No Excuses, Only Sacrifice

The Drew League was a professional-amateur hybrid tournament that had been around in Los Angeles for decades. It was first established as far back as 1973.

The tournament had originally been created in hopes of keeping Los Angeles kids away from drugs and crime, drawing them into basketball instead and giving troubled young people an outlet for their stress.

Although it was a tournament with some historical pedigree, the Drew League did not become widely known among fans until recent years.

Now, millions of people knew about the Drew League. Many came from all over the world hoping to watch a unique, intense basketball game here, traveling thousands of miles to do so.

The reason the Drew League had become so popular was simple—here, you might get to see an NBA star you had long admired.

In the summer of 2011, the NBA was locked out, leaving most stars in the awkward position of having nowhere to play. Bored out of his mind and looking for a place to hoop, Kevin Durant set his sights on the Drew League.

After Durant announced on Twitter that he would join the Drew League, LeBron James contacted the league's organizers as well. Soon after, the three parties arranged an electrifying showdown between James and Durant.

It was also the first time the Drew League had featured two NBA superstars going head-to-head in such fierce competition.

Then, footage of James and Durant shining in the Drew League spread across the internet and took the entire United States by storm!

That spectacle brought Kobe knocking just a few weeks later. He joined the Drew League All-Star team for an All-Star Game against a representative team from Washington, D.C.'s Goodman League.

In the end, the lineups for that game were nearly on par with an NBA