NBA Cares is celebrating their 20th anniversary this season. The late Hall of Famer and NBA Cares Ambassador Bob Lanier helped launch the initiative in 2005.
With the 2025-2026 NBA season underway, the NBA is celebrating the 20th anniversary of NBA Cares – the league’s global social impact initiative launched in 2005 to unite its community efforts under one umbrella and amplify the positive impact of teams and players off the court.
Two decades later, NBA Cares continues to prove that the power of basketball extends far beyond the hardwood.
“When we started NBA Cares, we were looking for something that would connect the entire NBA family – something that would help players find their passions to give back, and also create opportunities for our colleagues, coaches, former players, and families to do the same,” said Kathy Behrens, NBA President of Social Responsibility and Player Programs.
“We really believed in the ethos of giving back but needed a program that would elevate the work that our players and teams were doing, and we felt like NBA Cares could be that umbrella.”
NBA Joel Embiid, Johni Broome and VJ Edgecombe of the Philadelphia 76ers interact with the kids during the Social Impact Clinic as part of 2025 NBA Global Games Abu Dhabi.
Over the past two decades, the NBA has partnered with organizations such as Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the American Red Cross, Make-A-Wish, KultureCity, Special Olympics, YMCA and many more — creating programs that make a difference wherever the league has a footprint.
That presence includes NBA cities across the U.S. and Canada as well as being a part of league events held around the world, such as NBA All-Star, Global Games, Basketball without Borders, NBA Finals, Draft, Summer League and the NBA Cup.
“NBA Cares is not just about our team markets,” said Behrens. “There’s a need everywhere, and we can help meet that need especially as we work to grow the game on a global scale.”
Earlier this month, while in Abu Dhabi, the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers engaged local youth in a series of community activations. The 76ers participated in a basketball clinic and the Knicks helped students learn about environmental sustainability and design. While in Macao, the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns teamed up for a youth basketball clinic and health packing initiative.
The recent efforts in Abu Dhabi and Macao have added to the millions of hours of hands-on service over the history of NBA Cares, as well as the creation of more than 2,500 places where kids and families can live, learn or play.
During the season, NBA Cares initiatives will continue during several key events: the NBA Mexico City Game (Nov. 1), the Emirates NBA Cup semifinals and championship in Las Vegas (Dec. 13–16), and the league-wide Season of Giving campaign, which sees teams host local events throughout November and December.
That’s just through the remainder of the 2025 calendar year. Once we flip to 2026, there are two more Global Games in Berlin and London in January, followed by NBA All-Star in Los Angeles in February, which will see the annual NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service continue a tradition that calls back to the initiative’s founding.
Reggie Miller goes all hands in with volunteers during the first-ever NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service in New Orleans in 2008.
NBA Cares launched on Oct. 18, 2005 – less than two months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and surrounding areas in August 2005.
In 2008, the league brought NBA All-Star to New Orleans, the city’s first major sporting event after Katrina. Not only was it an important step in New Orleans’ recovery, it also provided an opportunity for the NBA family – from players to coaches, executives and employees – to roll up their collective sleeves and lend a hand in that recovery.
“NBA Cares is about doing something meaningful,” said Behrens. “It is about participating and really making a difference. It’s not watching, it’s not just writing a check. Although philanthropy is incredibly important, and nonprofit organizations need money to do the work that they do, NBA Cares, at its core, is about giving everyone an opportunity to be involved and to be engaged in an impactful way.”
What was once envisioned as a one-time event in New Orleans quickly became an annual tradition at NBA All-Star for the past 17 years and counting.
The volunteer activities at every NBA All-Star Day of Service – and every NBA Cares event around the globe – focus on the program’s key impact areas of health and wellness, education, social justice and inclusion, civic engagement and sustainability.
Those core areas of impact have fueled the NBA to launch other programs like NBA/WNBA FIT in 2007, NBA Green in 2008, Jr. NBA & Jr. WNBA in 2001, Hoops for Troops in 2012, as well as the National Basketball Social Justice Coalition and NBA Foundation, both in 2020. Programs and platforms have evolved over the years to meet the needs of fans and communities, such as NBA Total Health in 2025.
NBA Total Health presented by Evernorth Health Services — the league’s health and wellness platform – is designed to make health more accessible, inclusive, and actionable for everyone. Through a holistic approach that prioritizes the interconnectedness of mental, physical, and community wellbeing, the platform empowers fans to take control of their wellness journey with tools, resources, and guidance from trusted experts and inspiring NBA voices, encouraging small, everyday steps toward better health.
Through NBA Green the league continues to prioritize environmental sustainability. In line with its commitment to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, the NBA works to reduce the carbon footprint of NBA games and events, inspire the broader NBA family to minimize negative climate impacts, and activate broader industry and societal change.
Chris Paul participates in a Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA clinic.
The NBA relaunched Jr. NBA in 2015 as the league’s youth basketball participation program, providing a fun environment for kids to learn the fundamentals and values of the game. The Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA in the U.S. focuses on promoting healthy and respectful relationships between players, coaches, parents, and referees, while offering a free coaching curriculum covering all levels of the game.
NBA Cares Hoops for Troops is a year-round initiative led by the NBA, its teams and players, in collaboration with the Department of Defense, USO, TAPS and other military and veteran-serving organizations to honor active and retired service men and women and their families.
The National Basketball Social Justice Coalition launched in 2020 to advance social justice through the power of basketball. The joint venture between the NBA, Players Association (NBPA) and Coaches Association (NBCA) looks to promote social justice policies across four areas – community safety, criminal justice, police reform and voting rights.
The first-ever NBA Foundation – dedicated to creating greater economic empowerment in under resourced communities in NBA markets – recently celebrated its fifth anniversary, with 837,000 youth served by the foundation’s partners and programs that support school-to-career pipeline opportunities, 307 nonprofit partners and $141 million awarded in grants to nonprofit organizations dedicated to serving under-resourced youth across the U.S. and Canada.
The late Dikembe Mutombo shares his signature finger wag with a Special Olympics athlete during NBA Global Games in Manchester in 2013.
Part of the spirit of NBA Cares over the past 20 years has been establishing and utilizing partnerships to maximize the impact that can be made in the communities we serve – allowing the NBA to add fuel to the work so many nonprofit organizations are already doing.
“With my background having worked in government and having worked at a nonprofit organization, I knew the power of partnerships,” said Behrens. “We’re a basketball league, an entertainment and media company. We have to rely on really good partners, really good community organizations – whether it’s schools, whether it’s organizations like Special Olympics or Habitat for Humanity or Share Our Strength, or Boys and Girls Clubs – we need those nonprofit partners to help us deliver on what we can offer.”
“Through this vital partnership, countless young people have been empowered to realize their full potential, proving that professional sports can be a powerful catalyst for positive social change,” said Frank Sanchez, Executive Vice President of Boys & Girls Club of Sports & Partnerships.
Editra Allen, Vice President of Special Olympics said partnering with NBA Cares over the past two decades has been a powerful force in advancing inclusion through sport.
“Their unwavering support has created countless opportunities for Special Olympics athletes around the world to learn, play, and thrive through playing basketball,” Allen said. “Together, we’ve shown that the game is at its best when it unites people through friendship, fun and shared purpose.”
Over the past two decades, NBA Cares projects – from new basketball courts, playgrounds and refurbished schools to millions of packed meals, youth clinics, and voter registration efforts – have left a lasting impact on both the communities served and the volunteers who make it happen.
“We know that today’s players are inspired by the work that some of our most impactful ambassadors have done, people like Bob Lanier, Dikembe Mutombo and Jason Collins have helped build a foundation that will last for generations,” Behrens said.
NBA Cares continues to embody what it means to be part of the NBA family: giving back, strengthening communities, bringing people together, and using the game of basketball to connect the world.
“That’s who we are,” Behrens said. “That’s the NBA mission come to life.”
