Stephen Curry wins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award - ESPN

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry was named the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award winner, the NBA announced Tuesday.

The honor, named after Abdul-Jabbar — the six-time NBA MVP and No. 2 on the career scoring list — is given to the player who best embodies Abdul-Jabbar's message of civil rights, Black empowerment and racial equality.

Curry — a four-time NBA champion and two-time MVP — was selected based on his work in advocating for voting rights, gender and racial equity in sports, and food scarcity in underserved communities.

Curry is the co-chair of former First Lady Michelle Obama's «When We All Vote» initiative, along with fellow athletes Chris Paul and Megan Rapinoe, and singer-actress Janelle Monae. The initiative's mission is to «increase participation in each and every election by helping to close the race and age gap,» according to its website. Additionally, as a participant in the league's and player union's joint social justice-focused coalition, Curry has pushed for the passage of the Freedom to Vote Act, which seeks to expand voter registration and voting access. (The bill, introduced in September 2021, was blocked by Republican senators.)

Through his UNDERRATED brand, Curry has provided scholarships for high school athletes, and in 2019 announced a six-year, $6 million commitment to fund the men's and women's golf teams at historically Black Howard University.

Along with his wife, Ayesha, Curry continues to run the couple's Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, which focuses on childhood nutrition and physical activity in Oakland, California, where the Warriors played until moving to San Francisco in 2019. According to the NBA's news release, Eat. Learn. Play. has provided over 2 million