Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton II of the NBA has won the Bob Lanier Community Assist Award for his continued support of youth dealing with learning disabilities and hardship.

The award, previously named the NBA Cares Community Assist Award, was renamed this season in honour of the late Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Lanier. He was passionate about making a positive impact on communities worldwide.

This season, Payton founded the Gary Payton II (GPII) Foundation. According to its website, it “is a non-profit organization acting as a conduit for Dyslexia-awareness, supporting early screening, detection, and certified assessment for youth and young adults with language-based learning challenges.” Payton has dealt with dyslexia his whole life.

Through his efforts, the Warriors expanded their Read to Achieve program to include students with learning disabilities. Previously, the program focused on third-grade reading proficiency and combating summer learning loss.

Furthermore, Payton hosted a Reading Rally with Decoding Dyslexia for students with learning disabilities and has shown his support for universal risk of dyslexia screening by attending a rally in San Francisco to support California’s Senate Bill 237.

Payton was surprised with the award by a youth representative from Decoding Dyslexia during a Warriors practice. During game one of the NBA Finals, Payton was awarded the trophy presented by Kaiser Permanente.

The NBA and Kaiser Permanente will donate $75,000 to the GPII Foundation in honour of the league’s 75th anniversary season.