Terance Mann of the Los Angeles Clippers is no stranger to the dangerous whims of nature.
The Florida State alum was concerned but optimistic about the well-being of friends as Hurricane Idalia hit Tallahassee with a glancing blow on Wednesday. He prayed for relatives in St. Lucia as the Caribbean island braced for Tropical Storm Bret in June. Even where he lives now, Southern California, endured its first-ever tropical storm watch two weeks ago.
“When I was (at FSU), two out of the four years they had a pretty bad, really bad hurricane and the power was out for a couple of weeks,” Mann said. “That’s something they’re used to gearing up for around this time anyway, so keep them in your prayers, but they should be all right.”
Mann spoke after a morning workout Wednesday at the University of Hawaii campus and before appearances at the Hawaii Foodbank and Waimanalo Elementary &Intermediate School in conjunction with the Clippers training camp Oct. 3-9 in Hawaii. The team’s fourth camp here since 2017 will be capped by a preseason game against the Utah Jazz on Oct. 8 at SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center. Tickets go on sale Tuesday and the teams have agreed to donate proceeds to Maui wildfire relief efforts.
Mann and Clippers staff helped pack boxes of goods to be sent to Maui from the food bank Wednesday. He also attended briefings with FEMA and the Red Cross.
“Gotta give back,” said Mann, who launched the Terance Mann Complete Player Foundation — geared toward educational opportunities for children — in June, with $400,000 of his own money.
“We had the hurricane (later downgraded to a tropical storm), but haven’t had fires yet (in Los Angeles). I know Maui had a big problem with that. I don’t know what’s going on in the world now, but it’s not so good,” Mann said. “It’s dope to be a part of (recovery efforts).”
It certainly is a different world now than in 2019, the last time the Clippers held camp in Hawaii.
“When I came I was a rookie, it was pre-COVID. We didn’t even know what the coronavirus was at that time,” Mann said. “We were here with the Houston Rockets when they had Russ (Westbrook) and James Harden.”
Now Westbrook is a Clipper and Harden a Philadelphia 76er. They have combined to play for nine teams and be named an All-Star 19 times.
Since that preseason camp here, Mann, 26, has career stats in four years as a Clipper that scream role player: 8 points and 21.5 minutes in 270 career games. But the club is confident in his future contributions and signed the 6-foot-5 shooting guard to a contract extension that pays an average of $11 million guaranteed for the next two seasons.
Undoubtedly, Mann’s career-high 39 points in a 139-119 victory over the Jazz in the 2021 playoffs figured into the deal. Mann, who started for the injured Kawhi Leonard, hit seven of 1o 3-pointers to lead the Clippers into their first-ever Western Conference finals.
Mann agreed that it’s become increasingly rare for a player to stay with the same team as long as he has.
“Yeah, 100%, especially as a second-round pick. I don’t know too many that stayed five years with one team,” he said. “I just want to continue getting better and helping the team get better. One of my goals is just to be a leader, to lead as best I can with this team, just because I’ve been here so long and I feel like guys respect me.”
