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The Golden State Warriors unveiled newly refurbished basketball courts at Mosswood Park in Oakland on Thursday, part of the team's continued investment in safe spaces for youth in the East Bay. The unveiling featured two NBA champions, Hall of Famer and Oakland native Gary Payton Sr, and Festus Ezeli, who helped cut the ribbon and lead a ceremonial tip-off with kids from the city’s Studio One Arts Center.
"Many years ago, before you guys were even born, I was playing on this playground at probably your age or a little older," Payton told a group of children gathered at the court. He recalled how this very park shaped his game and his character. "Especially being here from Oakland, California - in my day it was really, really rough to come out here and try to play friendly," Payton said. "People would want to get you and things like that, but you had to have that gut and that toughness."
Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton II and former Warrior Juan Toscano-Anderson, both Oakland natives, helped organize a massive back-to-school giveaway at Fremont High School. Through their respective nonprofits, the GPII Foundation and Journey to Achieve, the players gave away 2,000 backpacks, along with school supplies, free haircuts and more.
"This will always be my home, and so I don't want to be just a taker. I've taken so much from Oakland and I just want to continue to give back," said Toscano-Anderson. "That's the whole point of this, just to give them everything they need, materials they need for their families and, most importantly, for them, so they can succeed," said Payton.
Call All-Star Weekend the NBA’s gift, likely its last, to Oakland. Some adored Oracle, now Oakland Arena, because it was theirs, they felt the love and they knew it was genuine. “It’s pretty dope,” said Stephen Curry, whom the crowd showered with rich cheers upon his return to the room where he and the Warriors routinely destroyed visitors.
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As part of the 2025 NBA All-Star Festivities, the Morehouse College Athletics Maroon Tigers and Tuskegee University Golden Tigers faced off Saturday in the fourth annual NBA HBCU Classic presented by AT&T at Oakland Arena in Oakland, Calif. Tuskegee was able to hang on in the end, defeating Morehouse 68-55. Tuskegee’s Kusamae Draper led the Golden Tigers with 22 points, while Kevin Sesberry and D’Anthony Pennington added 19 and 16 points, respectively.
The announcement of the facility came as the next step in Brown's roughly year-old Xchange program that started between Boston and Oakland, receiving support locally in either city from Jrue Holiday and Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd. While he aims to expand to other cities, the program ties to his college and professional homes as his fourth all-star berth brought him back to his short yet impactful stay in the Bay Area. Brown fondly remembers the connection he built around Oakland, an internship with a venture capital firm and many have told the story of the graduate level classes he attended at Cal. While rarely able to visit the area anymore, his alignment with local leaders allowed for a partnership.
Local businessman Shawn Granberry, who hosted Friday's event at Oakstop, connected Brown and Trevor Parham, an Oakland activist who founded Oakstop in the spirit of what Xchange became roughly one decade before Brown's idea. They merged the two to form the Oakland leg of Xchange and have worked together since to form the business district that will serve as an incubator for development. Brown stressed utilizing A.I. to streamline processes, make business formation more accessible and formulate marketing strategies. "Our building at 1721 Broadway has three levels," Parham said. "On those three levels, we have a mix of spaces that are used to for training and events, and they also have office spaces and open co-working spaces, and what we plan to do is we also plan to renovate that building with a whole bunch of new offices that can serve that incubator function. So the overall idea is that you have a building that simultaneously houses nonprofits that can provide education and learning to organizations and individuals, but then you also have office spaces that can house those folks that are building those businesses."
Damian Lillard plays for the Milwaukee Bucks. On Thursday, the Oakland native visited his high school and his neighborhood recreation center. He said he wanted to do something that would make a difference to his community. "This is the rec center I grew up coming to every day. This is where home is," said Lillard. The NBA star held court at Ira Jinkins Recreation Center in the heart of East Oakland.
Cameron Tabatabaie: Celtics star Jaylen Brown will be one of a handful of folks to be honored in Oakland during All-Star Weekend @Oakstop_ @oaklandxchange pic.x.com/OHNueZRrNT
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Through their Eat. Learn. Play. program, the Currys stunned more than 200 Oakland students at Madison Park Academy with their presence at a holiday celebration that included painting, a petting zoo, food, a bounce house and an appearance by the Warriors girls and their deejay D-Sharp. During the event, Eat. Learn. Play. announced its newest initiative to renovate elementary school libraries throughout Oakland Unified School District, beginning in 2025 with Madison Park Academy. The program is also renovating the playground at the elementary school.
The Currys started Eat. Learn. Play. in 2019 with the aim of improving the lives of children and families, primarily in Oakland. The focus has been on giving every child in need access to nutritious food, resources to learn and enjoy reading, and safe and beautiful places to engage in physical fitness. Five years into the Oakland-based program, the Currys see the dividends of their beloved labor paying off, as evidenced by the young girl’s appreciation.
For one extreme example of the impact a new arena can have, consider the Warriors, the NBA’s most valuable team for the third straight year, who posted an estimated $440 million in local revenue in 2018-19, their last year at Oracle Arena in Oakland. Last season, Golden State racked up more than $700 million in local revenue at its new home, the Chase Center in San Francisco. The club’s total revenue, including central league revenue and netting out arena debt service and revenue sharing, hit $800 million in 2023-24. Only four other teams in the world—the Dallas Cowboys, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Barcelona—have reached that milestone.
Aside from the KG and Payton stories, Richardson delved into quite a bit including his days with the Warriors. Of all the things he remembers most, it is the fans! “The fans in Oakland and the whole Bay Area are very loyal to the Warriors,” he said. “Especially during those years of losing and they showed up EVERY night. They were always cheering us on and they just gave me so much energy. So every time I think of The Bay, the first thing I think about is those fans and how loyal they were to us during those losing years. So it’s good that Klay, Steph and Draymond come in and get to those winning ways and winning four championships with KD also; that’s what those fans deserve because they’re a very loyal fan base.”
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