Imagine being a young child and witnessing the late Kobe Bryant walk into Harlem’s Rucker Park to play summer basketball. Now picture, 11 years later, watching Kevin Durant light the same venue up for 66 points.
Summer basketball does more than solidify legacies for NBA players
There used to be a time when, much like the music industry, NBA players gained a different level of credibility according to their standing in the community. Some from giving back, while others found another way to ingratiate themselves amongst the people. This makes sense because the music industry’s rules were part of the culture most players grew up in.
Solidify themselves in the streets and the love and admiration will grow to another level. For ball players, that meant showcasing their skills from the playgrounds to the Pro-Ams. Individuals like Allen Iverson and Baron Davis were already stamped before they stepped foot into the league.
However, the likes of Bryant and LeBron James ventured to the Drew League and Rucker Park to prove that they could hoop on any stage, in any environment. They were legends in the league who were not above getting back to hooping the way they did before it became a profession.
Not only did they benefit from it, but so did the kids. A point Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray tried to hammer home on his Instagram story:
“To my NBA brothers. If you healthy and love hooping man get out to these Pro-Am so these kids and people who can’t afford to see us be able to see us for free. We ain’t too big for that [expletive]!”
Heading to a Pro-Am is often the only opportunity to ever be within arms-reach of sports heroes for inner city youths who may not be able to get beyond the nose bleed seats—let alone inside of an arena. It also presents a chance for local hoop legends to be introduced on a bigger stage.
An NBA player’s presence brings the shine of more cameras. As evident from NBA TV jumping in on coverage of the Drew League, the CrawsOver, and the old EBC at Rucker Park. And YouTube is the defacto home for every performance. This resulted in the rest of the world’s knowledge of Adrian “Whole Lotta Game” Walton and Franklin “Frank Nitty” Session because of their head-to-head battles with Vince Carter and James Harden, to name a few.
Make no mistake about it. A lot of the local stars gave buckets to their NBA counterparts and vice-versa. But what they ultimately showed is that there is plenty of talent that may not have advanced past the high school, college, or overseas basketball level.
The atmosphere is pretty fun to take in too. So is seeing things that are never on display in the regular season, like Montrezl Harrell consistently sinking threes or some fan’s dream of Bam Adebayo and Donavan Mitchell teaming up in a Miami for a Pro-Am.
There is nothing like it.
The WNBA, Olympic Basketball, and NBA Summer League are the gold standard of professional hoops throughout the June – August months. However, it is hard to find more excitement on a court than when the stars mingle for summer basketball where it all started. Call it Pro-am paradise.