T-Mac’s Ones Basketball League draws big crowd for Round 2

Tracy McGrady hasn’t played for the Orlando Magic in more than 20 years, but the city has never stopped being a big part of his life.

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“I’m always in Orlando. My family’s still here,” he said. “It’s my old stomping grounds and familiar territory. I love coming back home.”

It makes sense that Orlando would host an event that McGrady hopes can grow globally.

McGrady, a four-time All-Star for the Magic who averaged 28.1 points per game in his Orlando career, was on hand for the second round of his Ones Basketball League at Oak Ridge High School on Friday night. The venture pits players from a variety of backgrounds in a series of one-on-one matchups.

The event drew a completely packed gym, providing a rowdy atmosphere as players with a wide range of college experience, or some who had gone overseas to play professionally or spent time in the NBA’s G-League battled to help their teams stave off elimination and compete for a total of $100,000 in prize money.

The players are divided amongst teams representing different cities, with the combined score determining which teams advance. Each team has four players.

Those one-on-one matchups stand out starkly from team-oriented basketball, with the intensity evident as players who were often evenly matched battled for every point.

“You’ve got to be dialed in,” McGrady said. “There’s a certain level of toughness that you’ve got to have playing one-on-one ball.”

This was the second round of the OBL, featuring teams representing Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Miami, New York and Washington, D.C., in a group known as the Standing Six. Teams representing Orlando and Raleigh, North Carolina, were eliminated in the first round May 15.

The rules are simple: The first player to seven points is the winner. Shots inside the arc are worth one point and shots beyond the arc worth two points.

The teams are run by a group of star-studded owners, including NBA legends like Muggsy Bogues (Baltimore) and Tim Hardaway Sr. But they aren’t just big names attached to rosters.

“They are heavily involved and engaged in the whole process,” McGrady said. “Those guys did a great job of running their own tryouts and selecting their own teams.”

The owners are invested in helping to build the league into something bigger. Change was already evident just since the first round event that was held in May.

“This is just the beginning and it’s going to grow really, really big,” said Hardaway, the owner of the Miami team. “We didn’t have this type of crowd Game 1, the first time. It’s getting bigger.”

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Hardaway’s Miami squad was one of four teams that will advance to the OBL’s championship event in July. One of his team’s most impressive performances came from Josmel “305Bucket” Martinez, who built a lead off of physical drives to the rim to win his matchup 7-1.

Atlanta, owned by Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. (owned by NBA and NCAA champ Quinn Cook), also advanced.

The eliminated teams, Chicago and New York, were coached by actor and film producer Larenz Tate, and rapper Jadakiss, respectively.

McGrady has big ambitions for his one-on-one league after initially launching it in 2022. That iteration of the league didn’t last, but he continued to push to get the concept off the ground.

“I did a little showcase at my house in Houston to keep the brand alive, and it got the attention of Next Gen Sports, who is my partner,” McGrady said.

Next Gen Sports CEO Heath Freeman, who is chairman of the OBL, is also president of Alden Global Capital, an investment firm that owns the Orlando Sentinel’s parent company, Tribune Publishing.

With a growing crowd and a championship event scheduled in a few weeks, McGrady is excited for the future of the OBL and what it can become.

“It’s about building a great brand here in North America, getting the attention of international resources and then taking it abroad,” he said.

The “For the Throne” championship round of the OBL, which includes the final four teams, will be held at Oak Ridge High School on July 1.

Here are the team rosters for the finalists:

Atlanta: Paul Parks (captain); Malik Dunbar; Dejon “DJ” Waters Jr.; Brannon Hopkins.

Baltimore: Robert Formby (captain); Terry Hosley; Dylon Cormier; Tevin Curtis.

Miami: James “Byrd” Daniel III (captain); Owen Browne; Martinez; Dajour “Deebones” Joseph.

Washington, D.C.: Kevin “Uncle Skoob” Kuteyi (captain); Aboubacar “ANB” Camara; Bruce Massey; Isaiah “Zae” Moore.

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