Baron Davis was in his element at Dyckman.
“I think this for me is match made in heaven,” the former Knicks point guard said. “It’s kids, it’s basketball, it’s the community. This is the way I grew up.”
Davis was at Monsignor Kett playground Tuesday night prior to the start of the Dyckman streetball tournament to promote PopChips. The Dyckman organization, which also runs a youth basketball program called the Dyckman Youth Enterprise, won a giveaway sponsored by the chips company in which Davis selects a cause from five finalists and hosts an event there.
PopChips provided free bags of its products and Davis signed autographs for more than 50 young players. He said he used basketball to numb him the difficult surrounding he grew up around in Los Angeles, such as gangs and drugs.
“We are all bigger than our sport and our job,” Davis said. “I truly believe where I come from, and where I came from, allowed me to be in a position to touch a lot of people’s lives.”
Davis is hoping to keep playing in the NBA, but knows he will have to sit out this season after suffering a partial tear of the patella tendon and complete tears of the MCL and ACL in his left knee during the Knicks Game 4 victory over the Heat in the first round of the playoffs. At the time, many thought it might be the end of the 33-year-old point guard’s career.
The former UCLA Bruin even committed to playing at Dyckman when he gets healthy again, that’s how strong he feels about street basketball. He pledged to bring a team of west coast all-stars to play in the event, which has become arguably the biggest outdoor tournament on the city’s streetball circuit.
“I want to do it this year,” Davis said. “Then I just want to continue to do it year after year, like the same thing I used to do at The Rucker a while back.”
Davis sported a brace under gray sweatpants and walked slowly with a cane-like crutch that went under his arm. While he described the injury as disheartening, he is motivated to get back to100 percent and come back with the Knicks in whatever role the team deems fit. After missing the start of the season with a herniated disc, he averaged 6.1 points and 4.7 assists after a signing a one-year contract with New York.
“I want to be a Knick for the rest of my career,” Davis said.