Kansas basketball forward KJ Adams makes donation to area families battling cancer
Kansas basketball forward KJ Adams, whose mom Yvonne has been involved in a brave fight against bladder cancer for the past two years, shared some of his NIL earnings last weekend with five Lawrence-area families battling the disease.
Adams, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound junior from Austin, Texas, pledged $2,000 of his own money to event organizer Brian Hanni at the 15th-annual Rock Chalk Roundball Classic awards banquet Saturday at Burge Union next to Allen Fieldhouse.
“Always give back,” Adams said Sunday, speaking to media members about one of his goals in life at Bill Self’s basketball camp for youths. “It hit in my heart a little bit because my mom is kind of going through the same stuff the kids (beneficiaries of banquet) are going through. Just to give back — and now that we have the stuff to give back — it’s always good to do that. It helps me a lot when I do that.
“I just wanted to see the kids happy and not stressed a lot because they already have a lot of stress on their mind.”
Adams’ mom, a former standout basketball player at Texas A&M, leading the team in scoring in 1989-90 and ‘90-91, is director of equity and inclusion at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin.
Adams, a starter on last year’s 28-8 Big 12 regular-season championship team, is quickly emerging as a team leader this summer following the graduation of one of last year’s leaders, Jalen Wilson, who hopes to be taken in the June 22 NBA Draft.
Adams recently hosted a players-only dinner at McCarthy Hall, the players’ apartment complex. Adams, with the help of a special someone, prepared tacos as the main course.
Senior point guard Dajuan Harris recently praised Adams’ meal as being quite tasty. Freshman guard Jamari McDowell seconded that notion Sunday at Self’s camp.
“Everybody’s been asking me, ‘Was it good?’ The tacos were great. His girlfriend definitely did that,” McDowell said, smiling. “I am a freshman. I was starving. It was getting late. I have no car. I needed to eat. KJ takes me in for tacos. It was a good time, good food and great (team) bonding.”
McDowell said he’s been impressed with Adams on the court. Players on KU’s 2023-24 roster have been in town for summer school classes and team workouts as well as unsupervised pickup games since the start of school on June 6.
“KJ is great — freak athlete, super freak athlete,” McDowell said. “You guys have been talking about the jump shots. He’s actually been really hitting them in practice. He’s been really good and fluid. You can tell he’s been working on that, seriously. He’s going to make a big impact.”
Adams was used as an undersized 5-man much of last season.
He’s been practicing with the perimeter players in preparation for his junior year. Coach Bill Self said recently Adams could start at the 4 next to seven-footer Hunter Dickinson.
“I’m just trying to get more reps on the (mid-range) shots,” Adams said. “It might be the 4, might be the 5. It just depends what coach feels is best for me.”
Adams said his coach “has been telling me to work on my (outside) shot a little bit more, get more comfortable. Getting some more live reps is really going to help me if we make this transition (to the 4) or if we stay (at center). Just making my shot better will help me (at either position). That’s basically what I need to do.”
Adams — he averaged 10.6 points on 62.2% shooting and 4.3 rebounds his sophomore campaign after playing a limited role as a freshman during KU’s national title season — said his preference on the court is “really anywhere, wherever they put me. I don’t really have a special role that I want to play. I can play in whatever spot he puts me in.”
The key this summer and in three exhibition games to be played in August in Puerto Rico is “just getting more comfortable in it, just trying to shoot more in live situations when we play up and down and five on five. That’s going to help me there,” Adams stated.
KU should have a formidable frontcourt in Adams and Dickinson. The 7-1, 260-pound Dickinson averaged 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds at Michigan a year ago.
“Trying to play off him and just try to do what we can to move around him because Hunter is a very special player,” Adams said. “Just trying to move off him and make sure I’m open.”
Adams is one of three returnees off last year’s team but is optimistic all players will accept their roles.
“It’s been really fun honestly. It’s been like we’ve been together for years,” Adams said of the players in town the last week. “I think the team really clicks. I think we genuinely like each other. We’ve been hanging around with each other. A lot of people went to the Luke Combs concert together (Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium). It was cool to be with them and have good time with each other.”
And yes, he and his girlfriend will host meals again.
“I’m waiting for Kevin and Marcus (Adams, freshman who arrived on campus Sunday) to get back so they don’t feel like they missed out,” Adams said. “It’s just good (that) we can do things like that. ... It’s just a lot of fun.”
