You could pretty much see Kenneth Faried’s smile through the phone.
NBA players Nikola Vucevic of Orlando Magic, left, with Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets dribble the ball during their practice on Friday for their NBA Africa Game at Ellis Park Arena in Johannesburg, South Africa. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
From Denver to his hometown in New Jersey to his current whereabouts in Johannesburg in South Africa, he loves this stuff. Interaction with kids fills his heart. Really fills it. This particular trip, which culminates on Saturday when he and a group of other stars play in the first-ever NBA game in Africa, has meant even more.
“We visited one of the villages,” said Faried in a conference call on Friday with The Denver Post and Nuggets.com. “That’s been the best experience for me thus far. Basically they love us and everything about us, and going to this village, it’s been a whole another experience. These kids really don’t have much. The way I look at my life and the things I have in my life it’s just a blessing. They really don’t have nearly as much as most kids have in the States that live in urban areas. Like where I grew up, I lived in a bad area but I had more than probably some of these kids will ever see.
“And they are just happy with being able to have clean water and a roof over their heads and shoes to walk in. So that was amazing in itself, and I’m at a loss for words for all of that. I couldn’t do nothing but smile all day and be happy because these kids make you feel happy about life. And I’m just so blessed to have these kids show me a side of me that I never knew existed.”
Faried and the other NBA players, many of whom have African roots, are there as part of the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program. And there are plenty of folks there with Nuggets ties. Former general manager Masai Ujiri is there and has always been active in the program. Former Nuggets assistant Patrick Mutombo is there as is current Nuggets assistant Ed Pinckney.
The game will be played on Saturday (7 a.m. MT, ESPN) at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
But that game is secondary in Faried’s mind.
“It means so much to me because I’m in a (situation) where I can talk to a million people, and to me if I can change one person’s life or one person’s point of view of what they think, or if somebody is having a bad day and I can change that person’s whole day around, or whole life around… that to me is enough reward,” Faried said. “Just to change one person’s life.”
It has also given Faried a chance to explore his own roots. What he’s found out is that he’s half African and half Jamaican, something he was not aware of until recently.
“It was just amazing for me when I first got here,” Faried said. “Just to touch ground on somewhere that’s basically part of me because my father’s side of the family is African. … It’s just nice for me after all these years and all of this time come back and basically explore my true roots.”
Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com
