NBA Championship Trophy Makes Rare Appearance in British Columbia

Vancouver, B.C. – The Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy will make a rare appearance in British Columbia tomorrow at the BC Sports Hall of Fame when Honoured Member Alex McKechnie, P.T., brings it to the Hall for a media availability and special public event.

Media interviews and photo opportunities will be available for a limited time with McKechnie, Assistant Coach & Director of Sports Science for the NBA champion Toronto Raptors, and other Honoured Members and representatives of the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

It is the first time the Larry O’Brien Trophy has visited BC since 2015 and is one of the few times that the NBA championship trophy has crossed the border into Canada. It is only the second official appearance by the Larry O’Brien Trophy in Canada accompanied by a Canadian winner. The only other time an NBA player, coach or team official brought the “Larry OB” to Canada was five years ago when Cory Joseph, then of the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs and a former Raptor and current captain of Canada Basketball’s national men’s team, toured with it in Toronto in 2014.

McKechnie, an Honoured Member of the BC Sports Hall of Fame from the Class of 2018, comes to the Hall of Champions Tuesday after winning his sixth NBA championship and first with the Raptors last month. He previously won five NBA championship rings with the Los Angeles Lakers (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2010). McKechnie has built an international reputation as an innovator and world leader in sport science and physiotherapy. His clients read like a list of sports royalty and include the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Paul Kariya, Steve Nash, Michelle Kwan, Terrell Owens and Craig Forrest, among many others. In the past year, McKechnie and his highly-regarded sport science team and training staff was largely credited with keeping NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard healthy during the team’s 2019 championship season.

Event Details:

Date:                        Tuesday, July 23

Time                         9:00 am – 12:30 pm

Location:               BC Sports Hall of Fame, Gate A at BC Place

 Formal remarks and introductions at 9:30 a.m.

 Limited access will be available to the general public for entrance at 10:00 am on a first-come-first-serve basis.

About the BC Sports Hall of Fame
The BC Sports Hall of Fame celebrates extraordinary achievement in BC sport history and inspires future generations to make their dreams come true. Each year, a diverse audience of visitors from around the globe are educated and enthralled by the collection of 27,000 artifacts and 100,000 archival documents representing 150-years of sporting accomplishments in British Columbia. Through Hero in You Youth Education Programs, the BC Sports Hall of Fame reaches over 6,500 youth across the province, advancing its mission of building outstanding community legacies by honouring the past and inspiring the future.

For more information please visit: www.bcsportshalloffame.com follow us on twitter @bcsportshall and like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/bcsportshall/

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Media Contact

Kelly Gleeson – LBMG

604-240-6231

Kgleeson@lbmg.ca