{"id":227313,"date":"2026-03-30T18:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/227313\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T18:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:24:12","slug":"michael-finleys-annual-charity-event-includes-celebrity-guests-dirk-nowitzki-dwight-powell-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/227313\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Finley’s annual charity event includes celebrity guests Dirk Nowitzki, Dwight Powell and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Finley took a short break from his duties as co-interim general manager of the Mavericks<\/a> on Sunday to host his annual charity event at the iCompete Experience in Lewisville.<\/p>\n

Several of Finley\u2019s celebrity friends were scattered throughout the 30,000 square-foot virtual sports center as part of the \u201cFin & Friends iCompete Experience<\/a>,” an interactive and team-based event designed to benefit The Michael Finley Foundation.<\/p>\n

Dirk Nowitzki, Finley\u2019s longtime friend and former teammate, quickly found the basketball court and tested his iconic jumpshot, which still looks as smooth as it did during his 21-year NBA career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m in town, I always support him,\u201d Nowitzki said. \u201cHe always supports my tennis classics. It\u2019s good to be out here and have some fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fun was the theme of the night, as was raising funds for the foundation\u2019s flagship program, G.I.F.T.4.S., an academic and life-skills accelerator program that provides students and their families with training and skills to achieve their goals. The event, a change in pace from the foundation\u2019s annual poker tournament, also included live karaoke, bowling, darts and a live auction that included autographed sports memorabilia.<\/p>\n

Finley said his foundation has raised around $150,000 annually over the last eight years, which allows him to give back to the Dallas community in a way he couldn\u2019t have predicted growing up as a kid in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a blessing,\u201d Finley said. \u201cI could never imagine growing up that I would have this opportunity to touch these kids\u2019 lives, to touch these families\u2019 lives the way that I\u2019m doing,\u201d he said. \u201cBasketball and playing here in Dallas has given me a great platform to do that and I\u2019m just trying to take full advantage of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toward the front of the complex was Mavericks veteran Dwight Powell, who stepped outside of his norm as a basketball player and participated in the simulation baseball activities. Mavericks forward Caleb Martin practiced his golf swing on the other side of the building. Mavericks assistant coach Popeye Jones, a two-time teammate of Finley in 1996 and the 2002-03 season, was also in attendance, trying his best in the axe throwing competition. Devin Harris and former Cowboys defensive end Charles Haley were also on hand.<\/p>\n

It was Nowitzki, who drew the largest amount of attention, and he posed for pictures and signed autographs throughout the night. Finley is a regular at Nowitzki\u2019s annual celebrity tennis classic, so it was appropriate to show up.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a great supporter of mine early on,\u201d Nowitzki said of Finley. \u201cI was struggling and he was always there for me. He was my role model, him and Steve [Nash], when I first got here. That\u2019s how I learned. Have a foundation. Support the community. \u2026 The sports world is a tight knit community. We help each other out at events and make them successful. It means the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Finley took a short break from his duties as co-interim general manager of the Mavericks on Sunday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,4281],"class_list":{"0":"post-227313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news","11":"tag-mavericks"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}