By Kelly O’Brien
If you listened closely to the public address announcer at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night as he read the starting lineup for the visiting Brooklyn Nets, you probably heard something familiar—something that sounds like home.
“From Peoria Central High School…Shaun Livingston.”
In 2007 Livingston feared his name would never resonate through the rafters of an NBA arena again as he lay in a hospital bed with a career-threatening knee injury.
In his fourth season with the team that drafted him in 2004, the Los Angeles Clippers, Livingston was touted as a key part of the franchise’s future. But with torn ligaments and a dislocated patella among other injuries in his left knee, Livingston needed to focus on walking again before even thinking about playing.
Livingston suffers a severe knee injury (Photo courtesy of NYDailyNews.com).
After more than a year of rehab and surgery, Livingston returned for the 2008-2009 season, but his multi-million dollar salary did not. Forced into free agency, he joined the Miami Heat and Memphis Grizzlies for brief stints, taking a 91.6 percent decrease in pay from the previous season, dropping from $4,404,629 to $370,000, according to data from Basketball-Reference.com.
The loss of money didn’t faze him. He took yet another pay cut the next year with the Oklahoma City Thunder before he was rewarded for his determination to play in spite of little pay. In the 2010-2011 season, the Charlotte Bobcats offered him a deal that nearly matched his average pre-injury salary of $3.54 million.
Charlotte proved to be yet another temporary home for Livingston, as he continued to bounce around the league in search of a permanent residence. Though he has traveled throughout the country, Livingston’s roots remain in Peoria.
Long before playing in front of 20,000 in New York’s “The Garden,” Livingston stunned spectators at local YMCA-league games as a soon-to-be basketball wunderkind in kindergarten at Concordia Lutheran School in Peoria.
“He had the maddest skills for a 5 year old I have ever seen,” said Kirk Wessler, executive sports editor and columnist at the Peoria Journal Star whose son attended grade school with Livingston. “He was this tall, skinny kid who just towered over everybody else.”
Then while learning to multiply and divide in his third grade classroom, Livingston earned the undivided attention of the basketball community on the court, according to Wessler.
“College coaches would see him play and say, ‘Who is that kid?’” he said. “He’s just mindlessly spinning and dribbling up and down the court between his legs at full speed, and he’s 8? It was a sight to behold, and people became very aware of this phenom that was coming along.”
Named Mr. Basketball of Illinois in 2004 after leading Peoria Central High School to two consecutive state titles, Livingston denied Duke for the NBA draft and became the highest selected high school guard in history as the fourth pick.
Though the spotlight from high school dimmed and his salaries dwindled after his injury, Livingston continually gives back to the community that raised him.
While NBA players enjoyed the All-Star break in February, Livingston hosted a charity event in his hometown called “An Evening with Shaun Livingston” to raise money for his foundation and Peoria Area Elite Basketball, for which he sponsors several youth basketball programs.
“This is always going to be where I’m from,” he said at the event, according to a Peoria Journal Star article. “No matter what team I play for, what city in the world I’m living in, I’m always from Peoria, and I’m always representing my city.”
Livingston also said he hopes to someday found an academy in Peoria for academic and athletic achievement.
He tries to inspire and set a good example for young people, and he’s done so in Peoria by helping the youth his hometown. He hosted the Pride of Peoria Basketball Clinic in August 2013 for those unable to afford admittance into such programs elsewhere. In the clinic’s first year, 300 children participated free of charge.
(Photo courtesy of Fred Zwicky of the Peoria Journal Star).
In addition to Peoria, Livingston has aided the tornado-devastated town of Washington. Just before Christmas, he flew home to spread some holiday cheer with a family that lost its home in the storm. He provided the affected mother and her three children with gift cards, Nike shoes, NBA gear and autographed pictures.
“It was just a great chance to spend Christmastime together and let them know somebody cares about them in the tough times they were going through,” Livingston told ESPN New York in December.
Shaun Livingston visits a family affected by the tornado in Washington (Photo courtesy of ESPN New York).
Livingston’s generosity is visible both on and off the court, according to Wessler.
“He’s very giving,” he said. “If you watch him play, he loves to distribute the ball and get his teammates involved. That’s been a trait of his forever, and that carries over off the court as well.”
Recently, Livingston has been extremely giving on the court, helping his Brooklyn Nets to the best record in the Eastern Conference since January. Since he entered the starting lineup Jan. 2, the team has transformed from a pretender with a 10-21 record through Dec. 31 to a contender that has clinched a playoff spot.
A full-time starter for the Nets, Livingston has reached career highs for minutes played and points scored in a season. His perseverance through a debilitating injury, some substantial salary cuts and a seemingly endless search for an NBA home is finally paying off.
He found Brooklyn. But Peoria founded him.
(Photo courtesy of ESPN New York)