Wednesday marked one week since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, and most of the island still is without power, and a large number of people don’t have food or potable water.
But Dallas Mavericks point guard J.J. Barea is doing all he can to remedy that.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban let the point guard borrow the team’s plane to bring supplies to his native Puerto Rico. Barea and his wife, Puerto Rican actress and model Viviana Ortiz, went to the island Monday and returned Tuesday with his mother and grandmother.
“That’s a situation that he’s got to take care of,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said Tuesday, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “Mark gave him our team plane. They loaded up a bunch of stuff, supplies, etc., to take over to Puerto Rico, and they’re going to turn around and come back. He’s going to take his mom and grandmother back with him, and my understanding is his dad is going to stay over there and slug it out with all of the recovery efforts.”
Barea and Ortiz also launched a YouCaring page to collect donations through the J.J. Barea Foundation. Barea’s charity normally focuses on helping communities in Puerto Rico build youth sports facilities, but its goal now is to aid in relief efforts.
Barea is the only Puerto Rico native active in the NBA.
Thumbnail photo via Noah K. Murray/USA TODAY Sports Images
