Rumors

New York Knicks forward MarJon Beauchamp brought his love for basketball and mentorship to the Navajo Nation, co-hosting a two-day youth basketball camp at Tuba City High School on July 28–29. Over 300 youth participated in the camp, which was a collaboration between Beauchamp, Navajo sports event coordinator Lynette Lewis, and Native Lands Insurance. The camp marked a first-of-its-kind event in Tuba City, driven by a shared vision to uplift Native youth through sports and community.

nhonews.com

Martinez comes from sacred land, born and raised in the Navajo Nation. He graduated from Arizona’s Window Rock High School, which typically has fewer than 600 students, in 1985. A sports fan and participant from youth, Martinez envisioned himself among those same people he watched on television. Those NBA creatures of fantasy, though, are now within arm’s reach nightly. Martinez bumps knuckles with them regularly. He considers himself one of them. He is one of them. “I just made it in a different way,” Martinez said. Martinez is the Pistons’ director of game entertainment. What does that mean? He is the orchestrator of the game within the game. The music, the dancers, those guys who need a trampoline to dunk a basketball, the drum line, the lighting, the video-board graphics, those “DEFENSE!” chants that build up throughout the course of a 48-minute contest, Martinez is the brainchild behind it all.

The Athletic