Tommy Fleetwood on the importance of giving back and making a difference
New York City (CNN) — There is an ever-growing love story between the game of golf and basketball.
Maybe it’s the rhythm of a smooth swing mirroring the comfort of a polished jumper. Maybe it’s the chance to perform outside in front of chirping birds rather than chirping fans inside a booming arena.
For NBA champion and Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, it’s simpler than that – it’s competition.
“My dad stopped playing me one-on-one on the court, so I needed to find something else to beat him in,” Brunson told CNN Sports. “You’re still being competitive.”
Brunson’s dad, Rick Brunson, was also an NBA player and is currently an assistant coach for the New York Knicks.
“There are a lot of players around the league who bring clubs on the road when you’re going to warm cities,” the younger Brunson said. “It’s become a thing.”
The offseason especially has turned into showcase opportunities for players across social media and beyond, either casually or in tournament form.
Brunson’s annual charity golf classic fits right in. It raises money for his Second Round Foundation, which pulls on his story as a second-round draft pick to provide opportunities to “the overlooked” and stresses “success doesn’t always look like a first-round pick,” the foundation’s mission statement reads.
“You can go down so many different roads with that term,” Brunson told CNN. “I felt like I was overlooked in sport, but there are a lot of kids and people who overlooked this in life.”
He co-founded the foundation with his mom, Sandra Brunson.
“Overlooked is a term that I think many people can associate with,” but for children “everyone needs to start on the same playing field and we’re just happy to be able to help and to provide whatever resources we can,” Sandra Brunson told CNN Sports.
For the golf fundraiser, Brunson said he typically sends invites out to other players, like teammate Josh Hart, but that people also sign up on their own before his mom cut him off.
“I send the invites, OK? So if anybody didn’t get one, it’s on me,” Sandra said.
Jalen laughed and said, “I mean, I was gonna throw her under the bus anyway.”
The official game of the NBA offseason
LeBron James, whom Brunson is scheduled to be facing on opening day of the coming NBA season, is among the basketball elite attempting to climb the golfing ladder.
Others, more notoriously prolific on the course, like Steph Curry, Los Angeles Lakers star Austin Reaves, Michael Jordan, and even recently retired guard JR Smith have arguably climbed that ladder.
Curry won the 2023 American Century Classic, a premier celebrity tournament that includes many pro athletes. Reaves has a fully dedicated golf social media Instagram account, and right after retirement from the NBA, Smith joined the golf team at North Carolina A&T as a freshman walk-on.
Even Caitlin Clark and Diana Taurasi on the WNBA side have not been shy about their golf bug.
The NBA posted a video of Philadelphia 76ers star Tyrese Maxey on the course as he jokingly admitted, “I can do all this basketball with 20,000 people but golfing in front of cameras? Can’t do it.”
The PGA published an article citing specific basketball movements that “closely relate to the golf swing and golf performance,” including: free throws compared with putting, the crossover compared with the tempo change during a swing, and more.
For Brunson, though, it’s not that deep – yet.
“It can be,” he said. “But I’m getting there.”
“There’s a lot surrounding it that makes it like the perfect getaway for a lot of not just basketball players but pro athletes,” Brunson said, correctly mentioning the golf phenomenon is nowhere near limited solely to basketball.
But on how prevalent it is in the NBA, he says, “It’s definitely a good group … It’s a perfect getaway where you’re still being competitive.”
One person in the Brunson orbit who hasn’t quite been able to break into the game of golf is Jalen’s mom.
“No one in my family has ever even attempted to invite me to a golf outing to participate,” Sandra told CNN Sports.
“I haven’t seen her even touch a club,” Jalen joked. “And we’re trying to play, we’re not – this isn’t a lesson.”
“My daughter has clubs. My granddaughter has clubs, I don’t even have clubs,” Sandra said.
But it’s also the focal point of their annual charity event so she anticipates her competitiveness as a former collegiate athlete will get her there at some point.
This offseason for Jalen has meant less golf as he recovers from a wrist surgery, but it’s also meant more downtime, valuable moments with family, and even an upcoming children’s book.
Still, the first offseason as an NBA champion has been a little “hectic,” he explained, but in the end “all great problems to have.”
In about two short months, the NBA regular season will officially kick off, but if the volume of offseason golf is any indication, the competitiveness started well before that opening tip.
The-CNN-Wire
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