Your new favorite Nuggets player is a Muslim. Your new favorite Nuggets player was raised by his mother and her female life partner. Your new favorite Nuggets player could change the way you look at society.

Kenneth Faried, Denver’s highest pick in the 2011 draft, has created a buzz across the Front Range, similar to when he led Morehead State to an NCAA Tournament upset win over Louisville last March at the Pepsi Center.

Fans are giddy about the new power forward who wasn’t just one of the better rebounders in NCAA basketball, but broke Tim Duncan’s modern-era (post 1973) record with 1,673 career boards.

“I don’t quit on plays,” said Faried, who was drafted No. 22 overall. “I just want it more than anybody else.”

Faried is fascinating. He plays basketball the way he lives his life — unwavering, headstrong and proud. And he comes to town carrying an amazing life story in his gym bag.

“As far as him being strong as a person, he got that from me, his father and my wife,” said his mother, Waudda Faried, from back home in Newark, N.J. “He grew up in the ‘hood, but he’s not ‘hood.’ It was a totally different attitude. And I’m just proud of him. I’m so proud of him, I can’t express the words of how proud I am.”

Oh, say can’t Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf see what a fool he’s making of himself?

By sitting in defiance of our national anthem, the Nuggets point guard mistakenly believes he’s taking a stand.

He is wrong. And Abdul-Rauf is sadly confused. The last person who should declare the U.S. flag a symbol of oppression and tyranny is a troubled, 27-year-old jock who never has known what he believes in. . . . Basketball friend and fellow Muslim Hakeem Olajuwon insists Abdul-Rauf is doing a disservice to their religion. — Columnist Mark Kiszla, The Denver Post, March 14, 1996

The last time didn’t go so well. The Nuggets’ Chris Jackson found solace by becoming a Muslim, but soon decided to take a stand by not standing. He protested our country’s national anthem, which to this day still leaves a bad taste in the mouth of many Nuggets fans.

For some, sports are the only connection to other people of certain faiths or backgrounds. Faried is here to play basketball. But he could teach a little along the way about his religion, just by showing up to work.

“Whether we see them as role models, or simply as professional athletes, their behavior, hobbies and lifestyles can do a great deal to influence not only ordinary Americans’ behaviors, but also their attitudes, including issues like Islam or American Muslims,” explained Andrea Stanton, an assistant professor of Islamic studies at the University of Denver. “It’s been 15 years since Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf refused to stand for the national anthem. We’re living in a new era, not only as a nation but also here in Denver, which has several thriving Muslim communities.

“I imagine that some people will make snarky comments and may bring up Abdul-Rauf, but on the whole I think that Denverites today are pretty cosmopolitan, open-minded and much more familiar with American Muslims than in the 1990s.”

Faried’s parents — all three of them — were his role models, but Allah was his guide. At a young age, Faried went to a Baptist church with his father, but young Kenneth ultimately became a Muslim like his mother and her partner, Mashsin Copeland.

“I try to follow my faith to a T,” said Faried, who turns 22 in November. “Sometimes it’s hard, but I’m just happy that Allah gave me a chance to be in the position I’m in — and gave me this talent, this hustle, this heart. And the parents I have and the great people around me to push me. . . . Allah helps the people who help themselves and people who are good-willing and give back. And that’s what I try to do — give back to the people who help me.”

Faried’s mother survived because of faith. At some points of Kenneth’s childhood, she worked four jobs, “just to make sure he didn’t hit the streets to get money.

“I worked until I got real sick,” she said. The emotions were incomprehensible.

“The doctor,” Waudda recalled, “told me I might not live another month.”

She battled lupus for the good part of a decade, undergoing dialysis treatments for nearly seven years. She needed a new kidney. It was a matter of life and death.

“We prayed and prayed for this kidney to come,” she said. “I told (Kenneth), if I leave here, I need you to be a strong man.”

This was 2010. Her son was another world away, in Kentucky, a junior at tiny Morehead State. In Newark, she had Copeland and Allah.

Soon, her prayers were answered. She underwent a successful kidney transplant on May 26 of that year.

Over the years, Waudda’s resilience made Kenneth resilient. And while his father, who lived in Jersey City, was an important inspiration (and will be moving to Denver), it was his mother who arguably taught him the most about love. There she was, insurmountably suffering, and by her side was a person with an unwavering heart. The person just happened to be a woman.

“I consider her as my mother,” Faried said of Copeland, whose bond with Waudda Faried became legal in a 2007 civil union. “It wasn’t like I didn’t like the lady or didn’t respect her. I love her. I was really young when she came into my life. It was extremely easy for me to accept. There’s a big gay community out there (in Jersey). It’s made me able to accept anything in my life.”

Faried, indeed, faced the cruelty of kids.

“Growing up,” he said, “people would say stuff to me about my mom being with another woman. They’d talk about how it would affect me, that I would become a crazy child. But it affected me in a good way. I’m able to adapt to anything.”

He now has his own child, a 1-year-old daughter named Kyra. He was drafted in the first round. He will play professionally where he had his greatest college accomplishment. He is strong, all right — physically, emotionally, spiritually. He is happy to be your new favorite Nuggets player.

“I’m excited to be here, but I want to get better every day,” Faried said. “I want to hopefully become an all-star some day. . . . I’m ready to do what the coaches ask me to do. If I have to go to the D-League and get better, I’m ready to do that. I’m just going to keep grinding hard, like I have been my whole life.”

Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com