After a decade of playing in the NBA, Rudy Gay has accomplished many feats as a professional basketball player, but becoming an NBA champion hasn't been one of them yet. Hence, Gay's decision to join the San Antonio Spurs via free agency this offseason is a sound move for the 30-year-old, as the Spurs give him a realistic shot at winning the one title that has eluded him for so long.

Gay recently sat down with ESPN's Michael Wright to discuss his thoughts on playing for a true playoff contender. And while Gay is counting on San Antonio to fill in the void of his NBA career, he also talked about giving back to his hometown by building playgrounds for the youth of Baltimore.

“Yeah, I built a couple. For me, it’s just you have to start from the beginning in Baltimore. That’s anywhere. Anywhere there’s trouble, you’ve got to start from the beginning, and I saw that. The kids didn’t even have a safe place to play. I saw that and just thought I could at least do that for now. But there’s a lot more work to be done in that city.”

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The Brooklyn-born forward grew up in Baltimore for the majority of his childhood before playing for the Connecticut Huskies in college. Fans of the critically-acclaimed HBO series The Wire would also know that Baltimore is indeed in need of help, and it's glad to hear that Gay hasn't forgotten his roots and is doing something to make Maryland's most famous city a better place to live in.

Gay should host a pick-up game on one of his playgrounds in the near future, and preferably with his teammates being some of the remaining soldiers from Avon and Prop Joe's crew.