Former Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake helping NBA players ‘find their philanthropic voice’

As the head of the philanthropic arm of the NBA players union, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake attended the 2023 NBA draft at Barclays Center, the home of the Brooklyn Nets, in New York. As she watched 58 players get selected over two rounds, the 53-year-old Baltimore native felt something unexpected. “When I was at the draft and looking at all of these young people that were venturing into their lives as basketball players, I felt like a proud auntie because I realized that these young people could be my sons,” she said, adding that some of the athletes she saw in June were the same age as her 20-year-old daughter.