LOS ANGELES -- Former Los Angeles Lakers player Slava Medvedenko is selling his two NBA championship rings to raise money for his native Ukraine.
Medvedenko was a power forward on the Lakers' championship teams in 2001 and '02, playing alongside Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.
SCP Auctions is donating the entire final sale price of both rings to Medvedenko's Fly High Foundation. Its goal is to support Ukrainian children by restoring the sports infrastructure of the war-torn country's schools and launching a network of social sports clubs.
"We want to restore gyms because the Russian army bombed more than a hundred schools," he told The Associated Press by phone on Sunday.