Wednesday night was a culmination moment for Orlando Magic legend Tracy McGrady. After years of working to keep his vision alive, he watched as the gym at Oak Ridge High School filled with fans for the final round of the Ones Basketball League.
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“Look at the turnout,” he said, staring up at the crowd. “And we’ve still got more people coming in. I just think my team has done a phenomenal job of really bringing this to life and getting the word out about OBL.”
Wednesday’s “For the Throne” event capped off what has been a successful season for the OBL, a relaunched version of McGrady’s one-on-one basketball league.
The tournament, featuring teams of players representing eight cities, was comprised of a series of one-on-one matchups where players fought to keep their teams alive and compete for a total of $100,000 in prize money. It was a brand of basketball that fans aren’t often exposed to in a professional format.
“It’s one-v-one. We can all relate to that growing up as a kid,” McGrady said. “I think you get an opportunity to see guys that have a unique skillset.”
The matchups on Wednesday night offered a grittier, more intense version of basketball than is often common in team play. Players battled over 10-minute periods, with the first player to hit seven points winning the matchup.
Teams advanced to the final round based on cumulative points. The crowd excitedly took in those matchups, cheering on players and celebrating big shots as some games came down to the wire.
The OBL began with eight teams at its first event in May, before cutting down to the final four who played for the championship on Wednesday. Each of those teams were represented by a group of star-studded owners featuring current and former NBA stars.
“This is how we all grew up playing one-on-one basketball, the king of the court,” Muggsy Bogues, owner of the Baltimore team, said. “And being able to have it on a professional level, it’s amazing.”
Bogues’ Baltimore squad failed to advance to the final after falling to Jaylen Brown’s Atlanta team in the semifinal round.
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For the championship, Atlanta met Quin Cook’s Washington, D.C. after it beat Tim Hardaway’s Miami team.
Atlanta went on to take the crown after a handful of fierce final-round matchups with Washington, D.C.
Teams representing Raleigh, Orlando, New York and Chicago had been eliminated through the OBL’s two previous rounds.
The completion of the OBL has been a long time coming for McGrady after first starting a previous iteration of the league in 2022. After later doing a showcase at his house in Houston, he was able to secure a partner in Next Gen Sports and relaunch the league.
“It’s not NBA. It’s not college,” he said. “It’s a different brand of basketball.”
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.
While the first relaunched season of the OBL is now complete, McGrady still has big dreams for where one-on-one basketball can go.
“I want to see it abroad,” he said. “You’re watching the World Cup right now. I want to see one-on-one basketball have something similar.”
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