It’s not often that you see an NBA star in Hawaii, at least during the past few years.
“When I came (the first time, in 2019) I was a rookie, it was pre-COVID” said Terance Mann, a shooting guard for the Los Angeles Clippers, while on a recent visit to the University of Hawaii campus. “We didn’t even know what the coronavirus was at that time. We were here (to play against) the Houston Rockets when they had Russ (Westbrook) and James Harden.”
Because of the pandemic, Mann’s team never ended up holding training camp at UH. But Mann and his new team returns Oct. 3 through Oct. 9 for some practices and to play an exhibition game against the Utah Jazz on Oct. 8 at UH, at the SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The teams have agreed to donate proceeds to Maui wildfire relief efforts. Tickets are still available via hawaiiathletics.evenue.net. Mann came to UH a couple of months ahead of time to promote the game, and to do some volunteer work in the community in the wake of the Maui wildfires.
Mann spoke with local media after a workout at UH’s Gym 2 but before packing boxes to go to Maui at the Hawaii Foodbank and hanging out with keiki at Waimanalo Elementary & Intermediate School.
Mann’s day of volunteer work in Hawaii is typical for him, he said. He strives to stay productive on and off the court. He regularly helps youth in the Los Angeles area and other communities with school and camp scholarships.
He does this volunteer work mostly through the Terance Mann Complete Player Foundation.
“Another initiative for the foundation is to help set up a good basketball foundation in Saint Lucia, where my family is from, in the Caribbean,” Mann said. “And I also partnered with a group called Aspiring Young Minds.”
Mann played his collegiate basketball at Florida State University from 2015 to 2019, after which he was a second-round pick in the NBA Draft by the Clippers.
His abilities to attack the rim, block incoming shots and play solid on-the-ball defense have helped him secure his spot on the team.
In the 2022-2023 season, the 26-year-old participated in 81 games and averaged 8.8 points, making 51.9 percent of his shots in 23.1 minutes of play per game.
