There were initial tweets from other players last week where players said they were praying for Avery Bradley. With little to no more information to go off of, fans were worried it was some kind of injury or something like that. Turns out it was much worse. He lost his mother who was just 46 years old.
As it turns out, as one life has left Avery's world, another one will be arriving shortly.
Bradley may miss camp's start after mother's death | Comcast SportsNet - CSNNE.com
"He's going through a very difficult time," Danny Ainge, Boston's president of basketball operations, told CSNNE.com. "His mother passed away and they were very close and he's expecting a baby any day. He's got a lot going on." Bradley's mother, Alicia "Lisa" Jones, 46, passed away on September 10. When asked if Bradley might be late to training camp, Ainge responded, "I don't know. We're just taking it day-by-day right now."
I think I speak for everyone when I say "Avery, please take all the time you and your family needs right now. The basketball will be here when you need it."
Jay King posted a link to a Globe article that ran close to when Bradley was drafted. Here's a little bit on the kind of woman that Alicia Jones was.
New Celtic Bradley already is well-connected - The Boston Globe
Adding to it all, Jones-Bradley moved from Tacoma to Texas with her children and worked two jobs to make sure they maintained the lifestyle they had grown accustomed to. "Mothers just do what they have to do,’’ she said. "Because my husband and I weren’t together and our children were used to living a certain way, I didn’t feel like they needed to be without that even though they weren’t going to have both parents in the household. "So I just worked my butt off to make sure they had what they needed. And you know once they start getting older those gym shoes cost a lot. It may have been a guilt thing, but it was something I felt like I owed my children to make sure they were comfortable in the transition going from two parents to one.’’