Wizards, Mystics invest into community by hosting local hoops league final

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It’s one thing to entertain fans with highlight-reel plays in professional basketball games, but the Washington Wizards and Mystics have a deeper mission. Through their parent company Monumental Sports and Entertainment, both organizations are sponsoring a local hoops league in a community that needs it most.

Monumental provided funding to a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization named Building Bridges Across the River to help expand its Midnight Basketball League, which was created to “promote nonviolence, equity, and wellness in Ward 8,” via Building Bridges’ website. The league allows Ward 8 youth and adults to play organized basketball on Friday and Saturday nights.

Ward 8 is a section of D.C. that includes the Congress Heights neighborhood, where Monumental’s Entertainment and Sports Arena is located. The multi-purpose venue serves as the home court for the Mystics, as well as the Wizards’ G League affiliate Capital City Go-G0, and as the practice facility for the NBA club. On Saturday, it was the site of the Midnight Basketball finals, with local kids and adults playing at the state-of-the-art location.

On top of that, the league is supported by a prominent hoops figure. Former Georgetown basketball coach and current Monumental Basketball Senior Vice President John Thompson III gave opening remarks before the games started, where he thanked everyone involved and spoke on the importance of the league.

Former Georgetown hoops coach and current Monumental Basketball Senior VP John Thompson III giving opening remarks at the Midnight Basketball finals, a youth league for Ward 8 residents in DC. pic.twitter.com/D8PFk5aEPx

— Joshua Valdez (@joshvaldez100) December 21, 2024

“A lot of NBA players don’t like basketball,” the former USA Basketball assistant coach said. “They play because they were blessed with talent and they can make money…there’s no one in the Midnight Basketball League that don’t like playing basketball.”

Thompson wasn’t just saying that either, as Midnight Basketball player Myles Whitfield echoed that sentiment, via NBC Washington’s Dominique Moody.

"I've been playing my whole life," he said. "If I'm being honest, I just like hooping. It just takes my mind away from everything."

Building Bridges, Monumental foster growth for Ward 8 youth

Thompson sat in the stands once the games started, watching with a satisfied grin as the local young men put the ball in the basket.

“It’s a unique experience, it’s very different,” the former Princeton player and coach said about his role with Monumental. “It’s fulfilling. I get the opportunity to influence young men, and now women, because I work with the Mystics also, as they are growing and learning on the court and off the court. So it’s a pretty cool experience.”

Thompson, though, didn’t want to focus on himself. Rather, he harped on how proud he is of the Midnight Basketball League and Monumental’s investment in the local community.

“All indicators are that it’s outstanding. You provide something to get the kids off the streets. I hate to word it like that, but that’s accurate,” Thompson admitted. “Give them an outlet, give them something to do. And couple that with all of the positive experiences that come along with a team sport, that come along with basketball. Togetherness, cooperation, executing a plan. I think the league has been a huge success so far, and it’s only gonna get bigger.”

Ward 8’s homicide and crime rate led the entire city by far in 2023, via ABC News. It’s why Building Bridges, which is based in the ward and aims to aid it through “arts and culture,” “economic opportunity,” and “health and well-being,” started the league back up that summer.

“This whole Midnight Basketball kicked off last summer when we saw an increasing amount of violence in the community. So we did what we always do: convened with a big public meeting and said ‘Tell us your ideas.'” Building Bridges Senior Vice President Scott Kratz said. ‘How do we build a safe, equitable, and inclusive Ward 8?’ We had over 150 people show up. This was right after the July 4th weekend when five people were tragically murdered in DC.”

“Everyone was really hungry for ideas, not to come in and complain, but to ask ‘where is our moment of action?’ One of the ideas that came up was that we need to restart Midnight Basketball. We did Midnight Basketball well over 10 years ago, but we heard that idea and said ‘absolutely,'” Kratz continued. “We went out, we raised a little money, and we kicked off our first season this March [with six to seven teams]. This year, the second season, we partnered with Monumental, which enabled us to take things to the next level, so we now have 13 teams every Friday or Saturday night.”

“This is all about channeling the players’ energy into something positive and good, and share with the youth that are here that we believe in them and believe in their futures.”

Building Bridges CEO and President Rashaan Bernard used anecdotal evidence to show the league’s effect on the neighborhood.

“An interesting story is that our senior vice president [Lynnita Jones-Morton] was talking to one of our coaches who goes past a street corner each day, and that corner was littered with young people standing outside,” Bernard explained. We know the corner represents a place where people convene, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad, sometimes indifferent.”

“In our communities, they’re typically corners where people get hurt. So the idea of this intervention reducing the number of people on the corner,” Bernard continued. “Him walking by and seeing one less, two less, three less people, and now all the corners are empty. And where are the kids? They’re on the court playing basketball.”

Some of those kids even lifted championship trophies in the post-game ceremony, along with MVP awards and the like. Even the players who lost the games, though, still won in the end. It’s not often that people from underserved areas get to play basketball at a professional arena, but Building Bridges and Monumental made it possible.

The best part is that Monumental has even more in store for the D.C. area.

“Monumental is supporting many leagues throughout the DMV [D.C., Maryland, Virginia], and this is just one of them,” Thompson said. “With our brand, with our name, with our finances, to increase participation in athletics. Not just in basketball, but also in football and hockey. We’re building courts, we’re building rinks, refurbishing fields, just so that the kids in D.C. can have more opportunities to participate in various sports. That’s something that’s very important as an organization to Monumental.”

While running teams like the Wizards, Mystics, and Washington Capitals are what usually grab the headlines, Monumental’s community-building efforts are making a difference under the surface.

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