TORONTO - Avery Bradley will never forget the day he met Jamal Crawford.

At that point, he wasn’t “Celtics guard” Avery Bradley. He was ninth grade Avery Bradley, hanging out with his friends and walking around at Puyallup Fair, as most kids in the state of Washington do when the fair rolls through.

“I remember one of my friends was like, ‘Man, that’s Jamal Crawford right there,’” Bradley said. “We had no money, and he gave each one of us 20 dollars.”

Crawford didn’t know Bradley at the time, but Bradley remembers the night vividly. After all, as Bradley says, Crawford’s a hero to every kid in the state of Washington who grows up playing basketball.

The reasons for that go beyond the court.

Crawford, a Seattle native, often puts in charity and community work back in Washington. He’s an ardent Seahawks fan, and the Rainier Beach alumnus is proud of the city he came from. The majority of Crawford’s offseasons are spent back home, playing on courts throughout the state, and his willingness to lend a hand extends to people of all ages.

That much was evident on a night Bradley will never forget. While the act might have seemed small, it made a major impact. Bradley saw a kind of generosity he could’ve never imagined from a pro athlete and role model.

“I’d do anything for Jamal,” Bradley said Wednesday before the All-Star break. “That kind of stuff, it sticks with you.”

So much so, that years later, Bradley felt he had to tell Crawford the story.

Acts such as these aren’t uncommon for Crawford, whether he’s back home in Seattle or with his NBA team on the road, where he’s always appreciative of his fans. In Utah, for instance, one young fan was so ecstatic Crawford called him down for an autograph, it brought tears to the kid’s eyes. Seeing how much it meant, Crawford took it a step further, reaching out to the fan and making it a point to try to see him every year he plays in the arena.

“He might be one of the nicest, best, most genuine people I’ve ever met in my life,” Bradley said. “That’s just Jamal Crawford. You will never meet anybody like him. He’s just a good person.

“He cares for people, and it’s not like he just does it because you’re supposed to – he does it because he wants to help people out. Wherever there’s a need for it, he does it.”

On that night for Bradley, it was more a want than a need, but Crawford was still there, ensuring Bradley and his friends had a good time.

The fair’s in September, typically the last few days before Crawford returns to his NBA team. He didn’t know Bradley at the time, and he didn’t need to. That year, like many years, Crawford went; and that year, like many years, Crawford wanted to make sure the kids attending had enough tokens to enjoy themselves.

“I didn’t know he’d be this professional basketball player, of course,” Crawford said. “He was a kid, he was with his friends and I saw they wanted to have fun and didn’t have much money with them.”

So he lent them some. And when they knew each other well later in life, Bradley had to tell him how much it meant.

“He probably has no clue what he did for me as a kid,’” Bradley said. “That really made my day. I still remember I went home and told my mom about it.”

Crawford knows what those feelings are like growing up.

Even now, in his 16th year in the league and at age 35, Crawford remembers meeting generous athletes when he was a boy, as well as those who weren’t so kind. He knows children don’t forget those moments, and now that he’s a professional athlete, the two-time Sixth Man of the Year winner doesn’t want to be among that latter group.

So he lends a hand when he can. And while Bradley will always remember what Crawford did, he might not even be the Celtic most appreciative of Crawford’s generosity.

That title likely goes to Isaiah Thomas, another Washington native, who’s spoken to Crawford every day since he was 16 years old.

It was around that age when Thomas committed to the University of Washington. Even before his freshman year, Thomas would head to the university and play during open gym, where he’d often see Brandon Roy and Nate Robinson in the offseason. Crawford would also join.

“That was the first time I’d seen him, and he was the nicest guy ever,” Thomas said. “I didn’t think any real players were like that.”

Unlike Crawford’s first encounter with Bradley, Crawford knew who Thomas was at the time. He’d heard about the up and coming future Husky, and he decided to reach out.

After Crawford saw Thomas play, he invited Thomas to play in his Pro-Am, a competitive Seattle basketball league Crawford helps put on.

“It was summertime, so we were at home,” said Thomas, who grew up in Tacoma, about an hour away from Seattle. “From that day forward, I probably was at his house every day, either staying the night or driving up to his house. We were always together. It was really like a big brother, little brother thing. It meant the world.”

And it didn’t stop in Seattle, nor was the bond limited to the summertime.

When Thomas went to prep school on the other side of the United States late in high school, Crawford was playing with the Knicks. State borders didn’t halt the friendship.

“Talking to him and his family, he was coming out to Connecticut, which is pretty close to New York, and they were kind of hesitant to send him to prep school out there, away from home for the first time,” Crawford said. “I was like, ‘I’ll make sure he’s OK.’ He came out every single weekend. Every weekend, he came to my house and stayed over and came to games.”

Understandably, that meant to world to Thomas, who credits Crawford and Jason Terry as role models who helped him get where he’s at today.

“(Jamal) taught me how to become a pro, before I even thought of being a pro,” Thomas said. “He’s just one of the best guys ever. You can ask anybody about him, they’re going to say the same thing. It’s so genuine.”

And Crawford’s genuinely thrilled to see what Thomas has become, with Thomas heading to his first All-Star Game.

“Knowing him from that point, to then where I watched the draft for the first time through its entirety because he was the 60th pick, all the way to him being an All-Star, it’s just unbelievable,” Crawford said.