NBA icon Rick Fox has marveled at the concept of innovation, emphasizing how life-saving solutions are being discovered all around the world by what he calls very smart people.

“And then in some cases, the least likely of people,” the ex-Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics forward pointed out in an interview with The U.S. Sun. “Case in point: NBA player making concrete all of a sudden.”

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NBA legend Rick Fox has been trying to revolutionize the way people build, providing a sustainable alternative to concreteCredit: Ronnie Archer

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Fox recently unveiled the first house built with the new material, which doesn’t contain cement, in the Bahamas with Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis (pictured)Credit: Ronnie Archer

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Fox won three NBA championships with the LakersCredit: Getty
Fox, 54, referred to his unlikely transition from a retired athlete and Hollywood star to a start-up founder in the material sector, trying to tackle climate change by deconstructing the way people build.

With the help of the Bahamian government, his company – Partanna – unveiled a house built with an alternative concrete that can suck CO2 out of the air just like trees earlier this month.

The three-time NBA champion, who led the Lakers to the fabled three-peat alongside Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, now receives calls from developers around the globe who are intrigued by the potential of the revolutionary building material.

“In the next two years, I think, we’ll find ourselves in four different regions of the world with manufacturing at each of those regions,” Fox said.

“We will be developing and delivering for upwards of 50 different developers, which right now we have in our pipeline, at least 10 major developers.

“And these aren’t small-scale developers, these are giga projects. These are massive projects the likes of $70 and 80 billion.”

For Fox, climate change is a personal matter. Hurricane Dorian wrecked more than 10,000 homes in his native Bahamas four years ago, leaving thousands of people homeless and thrusting the country further into debt.

The three-time NBA champion saw that his homeland needed to find a way to better protect itself against the destructive forces of nature. The question was, how?

“And because I put that question out into the atmosphere and into the universe,” Fox said.

“As I think fate would have it, whenever you’re in service of something greater than yourself, and you’re being of service to your fellow man and the planet, people and things start to show up in your life if you’re looking for them.”

Around the same time, architect Sam Marshall and a pair of material scientists were in the process of submitting a patent application for an innovative cement-less concrete formula they had been perfecting over the previous year and a half.

Fox said that Marshall set out to discover a more intelligent way to build having been left frustrated by the costs and inefficiency of standard building materials.

His team tested about 60 different ingredients as they worked on the formula, the ex-NBA forward revealed, and then paired it down before discovering a concrete mix based on brine and steel slag, which are industrial byproducts that pollute the planet.

Recycling the two waste materials rather than releasing them back into the natural environment serves the benefit of the ecosystem, Partanna executive Rory Anderson told The U.S. Sun.

Anderson added that since the alternative concrete doesn’t contain cement – which is produced by burning rocks at over 2,000 degrees, releasing huge amounts of CO2 into the air – it also can significantly reduce the building industry’s carbon footprint.

Anderson said that Marshall and his crew also discovered that the material was highly reactive with atmospheric carbon dioxide.

It continued to remove CO2 from the atmosphere throughout its life cycle, much like trees, making it actually carbon negative.

At the same time, Anderson continued, Partanna’s product performs in the same way as traditional cement-based concrete, or better, when it comes to strength.

Thanks to the brine in the mix, it becomes stronger when exposed to seawater rather than deteriorating.

Houses built with the carbon-less material could in theory stand a better chance of enduring storms and hurricanes, making it a resilient solution to the already existing climate change challenges in vulnerable places like the Bahamas.

Fox believed Marshall’s discovery was the universe’s response to his questions.

“I wasn’t looking for Sam – Sam showed up. Sam wasn’t looking for me, I showed up,” he said.

“We both shared a desire to be stewards of this technology and to get it into the world.”

Fox said that Marshall saw an appropriate partner in him due to the leadership skills he showcased in his sports career as well as his entrepreneurial background.

He started learning the ropes in business early in his life, the ex-athlete said, helping his dad launch the first ice factory in the Bahamas and then working at the site until he moved to the US to pursue his basketball dreams at the age of 15.

After retiring from the NBA, Fox pointed out, he used the knowledge to launch several eSports enterprises in addition to his Hollywood career.

He did recall Marshall having one worry when it turned out he would be setting out on a quest to save the planet with him, though.

“He had a concern that concrete wasn’t going to be sexy enough,” the ex-North Carolina standout said before releasing a chuckle.

“He used to constantly remind me… He used to say, ‘Rick, you know, concrete’s not sexy. Concrete’s not sexy.’

“And I said, ‘Don’t worry about it, Sam.’ I said, ‘You know what’s sexy? Changing the world.’

“Changing the world and the way we build in the world is sexy enough for me.”

Fox said he’s gotten used to seeing eyebrows raise as he discusses his mission with people from the building industry – as well as the many mentors who have accompanied his life’s journey.

Little do they know, the Partanna CEO continued, they all have played a role in that journey’s turn to the path he’s on now.

The retired athlete said he’s been using the legendary North Carolina head coach Dean Smith’s “Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together” mantra to this day, applying it to when he builds and then leads his team at Partanna and in other business ventures.

The athlete said he learned what it meant to be a professional while attending basketball camps of fellow North Carolina alum and NBA legend Michael Jordan.

Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish as well as the legendary coach and executive Red Auerbach, who drafted him for the Boston Celtics in 1991, laid the foundation for his future championship run with the Lakers.

And not only did Fox get the chance to soak in the greatness of primetime Kobe and Shaq but also head coach Phil Jackson, who made him co-captain of the fabled Lakers team, helping him embrace the leader’s role and learn the value of teamwork.

Fox also mentioned the influence of fellow Bahamians Mychal Thompson, an ex-No. 1 NBA pick and two-time champion, and Sidney Poitier, an Oscar-winning actor, saying they instilled confidence in him that he could also make it into the NBA and later Hollywood.

Did it surprise some of them he was now working in concrete? Absolutely.

“But I’ll tell you that I no longer have an imposter syndrome about being in the space because I’ve dedicated my life to it,” Fox said. “I no longer think that only one person or one company should be solving this problem.”

The NBA icon used to repeat after others, he admitted, and question himself about his belonging in the building industry. Now, the question he asks is: “Why not me?”

And he works tirelessly to be able to deliver on the ambitious goals he’s set for himself and Partanna.

He said: “I’m much closer to a material scientist today than I was three years ago.”

“But yet still,” he continued, “I surround myself with the smartest material scientists.

“So just like I had Shaq and Kobe as teammates and I played a role in facilitating their excellence – it’s no different today.

“I facilitate the influence of my teammates that are far more talented and credible in the execution than I could have ever been in this space.”

Fox said he’s not just rid himself of the imposter syndrome. He now calls on the industry to come and join Partanna on the path to innovation.

“We’re being the change in the world that we’ve been looking for, but we need more and more people to come along and bring their solutions – to bear as well,” he said.

“We will lead, but we don’t want to be the only ones leading. Others need to take up the mantle and contribute as well.”

Fox extends the invitation to fellow NBA icons, although the former Lakers and Celtics forward understands even those he’s remained closest with might have too many commitments already to venture into building materials.

“And no one’s actually interested in concrete as much as me,” he quipped.

But, Fox added: “Any of my teammates are always welcome.”

For those hesitating, the NBA legend says that being part of a project, and an industry at large, which “can actually change all of our survival and existence as a planet” gives a sense of reward unlike any other.

“I agreed to do that at the end of 2020 and my life changed forever,” Fox said.

One can hardly have a resume more impressive as Fox, who’s played with countless NBA greats on the Celtics and Lakers, won three NBA titles, featured in Spike Lee’s He Got Game, and appeared on The Big Bang Theory and the Oprah-produced Greenleaf in addition to owning an eSports team and working with several top Fortune 500 brands.

And, the Partanna co-founder said, he’s been blessed to have received all of those opportunities.

But in the future, when he looks back on his accomplishments, Fox thinks his fight to decarbonize concrete could be what cements his legacy.

“I think this will be the greatest team I had a chance to participate on and to lead,” he said.