Chauncey Billups was presented with the NBA’s Walter J. Kennedy sportsmanship award Monday night before Detroit’s playoff game against the Orlando Magic.
The award, which is voted on by the Professional Basketball Writers Association, is given to a player or coach who shows “outstanding service and dedication to the community.”
Billups has hosted a charity golf tournament in Detroit in each of the last three summers, and also is involved in work in Minneapolis and his hometown of Denver.
“It’s a great award,” Billups said in a statement. “The thing about doing stuff like that, doing charity work and having a big heart, you never do it for the accolades. You do it for the kids. You try and teach kids a better way than the alternative, which is being in a neighborhood doing bad things, and getting bad results. It’s good to be recognized for it, but at the same time, that’s not why you do it.”
