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James Harden donates $240k+ to renovate Houston basketball courts

By Tevin Williams

NBA Superstar and 2018 MVP James Harden visited Manila to promote his latest shoe, the Adidas Harden 5. He had the opportunity to meet and interact with the media from Manila, as well as thousands of his fans who gathered at the SMX Convention Center, MOA for his Free to Harden Manila event. (Photo by Dennis Jerome Acosta/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
NBA Superstar and 2018 MVP James Harden visited Manila to promote his latest shoe, the Adidas Harden 5. He had the opportunity to meet and interact with the media from Manila, as well as thousands of his fans who gathered at the SMX Convention Center, MOA for his Free to Harden Manila event. (Photo by Dennis Jerome Acosta/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) /
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Houston Rockets superstar James Harden will donate over $240k to renovate basketball courts in Houston as part of his weekend charity event.

James Harden is one of the NBA’s premier superstars and is a former MVP, but more importantly, he’s also a star off the court.

During his JH Town Weekend of charity event, Harden announced that he would donate over $240k to renovate basketball courts in the city of Houston that were damaged in Hurricane Harvey.

This isn’t the first time that Harden has made a big donation to help underserved communities, as he also donated $1 million in 2017 after Hurricane Harvey made landfall.

Harden told those in attendance that he wanted to renovate outdoor basketball courts because kids should be outside having fun instead of being on social media or playing video games all day, via Ben Dubose of the Rockets Wire.

“Nowadays, everything is so social media-based, kids aren’t outside playing anymore. They’re on their phone or playing video games. No, [they] need to be active and have fun, and be kids. Courts is just the beginning. My ultimate goal is to change Houston and make it better.”

“Obviously the hurricane affected this area greatly, and so this is one of the reasons why I wanted to bring some positive energy and some light on this community. It’s baby steps, but we’re going to get there. In a few years, we’re going to change this city around and make it legendary.”

James Harden explains his $240,000+ donation (via @_3thehardenway foundation) to the City of Houston to renovate basketball courts in underserved communities. #Rockets pic.twitter.com/GVIWrqOkje

— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) August 24, 2019

At the event, held in Tuffy Park, more than 100 local children received new bicycles. In addition to this event, Harden gave $10k to a family in the Bahamas that was fishing for food earlier this month.

Next. Why Ric Flair is Right About James Harden’s MVP Snub

James Harden is entering into his eighth season with the Rockets and the city of Houston has really embraced him as one of their own. It’s great to see Harden giving back so freely to communities in need both in the Houston area and around the world.

Last season, The Beard averaged a league leading 36.1 points to go along with 6.6 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game. The Rockets managed to win 53 games and make it to the Western Conference Semifinals, however, Houston has even bigger expectations for next season after making a trade for Russell Westbrook.

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