In the summer of 2025, Pat Connaughton’s NBA career took a new turn when the Milwaukee Bucks traded him to the Charlotte Hornets. But before he left for training camp for his third NBA franchise, Connaughton made something very clear: He was still going to be a presence in Milwaukee.And after his first season in Charlotte, during which he played 42 games for a team that was one of the surprises in the league as the Hornets made the play-in tournament, Connaughton held true to his word.
On a personal level, Connaughton and fiancée Ryan Gareis were married in Wisconsin in June. The Pat Connaughton Foundation finished a handful of basketball court renovations around the Milwaukee area over the last year, and his commercial development firm Three Leaf Partners continued its projects within the state.
And the NBA champion will be front and center during the foundation’s fourth annual golf fundraiser Aug. 24, which will be held at The Bull at Pinehurst Farms located at One Long Drive in Sheboygan Falls.
Connaughton said playing in Charlotte under head coach (and former Bucks assistant) Charles Lee was “awesome” and juggling a new professional home with his deep-rooted off-court responsibilities in Milwaukee wasn’t too overwhelming – even if he couldn’t be physically present as much as before.
“There was definitely some differences within it but we made it work well,” Connaughton told the Journal Sentinel in a recent interview. “Talking about it versus actually following through on it are two different things, but I try to do what I say and say what I do, and Milwaukee did a lot for me and I had a lot of my biggest moments personally and professionally in my career in Milwaukee. It’ll always be a home.”
It’s why the August golf outing has grown in importance for the 33-year-old. With new personal and professional schedules, it is a firm date to literally touch down in a community that means so much to him.
“Not being in town, unfortunately, doesn’t allow me to see those who have been so gracious to my foundation and have partnered with me on courts nearly as much,” Connaughton said. “But at the same time, it now potentially makes this event bigger because it is the ‘guaranteed’ one time a year that I have the opportunity to see them, and they’re gonna have an opportunity to see me at an event that’s going to directly benefit my foundation and doing a court in their community.
“That’s the key to me. I can’t wait to see everybody and make sure that even though I’m on a different team, I’m in a different jersey at this moment in time, but the mission that we have with the foundation as well as where those dollars are being donated hasn’t changed.”
The foundation continues to support Connaughton’s mission of restoring basketball courts in and around Milwaukee. Since 2020, the foundation has restored 17 courts in Wisconsin parks, high schools, recreation centers and at Concordia University.
Connaughton acknowledged that his presence, or lack thereof, at court openings during his first season out of Milwaukee was different because he understands the impact having an NBA player on hand to talk to, touch or shoot some hoops with can have on kids. The priority remains getting more courts done than his ability to attend grand openings, but he acknowledged, “The cool part for me from a foundation standpoint is it’s made me have to think outside the box.
“Like, we’re doing these great courts I’m not able to be at the grand openings, but we’re still doing ‘em. It gives me time to think of ‘let’s be entrepreneurial, let’s be creative.’ I may not be in Milwaukee forever, I may not live in Milwaukee when my career is over, who knows where you’ll end up, where my [wife] will end up playing [professional soccer], where our kids are or whatever. Point being, you gotta think differently on activating the courts we’ve done. That’s been a big initiative.”
Along those lines, Connaughton has had discussions with the Milwaukee Bucks Foundation about it holding some of its youth camps on foundation-restored courts.
“The priority is not me being able to attend, the priority is for them to get a court and for us to come together and do something that they’re gonna use on a daily basis that’s going to do things for their lives that they can’t even imagine,” he added.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Former Bucks fan favorite Pat Connaughton remains committed to Wisconsin
Reporting by Jim Owczarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jim Owczarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
