201cAnd then this speech and I was just like, \u2018Yo, I feel so special.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a moment I\u2019m not going to forget as well, everybody just thanking me. It was a lot. It was overwhelming. I\u2019m not going to lie. That was an overwhelming moment that I\u2019m going to truly embrace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The kids lined up on the basketball court at the National Basketball Players Assn. facility last week,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[18125,36614,2454,74150,7375,83482,179,20294,21896,3410,48,52,51,1415,47,50,49,13504,1417,83481,7164],"class_list":["post-175029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ayton","tag-bahamas","tag-basketball","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-camp","tag-chris-jean","tag-community","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-jamaica","tag-kid","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lakers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-point","tag-special-day","tag-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}