Finally, my basketball life is complete, well almost. Seeing the whole Dream Team in 1992 in…read moreperson... check. Being on the floor when the Lakers beat the Celtics in the NBA Finals in LA... check. Attending Dr. Jerry Buss memorial service... check. Seeing the first And1 Mixtape Tour at Venice Beach in 2001 with Skip to My Lou... check. Playing basketball at the Cage in New York... check. Last on my checklist... playing 1-on- 1 with Michael Jordan. Next to last on my checklist... attending Drew League.
Drew League basketball for me is like that girl I always heard about but had never seen. The sexy, pretty, elusive tall brunette that cooked, cleaned and could school me on Star Wars trivia while dancing the night away with me on the pier at the beach (I know, not possible). Not high maintenance, but worthy of it all, because she is that good. Drew League is the equivalent for basketball. All substance, no frills. Small gym, NBA All Star talent ballin' hard and flashy for rep and pride, free admission. FREE ADMISSION!
So if I had attended in 2011 I could've seen Kobe take on James Harden or Lebron James wax the floor. If I went in 2014 I could've seen Kevin Durant ball it up. And this year, Klay Thompson took on James Harden while Stanley Johnson guarded Baron Davis the same time that Keith Closs put a body on Andre Drummond. Metta World Peace even brought a team with his brother and his son on it while Swaggy P and Demar Derozan kept slammin' and AT&Ting it on another squad.
If you are a hoops junkie, you understand the quest for the ultimate pick up game. Drew League is it. Yes it's a league and there are refs, but where else can you go, where any given day in July or August, a NBA All Star will show up and ball it up for free? There is no pretentiousness. No blacked out Suburbans, no NOI with bow ties on the perimeter. It's just the ball, the court, the players and the announcer. There are high school stars, former college stars, international players, D League and former NBA players trying to get one last shot and an invite to training camp and current NBA players that need to get some summer run in.
It does fill up. If people hear that a prime time NBA player's team is taking on another prime time NBA player's team, the gym is going to pack out. At that point, the line forms outside and they let people in club style... No one out, no one in.
Since 2014 Nike has set up a Drew League boutique where you can customize your own Drew League shirt, tank, or shorts. You pick your shirt colors and designs and they press it on for you on site within 30 minutes. You can get some swoll items here that no other kid on your block will have.
Drew League at King Drew High School is OG and like NWA, it's straight outta Compton!