Former North Little Rock Charging Wildcat and Arkansas Razorback Moses Moody was back in town and brought a friend with him this time.

The 23-year-old wing for the Golden State Warrior made his now-annual trip home for a weekend chock-full of events. Joining him was teammate and four-time NBA champion Draymond Green.

Moody and Green spoke with members of the local media during a youth basketball camp at North Little Rock High School on Saturday about the weekend and why Green chose to join his teammate on the trip.

“To support him and all of his efforts in bettering this community is a great opportunity to me,” Green said. “I’m extremely thrilled to be here.

“That’s my guy. If I can be here to show support for him, I always will. I think the most respect someone can show you is when they open up their home to you. For him to open up his home to me and show me the love that I’ve been shown since coming here, I think I made the right choice.”

The camp was one of five events Moody and his team at KLUTH Sports Group scheduled for the weekend. It began with a sold out talk at the Marriott on Statehouse Plaza in downtown Little Rock, followed by a breakfast Saturday morning for local entrepreneurs and business leaders and a private workout at North Little Rock High School, followed by the camp.

Moody will also host a summit at Philander Smith University on Sunday afternoon for ages 13 and up, featuring guest speakers, interactive workshops and activities in the university’s Titus Building.

Moody has done some version of events each summer since he left the Razorbacks and was drafted 14th overall by the Warriors in the 2021 NBA Draft. His first summer back included the 2022 NBA championship trophy that he and the Warriors won that summer.

Last summer saw his basketball camp held at Little Rock Southwest in the main gym. Saturday’s camp included multiple courts inside North Little Rock’s facility, allowing a greater number of kids to attend the highly sought-after event.

“It’s really cool to see,” Moody said. “It’s hard every time that we only have a certain number of kids that can come. So every year the signup — it feels so fast. So being able to move to a bigger gym allowed us to let more kids in. I’m glad to see the turnout.”

In recent years, Arkansas has seen an increase in its representation within the NBA with the likes of Moody, Austin Reeves, Kel’el Ware, Nick Smith Jr., Isaiah Joe and Jalen Williams joining league mainstays Malik Monk and Bobby Portis Jr.

Moody said Saturday he wants to use his position to give back to the community that raised him and provide opportunities that did not exist when he was growing up.

“I want them to have access to me, Draymond, the coaches that are here, because all of these coaches coached me coming up,” Moody said. “I grew up here, and I didn’t go to any camps with professional athletes. I didn’t have that. So I just wanted to bring that access to them.”

Moody also said his opportunities to attend camps were few and far between as a kid in Little Rock.

“I didn’t go to a lot of camps growing up,” he said. “Anything basketball going on, I was the first one at the door, but (there) just wasn’t that many opportunities. … Making a relationship for (Green) to be willing to come back home and give that experience to all of these kids that I don’t even know, that’s really cool for me.”

Green and Moody both touched on their relationships since Moody joined the Warriors in 2021. Green said he has acted as a mentor for Moody over that time and is impressed by the development he’s seen.

“I’ve had the honor of knowing him for four years,” Green said. “Where (our relationship) has grown, where it’s evolved is, again, you’re speaking to a 19-year-old kid. At 23, he’s no longer that same kid.

“I don’t think people realize how much time that playing in the NBA takes up in your life. To watch him continue to evolve and grow, in spite of that, I think, is what I get the most from.”