Philadelphia 76ers’ Danny Green surprises 94-year-old fan with a signed jersey
Philadelphia 76ers’ shooting guard Danny Green surprised a 94-year-old fan with a signed jersey after seeing a tweet from the fan’s granddaughter that went viral.
After learning that her grandmother had spent the past year studying the NBA while in quarantine, Lili Gu tweeted her picture with a notepad where she had drawn a table detailing her favorite players from each team.
“(Today I learned) my 94-year-old grandma spent her year in isolation studying the NBA and filling a notepad with her favorite players on each team,” the tweet read.
The tweet went viral, and many people took note of the one player Gu’s grandmother had written down on the Philadelphia 76ers’ row: Green, with his number, 14, circled in.
After the post caught Green’s attention, he had his people reach out and locate Gu’s grandmother so that he could send her a special gift.
Gu later tweeted a video of her grandmother’s jubilant reaction after receiving the gift in the mail and reading the message that the three-time NBA champion had left for her.
“Thank you for picking me. Here’s to 95,” Green wrote on the back of the jersey.
Gu’s grandmother then went on to thank Green for his gift and called him the “star of the game,” as she described his three-pointer in the final minute of the quarter that led his team to victory against the Lakers.
The tweet received thousands of views, likes, and retweets, including one from Green himself. Other well-known names in the NBA also retweeted the wholesome content, like Santa Cruz Warriors’ Jeremy Lin and Brooklyn Nets’ James Harden, who also made the cut on Gu’s grandmother’s list.
“It was amazing to see people all around the world be fans of you, especially of other older generations. For her to even follow the game and know who I am, it’s special and very humbling,” Green told reporters at a news conference Thursday. “Obviously, she showed me a lot of love, so I just wanted to try to reciprocate that as best I could.”
“She’s older than my grandma, so it’s crazy to see she’s out there watching the game but also not just supporting the star players,” Green added.
Gu tweeted on March 19 saying while her grandmother is incredibly flattered by the attention she has been receiving, she isn’t about the fame.
“(S)he’s just happy this made people happy.”
