Pat Connaughton played for Notre Dame in college, so the leprechaun beard in isolation is appropriate. Now, he's hoping to shave it off, as the NBA gets closer to a return.
"I'm trying to be the tallest leprechaun Notre Dame's ever had," Pat Connaughton says with sarcasm. "Just trying to be optimistic and try to be positive that it will come back [at] some point in time."
The Bucks reserve says he's all good with the return scenarios he's heard.
"I haven't heard anything that I'm not comfortable with. But with that being said, I also can't say I've taken too much weight in anything I've heard, until it's real. I don't think there's going to be fans any time soon, so I don't know that the whereabouts of you playing matters as much, if there aren't fans in the building. So whatever they feel like is healthiest and safest, I think is most important," Connaughton says.
Connaughton is also not concerned about the people who think the NBA Champion will come with an asterisk.
"I don't know if it makes me mad. I think, at the end of the day, look, fans are really important. We love the fans and the relationships that we have with them. The interactions that we're able to have with them. But at the end of the day, we're still playing basketball against each other, right? And you know I think, regardless of what happens. You can take pros. You can take cons. You can say it's easier to do. You can say it's harder to do, to some degree. Winning against the best teams in the NBA is still winning against the best teams in the NBA. No matter the circumstances," Connaughton says.
In the meantime, he will raise funds for COVID-19 relief and Feeding America, with the help of three MVPs: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Christian Yelich, and Aaron Rodgers.
"Ha, I'd like to think it's pulling swag. You know, I'm not trying to strong-arm any MVPs. I'm sure they have a lot more ability to strong-arm me!" Connaughton says with a laugh.
