![\"Danny](\"https:\/\/platform.sbnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/The-Throne_Welcome-Dinner-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100\")
<\/a><\/p>\nDanny Green speaks to high school students participating in The Throne at the event\u2019s welcome dinner Image courtesy of NBPA<\/p>\n
Green and Duncan started to brainstorm potential partners and, knowing an education element was as central to them as logistics, approached the NBPA.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout four years ago Danny and his team thought of this idea to extend the high school season, because it\u2019s something that they never had when they were growing up,\u201d Chris Jean, Associate VP of Elite Youth & Basketball Activation at the NBPA, tells SB Nation. \u201cSo they came to us when Danny was a member [of the NBPA]. It\u2019s our job as a union to look at our guys\u2019 passions and interests and see how we can help them in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green credits his dad for his resolve to put on camps both during and after his NBA career. \u201cIt\u2019s where I started out,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the things I didn\u2019t have growing up. I didn\u2019t have those resources. And then now, it even hits home more when you become a little older, become an adult, start to have kids of your own \u2014 you want to be able to create something to help them get to college, or play basketball at the next level, or figure out who they are and what they want to be,\u201d Green says. \u201cTo give them a platform that you didn\u2019t have growing up, to be able to showcase what they can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
A showcase is one thing and, with the age threshold for elite sports recruiting getting younger and younger, there\u2019s no shortage of events willing to put hopeful athletes on a stage for scouts in exchange for an entry fee. That caliber of event only lends to the sense that the youth-to-pro-sports pipeline is growing more predatory as the potential for big money \u2014 through NIL and other endorsements \u2014 grows. It is all, for lack of a better word, gross.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also another reason why Green wanted to connect with athletes at this age and talent level, to help them \u201cbe aware of the grossness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been through it, we\u2019ve seen it. We\u2019re trying to get you to avoid the same mistakes, so you can progress faster and be a better version of us,\u201d Green says. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to make those athletes be better versions of us where they don\u2019t make those mistakes, and find their way to maneuver around the B.S., the scammers, or the people that\u2019s out to get them.\u201d<\/p>\n
To help kids avoid being \u201cblindsided\u201d by the next level, whether that\u2019s a college, overseas, or pro career, Green and Duncan offer off-court classes to the kids taking part in The Throne. These classes closely resemble the NBA\u2019s own Rookie Transition Program, with sessions on NIL, financial literacy and mental health \u2014 though Green underscores that financial literacy has been central to any basketball event GLSE has put on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always included that, in everything that we\u2019ve done,\u201d he stresses. \u201cFinancial literacy has been a thing that people talk about all the time, especially when it comes to black and brown communities, of how these young kids can make it to the next level and have no idea how to save, or invest, \u2018cause they don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to be financially literate, \u2018cause their parents didn\u2019t know. Nobody was there to teach them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green has seen firsthand what happens when pro athletes on seemingly endless contracts don\u2019t pay attention to where their sudden influx of money goes, only to claim bankruptcy within a few years of being out of the NBA. Adjusting that lesson to high schoolers, who are typically infused with their own strong sense of self and an invincibility complex, presents its own challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very intentional about our audience,\u201d Jean says when asked whether there was any concern over how the PA\u2019s educational piece for The Throne would land with teenagers. \u201cAnd first and foremost, this is something that the players wanted, and what we do at the PA is based on our players\u2019 passions and interests. They want the kids to be prepared earlier. And as you can see with the landscape, these kids are becoming professionals earlier and earlier in their life, so for us to be able to prepare them not only on the court but off the court, it gives them a better competitive advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n
The key difference in The Throne\u2019s educational element is that, with it coming from the PA, every insight originates from players. That means hard<\/a>, firsthand lessons<\/a>, as Green alluded to, as much as it does proactive advice on how to spot bad actors hoping to take advantage of young athletes\u2019 inexperience.<\/p>\n One thing that helps is classes being taught by recognisable NBA and WNBA faces \u2014 this year former player and current PA wellness counselor, Derek Anderson, led the mental health and wellness session. The high school coaches in attendance at The Throne also sit in on the tournament\u2019s classroom sessions. This \u201ctraining the trainer,\u201d as Jean puts it, reinforces what\u2019s being taught and has the benefit of lessons being echoed by a familiar voice, later, to the kids participating.<\/p>\n Derek Anderson speaks to students in one of The Throne\u2019s classroom settings. Image courtesy of NBPA<\/p>\n As the competitive pipeline continues to push for younger hopefuls, formalized by the lucrative but still volatile landscape of NIL and agents signing students at the high school level (and certainly scouting kids even younger), the pressure for kids to look, act, and sound like pros grows. What becomes clear when chatting with both Green and Jean is that there\u2019s a fine line everyone involved in putting on The Throne (some 60-plus contractors, staff, and event personnel) walks, an awareness of the ever-shrinking border between young athletes and their inevitable \u2014 and rapidly accelerating \u2014 professionalization. It might be inexorable, but they can offer a reprieve.<\/p>\n Everything from the playful production elements (a giant, gilded throne the winners pose for pictures on), to the slick social media support<\/a>, to formalised sponsors like 2K (there\u2019s a \u201c2K lounge\u201d set up for the kids to use stocked with comfy chairs, food, recovery elements and gaming consoles), to the wrangling of more than 200 teenagers for travel and accommodations, all of it is meant to honor the fact that these are still kids, and keep the onus on basketball. There is the competitive element of course \u2014 The Throne is first and foremost a tournament \u2014 but there is also a ton of effort made to highlight the simplicity and purity of the game, and where these athletes tend to find themselves in it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the last little purity of high school,\u201d Green says, pointing out that by the time The Throne rolls around the highest touted participating prospects, all seniors, know where they\u2019re going to college. While others may not be going on to play basketball at the next level, overseas, or at all. For that reason \u2014 and the intentional timing of holding it in March alongside national events like March Madness \u2014 it represents \u201ctheir last little go-around, or their farewell, before they move on to college. This platform, I would say there are some people who can scout it, but we try to make this a pressure-free, more fun, loving, barnstorming type of tournament. With the money on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s also where the NBPA\u2019s involvement formalises the feel of the tournament, making it resemble something of a homecoming and, to Green\u2019s mind, puts \u201cthe NBA stamp on everything.\u201d There\u2019s a welcome dinner for the entire group, and the American Dream\u2019s ice rink is turned into a slick, NBA-style hardwood court. Game officiating is handled by referees training to join the NBA and WNBA, as seen at other NBA events like Summer League. And of course, there\u2019s the prize pool.<\/p>\n This year, with Green\u2019s own personal donation and the PA\u2019s contribution, the total prize money for the winning schools is a cool $25,000 each. In this, there\u2019s a bittersweet legacy piece. Athletes get to give a significant sum back to their schools, programs, even cities. To Green, these are some of the key differentiators between good and bad pressure imposed on elite athletes at this level. There are stakes, the framework is professional, but unlike other tournaments which inevitably veer toward recruiting, scouting, and feeding organised basketball\u2019s competitive pipeline, the focus of The Throne is honed on experience \u2014 chiefly, making it the best, plainly fun three days it can possibly be.<\/p>\n \u201cThey feel like this is a real thing, a real tournament, a real game \u2014 I feel like I\u2019m playing in college already, or about to be drafted,\u201d Green says. \u201cWe try and make the experience as best as possible because you never know where these kids are going from here.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to all the educational resources provided by The Throne, it also gives space for a real, competitive, potential last hurrah for some high school basketball players.<\/p>\n The Throne just wrapped up its fourth year but Green, Jean, and their respective teams (sorry, couldn\u2019t help it) keep a close eye on every aspect to implement adjustments and improvements for the next tournament. At the PA\u2019s end of things, planning begins over the summer, once the Elite Youth & Basketball Activation team completes their Top 100<\/a> list. They figure out dates that utilise the tailwind of March\u2019s basketball fever without overshadowing The Throne, and begin to approach potential partners. Jean acknowledges an initial, big blindspot was not including girls teams in The Throne\u2019s first year, which was quickly rectified (the WNBPA is now also involved). Another added incentive has been awarding the most proactive boy and girl in the classroom portion of The Throne a $2,500 individual scholarship.<\/p>\n For Green, even with all his years of experience in and running tournaments and camps, he continues to marvel at how much the sport has changed, and the athletes along with it.<\/p>\n \u201cHigh school has changed so much,\u201d he says, noting how advanced the athletes he sees are, \u201cdifferent from when we played to now.\u201d<\/p>\n Practically, Green and GLSE take feedback from everyone and fold it into how to improve efficiency, across the tournament but also their events and business. While it\u2019s clear The Throne is a point of pride for Green, his awareness of growth and not resting on past successes is just as evident. The bottom line is the impact on each and every kid\u2019s life \u2014 his own version of good pressure.<\/p>\n \u201cEach year, you figure out how to get better,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n