Greg Oden among over 40 ex-NBA players on rosters for $2M basketball tournament

5-on-5 winner-take-all event will be held on Aug. 1 and Aug. 3 in Baltimore

Who says you can’t watch NBA players in August? Well, former NBA players anyway.

More than 40 ex-NBA players will participate in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), a 5-on-5 winner-take-all event that will award the winning team $2 million. The semifinals and championship will be held on Aug. 1 and Aug. 3 in Baltimore and televised on ESPN.

This is the fourth season for TBT, which awarded $500,000 to the winner in the inaugural tournament back in 2014.

The headliner of the tournament in terms of players is former No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick Greg Oden, who will be playing with Scarlet & Gray, a team made up of fellow Ohio State alumni.

Also participating will be Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, although he won’t be playing — he’s coaching a team of Weber State alums. Other current NBA players coaching teams include Wes Matthews, Darren Collison and the Morris twins — Markieff and Marcus.

“It’s just an honor and fun to see so many of my former friends and teammates coming together again years later to achieve that common goal,” Lillard said, per ESPN. “This tournament has given people who choose to compete in it an opportunity to be on a big stage for a life-changing reward.”

Two-time defending champion Overseas Elite will go for a third straight title. The team, comprised of former college players now playing abroad, split the $1 million prize two years ago and the $2 million purse last year. The team features Errick McCollum, older brother of Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum.

Lots of colleges — Syracuse, Villanova and Gonzaga to name a few — have entered alumni teams. Some of the former NBA players on rosters include Markel Brown, Donald Sloan, Eric Maynor, John Jenkins, Darius Johnson-Odom, Jannero Pargo and Chris Copeland.

You can see the full list of teams and rosters by clicking here.

36 COMMENTS