Kevin Durant opens new Downtown Oakland courts

Even in the midst of a playoff run, Golden State Warriors All-Star forward Kevin Durant found time to give back his newly adopted community Wednesday.

Along with the help of the Warriors Community Foundation, the Good Tidings Foundation, the LISC/ESPN Pilot Home Court Program and the Finish Line Youth Foundation, the Kevin Durant Community Foundation unveiled four refurbished basketball courts at the Lincoln Square Park in downtown Oakland as a part of the “Build It and They Will Ball” program.

According to Durant, the newly renovated courts will be used as a safe and clean location for youth of all ages to practice and play basketball for years to come:

“This is pretty cool, man. It’s something I’ve always dreamt of doing,”

He added:

“This is showing them that we care. Not just me, but the whole Warriors organization and the whole city of Oakland cares about them.”

Durant also spoke about his journey to the NBA and how he hopes that, by using his platform, he can help the youth in Oakland to reach their dreams, while also giving them a safe place to play.

After addressing the over 300 children and adults in attendance, Durant participated in a basketball clinic put on by the Good Tidings Foundation as they showcased the quality of the brand new courts while teaching the kids new basketball skills.

Layup, shooting, dribbling and passing stations were all parts of the hour-long basketball camp as Durant showed off his own skills at each.

The crowd roared at each shot that Durant swished and were left in dismay after seeing exactly how skilled and graceful the, 7-foot-tall forward was up close.

As the event was not open to the public, fans gathered along the perimeter of the fenced-in courts in hopes of capturing a glimpse of Golden State’s newest athletic attraction in Durant.

By revitalizing the courts at Lincoln Square Park, it becomes one of several locations in which the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation has cleaned up.

Courts in Oklahoma City; Austin, Texas; Seattle; Seat Pleasant, Maryland; Washington, D.C.; Berlin, Germany; and Guangzhou, China are already open and Durant says there are plans for more:

“We’re going to continue to keep looking and find areas to help, but we’ve got them all over the country, all over the world now. We want to keep giving.”