With his 1-on-1 basketball league, the Ones Basketball Association, set to launch April 30, former NBA legend Tracy McGrady sat down with BroBible to discuss his plan to find the “baddest” basketball player on the planet.
McGrady, who’s a father of two sons, revealed that he got the idea for the OBA after noticing that young NBA fans have trouble sitting through three-hour basketball games.
“I have two sons of my own, and then I run an AAU program. My boys don’t watch NBA games, my boys don’t watch college basketball, and even the guys in my program can’t sit down and watch two and a half, three hours of basketball,” McGrady said.
“But what they can do is short form like Youtube and highlights and stuff like that, they gravitate towards, so why not create something that’s short, entertaining, and what they can resonate with, because they play one-on-one basketball all the time,” he added.
The invite-only league will kick off April 30 in Houston, traveling to seven cities across the country, including Atlanta, Chicago, and New York, before wrapping in the Bay Area in June.
In each city, there will be 32 participants, with the top three players earning an invite to the Finals in Las Vegas. While the winner of each will win $10,000, the final 21 players will compete head-to-head in the championship round for a chance to win the $250,000 grand prize and be crowned “King of the Court.”
The OBA will then launch monthly head-to-head battles, similar to a boxing match or UFC fight where there will be several undercards playing on a given night.
According to McGrady, he’s looking to find “the baddest basketball player, one-on-one basketball player, the ruler of the court.”
“It’s like UFC fighting,” he explained. “When those guys are going up against each other, we know who’s the baddest man because it’s just one-on-one.”
“That’s what I’m building; giving guys an opportunity who may have made a left turn along their journey toward their professional career…I’m identifying those guys and have a great story to tell with these participants,” McGrady added.
