A former hoops prodigy is giving back to the younger generation.
Kyrie Irving, the West Orange, New Jersey native turned Duke recruit, Olympic gold medalist and NBA Finals star with the Cleveland Cavaliers, helped make a dream come true for an eight-year-old basketball sensation.
Jahlil Owusu wanted to play on the Riverside Hawks, an AAU travel team in New York City, but his parents couldn’t afford the costs. According to The Score, Owusu set up a GoFundMe account with a goal of reaching $2,500 in donations.
Irving blew that out of the water with a $6,500 donation.
Owusu took to Instagram to thank the NBA All-Star.
Big thanks to big bro @kyrieirving for the huge support!!! And all those who donated!!! I won’t let you’ll down,I’m going to keep working hard in school and on the court until my dream becomes a reality! [?] [?]swipe to see more[?] [?] @espn @nba @slamonline @nikebasketball #JahlilOwusu #JahSwish #BasketballNeverStops #BallisLife #BooksIsLife #8yearsOld
A post shared by [?] [?] JAH SWISH[?] [?] (@jahswish) on Feb 23, 2017 at 11:53am PST
Owusu captioned the Instagram with the following: “Big thanks to big bro @kyrieirving for the huge support!!! And all those who donated!!! I won’t let you’ll down, I’m going to keep working hard in school and on the court until my dream becomes a reality!”
Kyrie said get em…imma get em! Motivated to work even harder. @riversidehawksnyc 9u let’s get it! @kyrieirving rooting for us! Road to AAU nationals 2017. [?] [?]swipe to see more[?] [?] #JahSwish #JumpshotJah #DemRiversideBoys #RiversideHawks #9u #BasketballNeverStops #BallisLife #8yearsOld
A post shared by [?] [?] JAH SWISH[?] [?] (@jahswish) on Feb 23, 2017 at 9:31pm PST
During Irving’s youth, he played on an AAU team in New Jersey called the RoadRunners.
The former No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft played high school basketball at St. Patrick in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Joe Giglio may be reached at jgiglio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeGiglioSports. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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