With the Ones Basketball League (OBL/One-on-One Hoops) gearing up for takeoff, on Monday night, it held its “OBL: Battle of the Cities'” New York City tryouts at Life Time Sky gym in Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan, with OBL creator and NBA Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady in attendance.
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“I’ve always really (have been) tapping into investments of other people’s ideas, their dreams,” McGrady explained. “I figured, ‘What am I going to do for me? What is my passion? What do I want to build?’ I got that through my kids, and that through the platform that made who I was,” naming several famous basketball minds that will at the forefront of guiding their respective squads.
In addition to McGrady’s leadership and basketball knowledge, each city-based team will be led by their celebrity owner/general manager who will select the very best three one-versus-one hoopers to represent that city and team.
The cities and coaches include: Team Orlando – Vince Carter, NBA Hall of Famer, Team Washington, DC – Quinn Cook, two-time NBA Champion, Team Miami – Tim Hardaway Sr., five-time NBA All-Star, Team New York – Jadakiss, recording star and basketball insider, Team Chicago – Larenz Tate, actor, film producer, basketball aficionado, Team Raleigh – John Wall, five-time NBA All-Star, Team Atlanta – Coach TBD, Team Baltimore – Coach TBD.
“So, I’m just giving these guys opportunity and ownership, and also create a platform for these guys to have access to one-on-one basketball,” he added.
Isaiah “Leaky Roof” Brown — who won the NYC leg of the OBL in 2022 and went on to become a finalist — has been a major contributor to the 2026 competition. He was on-site lending valuable insight while helping elevate the energy of the event to a new, exciting level.
Brown, who played at State University of New York at Potsdam, said more community involvement is something that is so vital to him, as he has helped bring players from his area into the NYC OBL Tryouts, to give them something thrilling for which to play.
“I wanted to make a difference in my community, that is really what I do,” said Brown. who earned the nickname Leaky Roof because, as he puts it, “when you spring a leak, you grab a bucket.
“Change in my community, put pieces in my community” the Queensbridge-reared individual continued. “I come from, not poverty stricken, but somewhere where it can be dangerous. Things like that motivate me. I want to put people into the sports scene and out of the streets.”
Some of the players who shined on the hardwood include hoopers with various levels basketball experience and hustled their hearts out on Monday.
Hagel Augustin has been playing overseas in Slovenia for the last two years. Before that, he averaged nine points per contest his one year at DI Prairie View A&M after a standout Division II career at Glenville State in West Virgina, where he averaged 21.2 ppg. Plus, Augustin is from Queens and earned an All-City selection while at Springfield Gardens High School.
Jawan Daniels, who also suited up for Prairie View A&M, averaged 14.5 ppg in two seasons before sustaining a leg injury that forced him off the court his last year. He attended Teaneck High School in New Jersey.
Darien Davis-Dowling suited up for a year at Mohawk Valley Community College (NJCAA Region 3) before leaving to attend to family matters. Then, he returned and finished out his college playing career at the now-defunct Division II Dowling College, where he averaged more than 18 points per game in three years, from 2012-15, for the Golden Lions. He is a returning OBL third place finisher from Longwood, New York, and went to Middle Island High School.
Tishsean Emmanuel, a Brooklyn, New York, native and Nazareth High School graduate, attended Division III SUNY Potsdam, and averaged 5 ppg.
Jonathan Grimsley–who is native of Queens, New York, and attended Capital Christin High School in Sacramento, California–went to D3 Medgar Evers College, where he averaged 23 ppg in his senior season.
Larry Moreno attended St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York, and averaged nine ppg for the Terries in his four seasons before they folded the sports program. A Brooklynite, Moreno, nicknamed the Dominican Mamba, starred at Brooklyn Law and Tech High School.
Also, he has become a social media sensation with impressive trick shot ability.
OBL NYC team members will be named sometime next week, according to event organizers.
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Photos: Vianni Laforce, OBL.
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