Holly Harris and her son enjoyed the skills challenge as much as the NBA All-Star game.
She will never think any basketball experience is quite as special as a game in Rupp Arena, but Kentucky graduate Holly Harris also believes the NBA all-star game should be a “bucket list” item for any true basketball fan.
“There is no chance I am missing the 2024 (NBA all-star game). We will be there. Just going for the activities around the game is worth it,” said Harris.
She was in Salt Lake City with her 11-year-old son, Harris. She describes him as a “sophisticated” basketball fan who loves the Wildcats but also collects sports cards and knows statistics of many current and former NBA players.
Harris was on a “work” trip. She is founder/president of the Network, an organization that connects lawmakers, fosters bipartisan cooperation on evidence-based solutions, and works with top philanthropists and advocates to create platforms.
“The head of the NBA social justice coalition is a good friend and I help them with bipartisan federal legislative priorities like the Equal Act which aims to correct the disparity between punishment for crack and cocaine possession which is one of the worst racial injustices in society,” Harris, who commutes between Lexington and Washington, D.C. “Lawmakers across the spectrum support the legislation and it is also endorsed by the NBA.
“It was just icing on the cake to bring my kid out here and let him hear about sports and see these NBA players and former NBA stars.”
Harris and her son got to join former NBA greats like Sam Perkins, Dominique Wilkins and Gary Payton to pack 20,000 pounds of goods for the Utah Food Bank.
“My son will always remember that service project,” Holly Harris said. “The players did not just show up, but they rolled up their sleeves and went to work. I have never seen my son so fired up for a service project. I have never seen him work so hard.”
They also went to a brunch and heard stories about former NBA star Bill Russell and other former players.
“So many older players faced so many challenges. Karl Malone cried talking about John Stockton never giving up on him. Harris and I were both in tears. I am so glad Harris got to hear those stories from older players so he knows the history and not just the statistics he reads,” Holly Harris, a former reporter for WKYT-TV in Lexington, said.
Her son is a huge Tyler Herro fan and enjoyed seeing him in the 3-point contest. They have been to other NBA games and are Milwaukee Bucks fans.
“The skills challenge was the most fun. The 3-point and dunking contests are not things I really like but we got to watch history when Max McClung won the dunk contest,” Holly Harris, 46, said.
He was the first G League player to participate — he was on a two-contract with the Sixers and had played in only two NBA games — but stunned the crowd.
“When Max did his second dunk the entire area stood up for him. We got to watch history. I told my son, ‘Mommy can’t buy his jersey for you tonight but we can in the morning.’ Of course, we ordered one. I had never seen anything like it,” Holly Harris said. “If I walked down the street in Lexington I would not have looked at him twice. Watching what he achieved was great for my son to see. He proved you don’t have to be 6-10 and enormous to do incredible things.”
Holly Harris said when anyone found out they were from Kentucky the talk always shifted to how many UK players were in the NBA.
“People just see Kentuckians are part of a basketball dynasty,” she said. “Everything about the weekend was great. We know great basketball so it is hard to impress us but I got to meet Dr. J (Julius Erving) and he could not have been nicer.
“The older generation of NBA players is so kind and they are all great with kids. I do hope this generation of players learns from that and appreciates what their actions means to kids like my son. Not one of those older players said no to any autograph or picture request that I saw. They talked to the kids.
“Some active players will walk by kids and not even acknowledge them. The current players are pretty sequestered but it is still a great weekend and I would encourage any basketball fan to find a way to go to an NBA all-star weekend.”
One Response
Great article about my daughter & my grandson.💙