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SALT LAKE CITY — On Tuesday night, on World Autism Day, Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy will come out to the court wearing customized Nike Air Force 1 07s. The shoes will be painted in the Jazz's yellow and black colors with a rainbow infinity symbol running down the sides.
Hardy won't be the only one to wear the specialized kicks. Over the next week, "just about all" 30 NBA head coaches will wear similar shoes to promote autism awareness — an initiative that came about through the efforts of Jazz assistant coach Scott Morrison.
In 2022, Morrison took a leap of faith. He was coaching in Australia when he and his wife, Susanne, started to see the signs. Their young son, Max, was developing at a different rate and his speech was noticeably behind.
They had a couple of doctor appointments and had some tests done, and soon came to the conclusion that Max was likely on the spectrum.
"The challenge became to get him diagnosed so he'd have access to help, which was a major challenge in Australia," Morrison said. "That's why we decided to come back to North America."
Without a job lined up, Morrison and his family left Australia for North America to give Max access to the care he needed. It wasn't long before Hardy was hiring him to coach the Jazz's G League squad.
"We took that as a pretty big blessing," Morrison said.
Especially with how Joe and Renee Ingles had brought autism to the forefront during their time in Utah.
The family leaned on the Ingles' knowledge of the area to guide them to the right therapy centers and schools, and Max has been going to school five days a week since last September.
"It was a gamble coming back from Australia because we had no job," Morrison said. "But it would have been more of a gamble to stay. It ended up paying off pretty good."
And Morrison wanted to help pay that forward.
Last summer, he had a simple idea: What if he could get a few of the league coaches to participate in something to promote awareness or raise some funds or anything?
He called up Hardy, who agreed immediately. He reached out to Boston coach Joe Mazzulla, who is Max's godfather, and he was game. Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse, Phoenix coach Frank Vogel, New York coach Tom Thibodeau and Charlotte coach Steve Clifford also signed on, too.
"We had seven or eight committed to it and then we were set to go ahead with it. Not really anything too official," Morrison said.
It soon became that, though. With the NBA Coaches Association's help, it quickly turned into a league-wide movement. The association sent out a memo about what Morrison was doing and every coach signed up.
"It became a whirlwind," Morrison said.
The Jazz got in touch with Nike about the initiative and then found an artist to customize the shoes.
The sneakers were customized by JSM 801 Customs, a Salt Lake City-based design studio. Each pair has been painted with each NBA team's colors and a rainbow infinity symbol.
"One in 36 kids are diagnosed (with autism) and I'm sure there's more that aren't diagnosed," Morrison said. "So just trying to bring awareness to that, and acceptance that they're not any worse or better or anything, just different. The thing that we've been kind of harping on is kindness; just treating everybody with kindness and that goes for autistic individuals, same as neurotypical individuals."
The shoes will be autographed by the coaches and auctioned off with proceeds donated to "To the Max Foundation," a non-profit started by the Morrison family, to support autistic individuals and their families.
"With (the Ingles) leaving Utah there has been a void in fundraising and awareness," Morrison said. "We're not at their level in terms of what we can do, or the juice we can bring, but that's kind of what motivated us to do something. Even if it's small, just try and help."
