Tracy McGrady walked through the dark corridor, slowly into the Thomas & Mike stadium of the University of Las Vegas, standing at the edge of the bottom line channel, looking at some young geniuses on the court, far away from being noticed by others. However, this 6-foot-8-inch basketball celebrity was not only integrated into the shadow, but soon someone came forward to greet him.

Donowan-Mitchell first came to hug and shake hands, followed by Larry Nance, then Knight coach JB-bikstav and his wife, etc. Ten years have passed since McGrady’s last NBA game, but as emphasized in the summer league earlier this month, McGrady’s attraction is still strong, and so is his influence on the whole game.

44-year-old McGrady came here to promote his Basketball one-on-one League and a four-episode documentary about OBL(Ones Basketball League) in its first season. This series of documentaries is not limited to the stadium, but also describes the life, personality and basketball dream of athletes depicted by McGrady’s vision-a pure one-on-one basketball paradise.

For McGrady, this is not only a commercial adventure, but also an opportunity to keep in touch with basketball matches, but also more personal. McGrady said: “I was a nobody in I am. I didn’t rank in high school until I attended ABCD training camp in Adi in the last year of high school. Before I stood on the stage, I was a nobody, and this league gave me the opportunity to be exposed. This is why I want to create this platform for these players and give them one-on-one basketball opportunities.”

OBL made its debut in 2022. the three-month tour was held in Houston, Brooklyn, Washington and Los Angeles, and finally the final finals were held in Las Vegas. The OBL of the new season will be scheduled for 2024, which gives McGrady time to find partners and prepare funds. The cost for the three seasons is about 10 million-12 million US dollars (including shooting cost, the first season cost 6 million dollars).

In an interview with GQ, McGrady talked about his vision for the OBL league, his views on the super star’s application for trading and the Sun’s chances of winning the championship, and his suggestions for Wen banyama, and why he was confused about Harden’s choice.

Q:OBL League has been established for a season. What have you learned during this period?

McGrady: I know it is very necessary to create this alliance. I want to create something, and these responses are amazing. Including players, fans who watched the game with me, and people who talked about the OBL concept all like this league. Now 3V3 is a global sport, and I hope 1V1 is the same. I hope OBL can develop overseas.

Q: You said you saw the demand of this league. What does that mean?

McGrady: in NBA, some of the greatest players are masters of 1V1, but they can’t do everything they can in 1V1 league. You can’t play like that in NBA, so as a fan, I hope to see these guys show their unique skills in 1V1. I just like the competition between two people. Two people are on an island without being helped. Who doesn’t like this type of sports? To play 1V1 basketball, you must have a different mentality. This is not suitable for everyone.

There are only 450 players in NBA, but thousands of people can play in my league. There are millions of people here, and we will never lack genius. If you look at UFC, of course, people in this alliance have all gone to college, and they are all soldiers. No matter wrestlers or taekwondo players, no matter what kind of fighting they learn, we don’t know what they do before they get on the stage of UFC, right? They created these stars, which is no different from what my alliance has done.

Q: You have fought against the greatest players in history and against them. You have seen all these. What do you think is the unique charm of 1V1?

McGrady: if we play 7 points, then we are playing in front of the audience; And I defend a sneaky guy who is very capable of fengshui ball, can do some amazing things. He focused people’s eyes on him, and I was shocked by him, feeling like: Damn, I really want to lock him seriously and get through this period of time. Not only am I playing against a player who is very good at 1V1, but also the audience are supporting him. How can I change this situation? There are many tough guys in the league, including in spirit. I played with some people who didn’t like playing in NBA. I was talking about all-star players who were not mentally tough.

Q: In recent months, we have heard Beverly and drozan say that half of the players in NBA do not really love this sport, do you think so when your career is not over?

McGrady: I agree with that. The league has some talented players who choose this sport because they can earn money. In my time, some people in the league played badly in the first two or three years, but they would reach the peak in their career in the contract year, right? Then he stepped back, got the money, and began to relax. If you treat the competition in this way, you won’t like this sport. This has been the case since I entered the league and is still going on.

Q: Are you still watching the game now? Even if you don’t know all the players now and you only look at them occasionally, can you tell who likes basketball and who plays because of making money?

McGrady: To be honest, I don’t watch NBA much now; I will watch the playoffs, and everyone will pay close attention to it at that time. But I won’t watch the whole season. I don’t watch NBA much. I will watch more college basketball games.

Q: Why?

McGrady: watching college basketball makes me more excited. I like college basketball because they play hard. This is competitive basketball. I’m not saying NBA is not competitive, but everyone has invested too many three points. Everyone has many bad shots, and college basketball has no such situation.

Q: Which two NBA players 1V1 do you want to see most now?

McGrady: I want to see Owen and curry, or Owen and Booker. I think Owen and Booker are the two strongest attacking players in the league, and I am very happy to see them fight one by one.

Q: If you can make modern players and past players one-on-one, who do you want to choose most?

McGrady: I really want to see Durant and Garnett fight. I know KG will say some nonsense in this one-on-one. Wow, I really want to see it.

Q: Garnett is basically the ancestor of unicorn. He is 7 feet tall and can play in any position on the court, defend every position, hold the ball and shoot-he is the predecessor of Durant and brother alphabet, now we have wenbanyama, who may be the ultimate version of unicorn.

McGrady: He’s new here, French, I know.

Q: It seems that you are a little suspicious of him.

McGrady: No, I just said that such propaganda is crazy, too much, brother. I have seen this before. You all act as if you have never seen this kind of player. Can Bohr do that? He just didn’t get the real chance. I think he deserves a chance. The kid’s skills are very rich. Polzingis was also like this when he first entered the league. He was also 7’3 “, so the media hype was too crazy, but I understand, this is what the media did. They are looking for a new face for NBA. You must have a new star to build around him. James and Curry are about to retire. I understand this.

Q: When you entered the league from high school, you were still very young, but you also had to deal with a lot of pressure. What do you want to say to wenbanyama?

McGrady: I mean, in my opinion, his situation is perfect because he is excellent. One of the greatest coaches in your history, the greatest power forward and one of the greatest centers, sit down and talk to these people and learn as much as possible from their suggestions. I’m sure he will be talking to them about this. There is nothing better than sitting down and chatting with Duncan, David Robinson and Popovich baby.

Q: The league has reached a new agreement. They have retained the age limit for rookie players. As a high school student entering the league, how do you feel about this?

McGrady: of course, I will be biased. I hope more high school students can enter the league and let the team choose these people. But there is also a rule that they can meet the conditions of the alliance and go back to college for further study.

Q: The new labor agreement is also trying its best to eliminate the birth of the super team, but the sun still got Bill and played with Durant and Booker. Can the labor agreement work? When you talk about work, do you think it is to fight for the championship?

McGrady: when your team has three stars and a large sum of money, winning the championship is the only standard.

I don’t think solar energy wins the championship; I think they are very good, but they can’t win the championship. When looking at three people, it’s like they have to make sacrifices. In my opinion, Bill must make sacrifices and become a top defensive soldier. His role is about to change. You are no longer a scorer with an average score of 29 or 30. If you want to win, your attention should be focused on: I want to be the one with the best outside defense and make some other contributions in the game. Durant and Booker, they can get 65-70 points in a match. Elton is a basket guard, Bill can be a rebounder, can be an all-out defender, you can run and attack on the court. If Bill can accept this role, can they find some supplements in other players? Maybe they can win the championship, but it is too demanding for them.

Q: As we said, we are looking forward to the potential sensational alliance deal between Lillard and harden. They have all applied for the deal. In recent years, we have seen many transaction applications. Do you have any ideas about this?

McGrady: this is the evolution of NBA. Every year you will be hit a little bit. In my opinion, it is time for Lillard to leave. But if I am pioneer, I will also make the best choice for my team. If you give it to me, I won’t trade Lillard. His average score is 32 points, and you can still play. I have to find an all-star player for this. I can’t figure out what Harden wants to do all my life. Why do you want to leave?

Q: He applied for a deal and wanted to leave enbide.

McGrady: In my opinion, this is meaningless. Not only that, I also saw his teammates playing with him. He may be the one who is a teammate with the most Hall of Fame players, but he couldn’t win a ring. I don’t know what he is looking for, maybe there are some internal problems we don’t know, because leaving an MVP player doesn’t make any sense to me, leaving the east, there is at least a chance for you to compete for the championship. There must be something deeper than you know. Forget it, man.

Q: The last few questions, do you want to say something to Tiger? Previously, he said that he had sprayed that you could not become LeBlanc, and Kobe did not respect your remarks.

McGrady: No, he started a new podcasting program, let him enjoy it. If people believe this bullshit, they are really crazy. Everyone has his own statement, which doesn’t make sense. Why am I angry when I say that he is a starting point guard? I didn’t even play point guard. At that time, I was going to leave the league, not even the player who used to play in the Eagle. I asked him to speak slowly and enjoy it, Tiger.

Q: President Xiao Hua is constantly implying that the league wants to expand. Which city will you put the two teams in?

McGrady: For the past three years, I have heard that they are going to build a new team in Las Vegas. I heard that James will be the boss of that team, which is his team. I also heard about it.

Q: So where should the second detachment be placed?

McGrady: Seattle, of course. Then I will move New Orleans to the Eastern Alliance. I love Seattle and this city. I once played several games in the key Stadium (formerly Seattle Supersonic home court).

Author: GQ

Compilation: JayChan

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