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A look into Kemba Walker’s experience with the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program.

Kemba Walker spent last week in Johannesburg, South Africa building homes and captaining Team World in the NBA Africa Game.

By Steve Bob Forrest
Indiana Pacers v Charlotte Hornets Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Kemba Walker cares not for borders, be they man-made or natural. Land is land; and if it has a hoop and a court, he’s gonna get buckets on it. The Charlotte Hornet’s captain spent the past week in Johannesburg, South Africa as part of the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program, which aims to basketball development and community outreach to other countries.

It appears to have been quite a meaningful and eye opening experience for Walker, quoted here from NBA.com:

“It’s been life changing and making me want to expand on my traveling, my community service work,” he said. “Building the houses put things in perspective and a super humbling experience. I texted all my friends and said that we can never complain. We live so good, we’re so fortunate. We complain about the smallest things. The people here don’t complain. They just live. I was never a big traveler. This trip brought me out of my comfort zone with that long flight. I’m not a big fan of those flights but glad I did it.”

Walker is known for letting his actions speak louder than his words, so it’s very cool to see how the experience allowed the typically soft spoken and reserved star to do both here.

Of course, there was also time for Kemba to get out and do what he does best:

Check out the RANGE. Walker can also now claim the titles of “Team World Captain” and “Intercontinental Champion” to his growing resume. Along with Dirk Nowitzki, Walker was selected as a captain for the World Team, which defeated Team Africa 108-97 on Saturday.

The exhibition marked only the second time in history that NBA players have participated in a game on the continent. Former Hornet center Bismack Biyombo also participated in the exhibition for Team Africa.

Not to read too much into an exhibition game, but the fact that Walker played at all is a great sign for the Hornets. The Charlotte Observer ran this article back on July 25th stating that Walker would travel to Johannesburg but not participate in the game itself as a precaution following knee surgery in May. But like I said before, there really isn't much that can stop Kemba from getting buckets.

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