{"id":665742,"date":"2026-03-18T22:59:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/665742\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T22:59:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:59:15","slug":"orlando-magic-legend-mcgrady-to-re-launch-1-on-1-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/665742\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic legend McGrady to re-launch 1-on-1 league"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four years after launching Ones Basketball League<\/a>, Magic<\/a> Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady<\/a> is returning to re-start the 1-on-1 competition in a new light this summer.<\/p>\n

Now backed by a multi-million dollar growth capital investment by Miami-based investment firm Next Gen Sports, \u201cOBL: Battle of the Cities\u201d will take an expanded version of the original OBL, \u201cwith elite one-on-one athletes bringing their own vision, culture and prestige tied to the city from where they grew up, played and\/or call home,\u201d the organization announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Each city-based team will have a three-man roster, comprised of players who \u201cbest reflect the tradition, values and basketball culture of the city the team represents,\u201d the league said, and they\u2019ll be hand-selected by celebrity owners and general managers.<\/p>\n

The competition will take place over multiple weeks in Orlando<\/a> from May 15 through June 12, with teams competing for \u201cthe swagger, pride, and identity of every city represented,\u201d the league said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way we\u2019re building this version of OBL, it\u2019s not just about skill \u2014 it\u2019s about toughness, personality and authenticity,\u201d McGrady said in a statement. \u201cEvery team and every player is bringing their own story and their own energy to the game. We\u2019re also excited about these legends stepping in to help shape these teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got some of the most respected voices in basketball, media and entertainment getting involved and people who really understand the culture of the game,\u201d he added. \u201cTogether we\u2019re building something that goes way beyond just one-on-one basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cities and coaches include:<\/p>\n

Team Orlando \u2013 Vince Carter, Hall of Famer
\nTeam Washington, DC \u2013 Quinn Cook, two-time NBA Champion
\nTeam Miami \u2013 Tim Hardaway Sr., five-time NBA All-Star
\nTeam New York \u2013 Jadakiss, recording star
\nTeam Chicago \u2013 Lorenz Tate, actor, film producer
\nTeam Raleigh \u2013 John Wall, five-time NBA All-Star<\/p>\n

There will also be teams in Atlanta and Baltimore, but those coaches haven\u2019t been announced yet.<\/p>\n

The league plans to hold a three-round tournament in Orlando starting May 15, which will see its first event held in a high school gym that seats roughly 500 to 600 people, Sportico reported<\/a>. McGrady told Sportico he hasn\u2019t settled on the location of the second and third rounds yet.<\/p>\n

The eight teams will vie for a $100,000 prize, according to Sportico.<\/p>\n

McGrady told Sportico he expects \u201ca wide range of talent across the competition,\u201d which will hold its first set of tryouts March 30 in New York. However, NBA players with more than two years of experience are prohibited from participating, Sportico reported.<\/p>\n

While the league plans to distribute its games on YouTube, talks with a streaming partner are ongoing, Sportico said.<\/p>\n

Next Gen Sports \u201cwrote a check in the $5 million to $7 million range\u201d to support the league, according to Sportico.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are honored, humbled and couldn\u2019t be more proud to be able to work with Tracy and this world-class roster of owners and GMs to bring the OBL to unforeseen heights,\u201d said Heath Freeman, CEO of NextGen Sports, who will serve as chairman of OBL.<\/p>\n

Freeman is the president of Alden Global Capital, an investment firm that owns Tribune Publishing and the Orlando Sentinel.<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four years after launching Ones Basketball League, Magic Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady is returning to re-start the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3779],"tags":[7,165,48,6,47,76,3883,1412,80939,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-665742","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando-magic","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-magic","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-orlando","13":"tag-orlando-magic","14":"tag-orlandomagic","15":"tag-social","16":"tag-social-sports","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116252663075607250","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}