LeBron James Dominates The Drew League: But What Exactly Is It?!

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Hey Friends,

News broke that 18x NBA All-Star LeBron James would be playing at the Drew League over the weekend, and it felt like sports Twitter just about shut down.

Fans waited up to seven hours in 90-degree weather just to have a chance at gaining entry to the full-capacity gym. LeBron dropped 42 points, gathered 16 rebounds, and the guys that guarded him have spent the last several days on a national podcast tour.

But unless you’re deeply ingrained in basketball culture, you might not even know what the Drew League is or why guys like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, DeMar DeRozan, James Harden, and others play there in the offseason. So, let’s change that.

The Drew League is a pro-am basketball league that takes place every summer in Los Angeles, and it’s considered by many to be the #1 pro-am league in the world.

The league was established in 1973 by Alvin Willis, an inner-city community worker, as a way to teach life lessons to young men and women of South Central LA through basketball. He converted South Central’s notable “Homeroom Basketball” program at Charles Drew Middle School into evening basketball games for the community to attend, and the league’s popularity has exploded over the last 50 years as talented college & NBA players started playing as a way to stay active during the off-season.

The Drew League Fast Facts

• Established in 1973 by Alvin Willis

• Up to 18 invitation-only teams play 7 weeks of games

• The Drew League has 683.2k followers across its main social media accounts

The Drew League has attracted players from all over the world, including the United States, Spain, Mexico, Germany, Italy, China, Japan, France, Canada, Africa, and many other countries. And more than 100 NBA players have also played in the league.

Notable NBA Players That Have Played In The Drew League

• Kobe Bryant

• Byron Scott

• LeBron James

• Kevin Durant

• Paul Pierce

• Chris Paul

• DeMar DeRozan

• James Harden

• Baron Davis

• Paul George

• Metta World Peace

• John Wall

• JR Smith

But NBA players don’t just go there to dominate. Sure, you hear about LeBron James dropping 42 points on a group of former college basketball players that have 9-5 jobs, and everyone thinks that it’s easy. But Baron Davis struggled early on in the league, and Lakers player Talen Horton-Tucker only scored 3 points in his debut last summer.

Still, the business behind The Drew League might be the most fascinating part. It’s free for fans to attend the games, and for those that can’t attend in person, they recently started broadcasting all games worldwide on the Caffeine TV website & app.

* Interesting Note: The Drew League couldn’t stream games previously due to NCAA restrictions on NIL — because college players in The Drew couldn’t previously be compensated as part of TV deals, games couldn’t be streamed.

Heck, even the NBA broadcasted LeBron’s Drew League appearance last week on the NBA App — that’s the first time in history they’ve broadcasted a pro-am game.

But The Drew League also has partnerships with companies like Spalding, Beyond Meat, the NBA Players’ Association, and most importantly, Adidas. The Drew League was previously sponsored by Nike for about a decade (2013 to 2021) but has since signed a deal with Adidas for sponsorship of its uniforms, court, and gym.

Of course, LeBron’s billion-dollar relationship with Nike superseded that though.

So while most sports leagues try to grow their fanbase, increase margins, and maximize profit, The Drew League does it differently. They don’t worry about large TV deals or high concession prices — their signature drink (Drew-Aid) is sold in 16 oz cups for just $1, and they sell an average of 4,000 cups each summer.

The Drew League simply just wants to be the best pro-am league in the world and a place where the local community can gather each summer to watch great basketball.

I hope everyone has a great day. We’ll talk tomorrow.

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