NBA star Russell Westbrook scoring big with own philanthropy

Russell Westbrook is known for his magic on the basketball court, his finely honed fashion sense and his media interviews that have spawned memes and GIFs across social media.

A nine-time NBA AllStar and former star at UCLA, Westbrook has also channeled his energies into an offthe-court pursuit long important to him: Philanthropy.

Last month, he unveiled plans to expand his Russell Westbrook Why Not? Foundation and his enterprise firm, Russell Westbrook Enterprises. The expansion will focus on education and investments in finance and other areas that are intended to aid underserved communities.

As the 32-year-old point guard settles into his first season with the Washington Wizards, Westbrook says he plans to continue his philanthropic work full time once his playing days are over — whenever that may be.

The Associated Press spoke recently with Westbrook about his philanthropy and other work. The interview was edited for clarity and length.

Q: The name of your foundation is called The Russell Westbrook Why Not? Foundation. Why that name?

A: Why Not is like my mantra and attitude. It’s the mindset I was able to instill at a young age. A few buddies of mine came up with the mindset, and it got me through adversity and naysayers. It instilled confidence in me to believe, “Why not me? — why not be the person to change this?” That’s something I try to spread throughout the world, with basketball as my platform. Alongside that, making sure I use it in the community to give back as well. That’s where the Russell Westbrook Why Not? Foundation originated. I wanted to have a positive, strong message to give to people and our youth. To give them a sense of confidence and swagger when they see the Why Not? Foundation.

Q: You recently partnered with the LA Promise Fund to launch the Russell Westbrook Why Not? Academy in Los Angeles. What are you aiming to do with that project, and are you planning to expand it to other cities, like Washington, D.C.?

A: It’s a blessing to be able to partner with the LA Promise Fund. It’s such an amazing partnership when given the opportunity to help our underserved communities, especially in education, given that I started my foundation around education. It was an amazing opportunity to get in the middle and high school: To create curriculums, to help after high school and in job creation. Finding ways to give better education to our youth and underserved communities — proper books and the good things other schools have. And internships for people. When you grow up in the inner city, like myself, you understand how the schools in the city are not as good as the schools outside of the city.

That’s something I wanted to make sure my foundation and I took control over, especially in our education system. To start with Los Angeles, and hopefully in the years to come there’s opportunity to create somewhere else. Los Angeles was something I wanted to wrap my hands around since I’m from there. I wanted to make sure I have resources for inner-city kids, so they have somewhere to go where they can feel they have the resources they need in job creation and even with mental health. And, obviously, having the best education provided for them.

Q: You are also partnering with Varo, the online bank, to create financial literacy programs and also joined forces with businessman Chad Brownstein to invest in renewable resources and other areas. Is there a reason you’re focusing on these areas? How do you see it fitting into your overall philanthropic work?

A: Chad is a UCLA alum, which is where we created our connection. The biggest thing that I always try to connect with somebody on is: What do they want to do for the underserved communities?

Chad had already done a lot of work in underserved communities. We had conversations on what we can better do to help those communities in Los Angeles. We’ve been able to create different vehicles and partnerships. We just did a partnership with Varo to help in financial literacy and find ways to impact our financial system, which has been plagued over many years, especially for the underserved and people of color. That’s the area I want to tap into with the help of people that have the same goals and visions. There’s been such a huge disparity in our financial system. In order to close that gap, you have to be able to put systems in place and partner with the right people to help underserved communities. Because that’s who gets hurt the most — especially African American communities. Those are the people that don’t create family wealth or generational wealth. I want to make sure I have something in place. So I partnered with Varo, because they understand how important it is to serve the underserved and the unbanked. I’m excited about creating a curriculum and strategy. We’re in a process of trying to figure out exactly what that is. But I want to make sure I lead the way.

Q: You’re producing a documentary about the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. How did your years playing with the Oklahoma City Thunder influence you and what you learned about this event?

A: I was in Oklahoma for 11 years and kind of grew up in Oklahoma City. I wanted to understand more about the origins of Oklahoma and Tulsa. I had been going to Tulsa almost every season, and I had a camp in Tulsa. I heard about Black Wall Street but never really dived into it or understood the impact of the people and community.

Once I was able to learn the history and dive more deep into it, I was in shock. It’s truly sad what happened to all the business and African Americans and people of color that had their businesses wiped away. Now, more than ever, I want to be able to show how history can affect our future. To make sure we understand our history and know that there were people that paved the way and had to struggle and things were taken away from them. I want to be able to share that with the world and the significance of Black Wall Street.

Q: What are you thinking about for your future philanthropic work? A: The overarching theme of my enterprise, foundation and everything I do is for the underserved communities. Every aspect of my business, whether it’s financial literacy, education or anywhere I work — I’m always focused on giving our underserved communities access and resources to be able to educate themselves and do anything they want to do in this world.

Gonzaga and Baylor spent almost the entire season holding down the top two spots in the Top 25. Makes sense they’d hold down a bunch of spots on The Associated Press All-America teams.

The Bulldogs’ Corey Kispert and the Bears’ Jared Butler led the way with first-team nods Tuesday from the national panel of 63 media members that vote each week in the AP Top 25 poll. They were joined by unanimous pick Luka Garza of Iowa, a twotime selection, along with Ayo Dosunmu of Illinois and Cade Cunningham of Oklahoma State.

Kispert and Butler had plenty of company, though.

The Bulldogs also landed big man Drew Timme and freshman sensation Jalen Suggs on the second team while Joel Ayayi was an honorable mention pick. The Bears had Davion Mitchell on the third team and MaCio Teague as an honorable mention. “Thinking about me as a freshman coming to Baylor and not knowing what I’m getting myself into, having no expectations for how well I’m going to be or how good I’m going to be — it means a lot to come full circle,” said Butler, the Big 12 player of the year and a third-team AllAmerican last season. It is the first time Baylor, which earned a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament, has had a first-team All-American.

“These awards are just team awards,” said Butler, who withdrew from the NBA draft to return for his junior year. “I wouldn’t be here without my teammates just playing with me and giving me confidence. It’s been nice.”

Kispert also withdrew from the draft and also led his team to a No. 1 overall seed, along with helping the Bulldogs finish a perfect regular season. He joined Dan Dickau, Adam Morrison and Kelly Olynyk as first-team All-Americans from Gonzaga.

“He’s the epitome of a college athlete. He’s a poster child for the term student-athlete, great student, great ambassador for the program, our school and college athletics in general,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “It’s all been because of the work, the time he’s put in, and his growth physically and mentally. He’s just an unbelievable guy.”

So is Garza, the brilliant big man from Iowa, who came up two votes of being a unanimous choice last season. In fact, he’s been so dominant that the school’s career scoring leader will have his No. 55 jersey retired at the end of the season. “He’s the focal point of every defense every time we take the floor. The more tape that’s on him, the tougher that gets for him,” Hawkeyes coach Fran McCaffery said. “So I just have been really impressed with his relentlessness to continue to improve and to handle anything that comes his way.” Like the Hawkeyes, the Fighting Illini had never had a first-team pick until Dosunmu came along. The two-time All-Big Ten guard led them to the conference tournament title last weekend and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tourney. Joining those veterans — seniors Garza and Kispert, juniors Butler and Dosunmu — is Cunningham, the favorite to be chosen first overall in the NBA draft. The calm freshman forward helped engineer an upset of Baylor in the Big 12 tourney and will lead the fourthseeded Cowboys into the NCAA Tournament.

“Oklahoma State, last year wasn’t the year that they were proud of,” Cunningham said, “but I know there’s a bunch of guys that wanted to win and were going to do everything that it took to win. So having a group of guys like that, with the coach we have and staff we have, that’s what I want to surround myself with.”

SECOND TEAM While the first team was full of upperclassmen, the second team belonged to college basketball’s youth.

There was Suggs, the freshman who led Gonzaga to high-profile wins over Kansas and Iowa early in the season, and Timme, the sophomore who went from key reserve to crucial starter for the West Coast Conference champs. Joining them were a trio of post players: Kofi Cockburn of Illinois, Hunter Dickinson of Michigan and Evan Mobley of USC.

“Very proud of Evan, his development,” Trojans coach Andy Enfield. “He’s really improved as a player throughout the season and we are going to need him to play at a high level starting the end of this week.” THIRD TEAM Baylor’s Mitchell was joined on the third team by Quentin Grimes, the highscoring guard from Houston; Herb Jones of Alabama; Cameron Krutwig of midmajor darling Loyola Chicago; and Chris Duarte of Oregon. Just like the firstand second-team All-Americans, their teams also will be playing in the NCAA Tournament this week.

“You never want to take winning for granted,” said Krutwig, a member of the Ramblers team that reached the Final Four in 2018. “We put a lot of hard work into it. But we were sitting there saying, ‘There’s so much more to go.’”