By Jasper Ward
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Three-time NBA champion Rick Fox on Monday said he will run for a seat in the Bahamas’ House of Assembly in an election due to be held no later than October.
“As a candidate and as a leader for the Bahamas I will demand transparency, honesty, integrity while demanding a level of excellence from all of us,” Fox wrote on social media.
“This is bigger than party politics. This is the Bahamas versus the world. Imagine a nation where every Bahamian feels secure, safe, empowered, and proud.”
Fox, who was born in Canada to a Bahamian father and Canadian mother, played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association as a forward for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.
Under the Bahamas’ parliamentary system, Fox will run to represent one of 39 constituencies but he did not specify which one.
Prime Minister Philip Davis will decide the date of the election, which must occur within five years of the last election in 2021.
Earlier in November, Fox announced he was forming the Good Neighbors Party with an agenda focused on regional integration in the Caribbean.
He was not immediately available for comment on Monday.
Fox won three NBA titles with the Lakers from 2000 to 2002 and retired in 2004.
While in the NBA, he launched an acting career and has since starred in films and television shows like “Ugly Betty,” “Greenleaf” and “One Tree Hill.”
Fox has continued to live in the Los Angeles area but has a home in the Bahamas, where he was appointed ambassador at large for sports in 2022.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
