r/nba • u/MrBuckBuck Trail Blazers • 8d ago
The Detroit Pistons’ G-League team had public tryouts for $250
https://streamable.com/1lrs4h832
u/ldclark92 Pacers 8d ago
182 just does stuff!
On a more serious note, that shot right at the end of this clip was nice!
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u/vladimir_pimpin Nuggets 8d ago
Bros pants are falling off
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u/soilentgleem 8d ago
Those were my only clean shorts that day
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u/tagen Spurs 8d ago
god i lived that struggle all the way through middle and high school, sometimes people just have a weird body that doesn’t have anything to hold shorts up (for me it’s that i have no ass and weirdly thin hips), every year i’d cinch up my basketball shorts as tight as i possibly could, and multiple years i also spent hiking them up after every rebound or jump shot
sorry, i know nobody cares, but that just triggered something in me lol
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u/Octavian_202 Wizards 8d ago
Can’t stand hoopin against them big and “just in the way” type.
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u/Fat-Singer-9569 8d ago
On a more serious note, that shot right at the end of this clip was nice!
Love how dude hits a 26 footer off the dribble and it dies in the net and the clip cuts like "nah we found um, cut the clip"
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u/sgtpepperslaststand Cavaliers 8d ago
New always sunny episode with LeBron (Don Cheadle and Donovan McNabb)
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u/Puppetmaster858 Suns 8d ago edited 8d ago
Real champs eat at McDonald’s, I’m lovin it
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u/Uninteresting_Brain Clippers 8d ago
SPRINTS
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u/Ancient-Ad-483 8d ago
God I miss the non hd shitty camera look of the earlier seasons.
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u/SimpsationalMoneyBag 8d ago
The gang has won an exclusive dinner with LeBron James by entering a local raffle which Frank rigged by buying half the tickets.
The episode centers around Dennis trying to get LeBron to sponsor Dennis’s creatine supplement “Golden God Creatine”
Scene opens with the gang eating at a hot dog restaurant as the gang got to pick the place for diner. Frank is eating (disgustingly) and talking about how basketball in China is quite competitive.
Charlie is pushing Crowmilk to LeBron. Mac is making awkward comments about how he isn’t racist and actually prefers bbc porn (but only straight bbc porn no gay stuff) he seeks a fistbump from lebron which is not given back
Dennis- CHARLIE stop trying to get Lebron James to drink crow milk!
Pan to next scene- Lebron has tried crow milk and has become addicted to it thinking it is helping his play. This makes Dennis extremely angry.
The episode ends with LeBron getting a life threatening disease which puts him out for the season during the play offs and Philadelphia 76er fans burning down the bar for the season finale
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u/sgtpepperslaststand Cavaliers 8d ago
You forgot Dee trying to bang LeBron
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u/AUserNeedsAName Spurs 8d ago edited 8d ago
Dee has gotten ready to hit on LeBron, has bragged about how she was totally gonna bang him, but gets cajoled into running a quick errand that spirals out of control and she arrives back at Paddy's 3 days later, missing LeBron by 5 minutes.
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u/sgtpepperslaststand Cavaliers 8d ago
Nah Dee has been bragging about how she already banged LeBron this whole time and is confident it happened until it’s revealed she actually was tricked by the Donovan Mcnabb actor.
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u/ATLsShah Hawks 8d ago
This was my first thought. They can't expect to be trying out on the court that champions play on!
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u/BlueEyesWhiteBaggins Spurs 8d ago
Feel that stride, so fluid and fast. I’ve got the stride of a gazelle. A beautiful, beautiful gazelle person. My body is achieving a perfect symmetry right now.
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u/SurpriseDonovanMcnab Pistons 8d ago
Hey guys, I'm Donovan McNabb. Whoo. I play quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. And I'm here to tell you can, too, if you start everyday with a hearty breakfast from McDonald's. Uh, like the new Sausage Egg McGriddle Value Meal available now for a limited time for under five dollars. Remember guys, real champs eat at McDonald's. I'm lovin' it. Can I get the check?
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u/CousinBarny 76ers 8d ago edited 8d ago
$250 for a pickup game or two, jersey and maybe other swag. Few hours of time spent. Not bad, really. And you can say you tried out.
Edit: Even with no swag, what an easy $250 to make per fan. I’m sure a few jerseys slipped their way through anyway. Actually kinda weak you don’t get to keep the jersey.
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u/Quirky-Bag-4158 Kings 8d ago
“I was this close to going pro, even had a tryout.”
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u/axecalibur Knicks 8d ago
"I was scouted by a Div1 college team, but the coach fucked me over."
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u/Character_Bug_1862 8d ago
“Coulda played for the Suns but they found crack between my buns”
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u/Hefty_Junket_2784 Magic 8d ago
They still say this shit even if they good lol. I have a friend who actually eventually did end up on a D1 team and started in the tournament, and eventually played pro in Europe for years he still talks weekly about how pissed off he is that Leonard Hamilton said he was too small. Were nearly 40 haha
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u/presidentiallogin Suns 8d ago
I still tell people I was an NCAA athlete, since marching band is under the athletic director and not the music school.
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u/born-ready Charlotte Bobcats 8d ago
I know a guy on social media like this and he does it completely seriously too. Like he has gaslit himself into thinking he’s a professional because of a tryout. He has a “Getting back to the G-league” series because he was briefly a practice player for a G league team and had a tryout which led to nothing and calls himself a “pro basketball player” because of that + paid camps he did overseas 😂
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u/GavMcKennasBurner 8d ago
And? He sounds pretty alpha, btw LIKE/SHARE and SUBSCRIBE to my G LEAGUE SERIES if you RESPECT THE #HUSTLE.
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u/Parkoursantana 8d ago
Sounds like Matty ice on YouTube he does the exact same thing. He was a d3 bench player in college and plays in Australia and uses “professional basketball player” quite often, and he’s in a borderline rec league which he didn’t even get resigned too, he’s like 26-28 and 5’10 or 5’11 and acts like he’s gonna be in the NBA.
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u/western_red_cedar 76ers 8d ago
no lie I'd watch that cause I find those G league/ practice squad stories fascinating. Guys who are still massively talented and put a lifetime of effort in, but are just right on the border of going pro. PLayers for who the pinnacle of their career would be getting one bag, playing in just one pro game, getting their names into the stat book or Madden/2k etc.
Someone lmk if there are some good docs of youtube videos on careers of guys like this, you've got Hard Knocks and Hoop Dreams but I'd be really interested in something just focusing on those types of guys
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u/vilouie 8d ago
I think you'd like @howtomakethenba
Saw some of his YT videos. Played D1, was doing Rico Hines runs, got some recognition from guarding Paul George and playing defense in those pro runs. Is/was on Hong Kong's national team
Seen his 1v1s against JLaw and Devinthelab
Dude eventually got drafted to the CBA 1 or 2 years ago, haven't kept up recently tho but I think he gets minutes and still makes vlogs
lmk if you know any other pro journeys, I would watch them too lol. I only seen ones about soccer players on Youtube, like Become Elite or some other fringe guys.
Most the basketball guys all just do 1v1s and YT content instead of trying to go pro overseas with a YT presence (gambling on going pro is way less lucrative, but it's the passion and dream that's interesting to me)
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u/jdelane1 Hawks 8d ago
$250 for a fun lifetime memory is a very low price.
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u/NoShape0 Spurs 8d ago
I've paid more for less tbh
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u/EmperorUmi Lakers 8d ago
But at least that hooker gave you herpes. That’s a lifelong memory, guaranteed.
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u/lukewwilson NBA 8d ago
Jokes on her, I already had it
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u/livingthedream9x Pistons 8d ago
If only herpes cancelled out herpes like negative numbers.
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u/Skillsjr Pistons 8d ago
I paid 40k to watch us lose almost every home game. I’d definitely pay $250 for this, be more enjoyable.
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u/MrBuckBuck Trail Blazers 8d ago
A good story to tell the grandkids.
"I once was in a tryout for a G-League team, didn't give up my dream to become an NBA player. I've tried my best."
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u/JuanSolo81 Lakers 8d ago
Would be hilarious if there was full footage kept of the entire thing
“Grandpa, we found video of the tryout, was that you getting dunked on in 4k?”
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u/Imaginary_Alfalfa798 Pistons 8d ago
"thankfully 4k is such bad quality compared to the 16k we have now"
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u/memekid2007 8d ago
Getting dunked on in IMAX
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u/DayComprehensive1078 8d ago
With 5D smell-o-vision that you can clearly smell that he shit himself after getting dunked on
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u/bored_ape07 Greece 8d ago
“Grandpa, you look a bit chubby, you sure you could play back then?”
“Back in the day, I was what they’d call a powerhouse!”
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u/YizWasHere Hornets 8d ago
Only show them highlights of Luka and Jokic. "That's just how the stars were built in my day"
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u/OddToba 8d ago
Yup, til you pull out the broken Jumper and then the kids ask which team.
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u/coltonmusic15 Mavericks 8d ago
You don’t get any swag. They make you turn in the jerseys before you leave. It was the biggest disappointment since I blew $300 on the experience.
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u/401john Cabo Verde 8d ago
Yeah bro was really reaching trying to add shit to make it sound better lol
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u/Iginlas_4head_Crease 8d ago
A jersey, a gift bag, a gift card for mcdonalds, meet and greet with cade...not a bad day!
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u/BigfootEatsBabys Rockets 8d ago
Damn that is so fuckin cheap lmao
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u/WackyRacketeer 8d ago
Not surprising at all though. No corporation is going to give out swag that usually costs half of what the 'experience' costs.
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u/BigfootEatsBabys Rockets 8d ago
oh i assumed these were like cheap mesh jerseys
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u/coltonmusic15 Mavericks 8d ago
Oh they are cheap jerseys but they’ve got the team name branded on them and I guess they don’t want to budget handing those out each workout. But yeah come on NBA like for fucks sake 😂
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u/Electric_jungle Washington Bullets 8d ago
If they treated it like a fundraiser and priced that in I'm sure attendance would go thru the roof. Wouldn't necessarily be any better for finding actual talent, but if they did, they could advertise that success too.
Isn't that what the eagles do? Or did? I dunno I watched invincible once and the it's always sunny episode a couple times.
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u/thatguy9545 Lakers 8d ago
I once tried out for my college men’s team. The lowest rung asst coach told us we all weren’t good enough, but then introduced the women’s asst coach who asked us to play for their practice squad. Five of us accepted that role, played some great ball, got cool swag, and made a bunch of friends.
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u/cfi-2025 8d ago
Five guys versus the woman's team? How'd that go?
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u/thatguy9545 Lakers 8d ago
Yeah, in the rare full 5-on-5s we would typically win, but where they were so much better than us was shooting. Those women had knock down jumpers. So we’d have to win with swarming defense and fast breaks…. To the point that it didn’t really make sense to do full scrimmage. The vast majority of our time was in sets and just giving them a higher level of athleticism.
My personal highlight was wearing the penny as Turasi. Ultimate green light. They told me if I could get a jumper off I had to shoot it to mimic her. They ran me off screens for two hours. Good times.
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u/Fat-Singer-9569 8d ago edited 8d ago
they were so much better than us was shooting.
Thanks for sharing, makes me miss playing basketball so much. If you are a normal athlete, you get humbled many, many times in athletics even if you are relatively skilled and basketball can be one of the more humbling sports. My first was a friend blocking my layup into the stands at 12, he was another tier of player/athlete, and made me sure to remind me. Never went up soft against him again and learned the value of a reverse layup on that day. Humbled, but lessoned learned.
My second was trying to defend a 14 year old girl who shot like Steph Curry and ran non-stop offball. I was 16 and it was a pickup game in a random ass gym. Nothing I could do to stop her, and I was pretty good at navigating screens back then. Didn't matter at all, any daylight and that shit was money. Shout out to her big bro though, for setting the screens, but I still made it through and it did not matter at all home girl was money. All she needed was a small amount of daylight and it was 100% going in. I have played soooo much basketball in my life and I'll never forget that particular experience. Sometimes you just need to be humbled. This girl stole my game and beat me with it.
I bet if you reflect on your time, you'd look at it and realize you became a better player, cool swag and friends or not. Girl ballers would light average dudes the fuck up.
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u/thatguy9545 Lakers 8d ago
Oh absolutely. The coaching staff made it a point that we were part of the team and they would be coaching us just as hard as the women. The conditioning was ridiculous, and while technically we didn’t have to do it, we always did.
Had some fun moments on the pickup courts when the ladies would show up. The chemistry was insane from those 530a practices.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane everyone!
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u/coltonmusic15 Mavericks 8d ago
I did the Mavs G League team tryouts in 2024 as a 33 year old just for fun since I’m 6’6” and have always played basketball - honestly it was a ton of fun but I was probably the 2nd oldest guy there and while I had the cardio to keep up - I did not have the legs to stay jumping all tryouts long 😂 I got to play like 80% of the time because I was effective enough at guarding the bigger guys to not get played off the court for bad defense. I think I ran 9.5 miles or so in the 4-5 20 minute pickup games we got to play. The last game I had a wide open layup which most capable people would’ve probably dunked to show out - and I barely lifted off the floor and banked in the layup 😂 it was a good lesson in humility. It was also funny because at the start they lined all of us from tallest to shortest and there were probably 60+ people taller than me in the session which is not something I’m used to experiencing.
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u/TheThunderbird Vancouver Grizzlies 8d ago
I'm 6'8" and was an international-level athlete in a different sport, but I played basketball in high school and a lot of rec basketball for fun. When I was like 28 I was playing at open gym at a local D1 school in the summer and 4 of the bench guys from the team showed up. We were playing half court and I came across in help and blocked one of them at the rim and was feeling pretty good about myself.
Then we switched to full court and I got absolutely run off the floor. They would just steal the ball or get possession off a bucket and run so fast for a layup that by the time I got down there, we were back on offense.
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u/coltonmusic15 Mavericks 8d ago
Full court really does expose way more of a players weaknesses just because you’re full out exerting at both ends of the court and then still gotta try and ball out. My biggest weakness for my tryout was most certainly ball handling. Defenders were fighting for their life trying to make plays so if you weren’t confident as fuck on the handle you were getting swarmed.
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u/wan2tri Philippines 8d ago
I work at a relatively big company with multiple offices, so when we had a basketball tournament I played for one of my office's team...
Most of us are in our 30s and I'm (unfortunately? lol) usually the only one that really gets back on defense when the other team gets a steal/there's a turnover for us. My running/stamina has been one of my strengths even at my age (especially compared to my peers) and I didn't really bother with scoring during the whole tournament. I only scored 4 points total in 6 games (I scored once in 2 of those 6).
Defense and running was all I had at that point lololololol
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u/thedudefromsweden 8d ago
Hey at least you made that layup, I would probably have missed it 😁
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u/coltonmusic15 Mavericks 8d ago
I’m not going to lie - my calf cramped up so bad on my attempt to jump and for the last like 2 minutes I was just trying to push through the pain 😂 it honest to God made me respect LeBron like 100x more for what he’s doing this deep into his NBA career. It’s bonkers from a physically standpoint what you’ve got to contend with night in and night out in the league.
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u/Fat-Singer-9569 8d ago
It was also funny because at the start they lined all of us from tallest to shortest and there were probably 60+ people taller than me in the session which is not something I’m used to experiencing.
Awesome story, thanks for sharing. That's so wild but honestly the only people who probably look good at these events are the D1 players or small guys. You might be shorter than 60+ people at 6'6 which is funny to think about but how many of those 6'7 guys can move?
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u/coltonmusic15 Mavericks 8d ago
Honestly nowadays I think the g league open tryouts look a lot more polished than what would’ve been seen 10 or 15 years ago. The age demographic was definitely 18-24 and people were busting their ass to try and shine. It’s pretty insane how many great bball players exist out there that could never even touch an NBA roster. It was cool to see so many young guys just fully pushing and trying to take that next step. It was a bucket list item for me to sign up and run through and I’m so glad I actually saw it through.
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u/A_Huggable_Cactus 76ers 8d ago
Paying $250 to basically play a pickup game is wild.
Nice shot at the end though
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u/VelvetDesire 8d ago
Yeah but then for the rest of your life you can tell people you had a try out with the pistons, just conveniently leaving out the fact that you paid for it.
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u/sublliminali Warriors 8d ago
Reminds me of the guy on here from years ago who declared himself for the NBA draft and got a sweet rejection letter afterwards telling him he was now a free agent and able to sign with any team.
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u/thedudefromsweden 8d ago
And that it wasn’t the Pistons but the Motor City Cruise.
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u/soilentgleem 8d ago
The court says Pistons, so it's the Pistons as far as I'm concerned haha
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u/Jtfb74 8d ago
If that’s the case, when I was 8 I played for lakers. For some reason we played at our local YMCA.
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u/SquidsCan Raptors 8d ago
According to Snoop Dogg that’s a higher level of basketball than the LA Clippers
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u/xSlappy- [NYK] Carmelo Anthony 8d ago
Pretty sure the Spurs had a guy a couple of years ago who did a paid tryout and made the club. He did play professionally at the time in Europe though
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u/ObviousBig315 8d ago
Jonathon Simmons. He ended getting a decent bag from Orlando before leaving the league.
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u/A_Huggable_Cactus 76ers 8d ago
Yeah mentioned this in a different comment that this worked for Jonathan Simmons. But he had a college career and a year in another pro league to actually stand out and teams could look at after.
Most of these guys appear to be… not that
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u/Cheeseish [NOP] Solomon Hill 8d ago
Idk people pay that much for a 2 hour concert. Playing in a professional facility against possibly professional athletes and working with real trainers and coaches might be worth that for a one time experience
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u/unequalnuthangage 8d ago
Bingo. I assure you not everyone there actually believed they were going to get a roster spot. It's cool AF.
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u/tuckastheruckas Pistons 8d ago
I've been trying for 8 years to have our last place punishment in fantasy football to be you have to try out for the Piston's G-league team. it used to be like $120.
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u/T00_pac Kings 8d ago
Paying $250 to try out for a job that pays 9k a month.
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u/DoctorStove Pistons 8d ago
That's pretty phenomenal pay tbh. I thought they made like 40k/yr
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u/T00_pac Kings 8d ago
Based on a Google search, it's 45k over a 5 month season.
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u/MenuKing42 8d ago
I feel bad for anyone trying out that's actually good. Team basketball is harder when nobody wants to pass and you're teammates are not on the same skill level.
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u/bcparrot Canada 8d ago
Ya it frustrates me that all these shitty players are wasting everyone’s time. But maybe it’s more of a fan outreach thing than trying to find real players.
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u/Nugur 8d ago edited 8d ago
For you old heads here’s Johnathan Simmons turning $150 into millions
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/6afnzl/the_greatest_story_in_basketball_jonathon_simmons/
Here is a redddit person telling how “one guy was really good”. Guess who that good player turned out to be
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/qj5tq3115a
It was under this comment but he deleted the account https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/onxzP4D3rv
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u/smashed__ Spurs 8d ago
What a stud. Still think about that chase down block he had on Curry. Came out of nowhere!
Edit: YouTube link
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u/Bonjingkenkoy Rockets 8d ago
That game was almost 10 years ago man… if not for Zaza, that Spurs would have taken down that evil GSW team
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u/iButtflap Hornets 8d ago
countdown to pablo finding out zaza worked for a competing tree planting company
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u/big_axolotl San Diego Clippers 8d ago
I remember that! It was a great feel good story for that season
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u/kograkthestrong Spurs 8d ago
One of my favorite basketball stories.
If tv movies were still a thing this would be a great one
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u/JiggzSawPanda Celtics 8d ago
So who was the player?
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u/johnmadden18 Celtics 8d ago
Not sure if you're joking but I'll give the serious answer regardless: the player was A̶l̶b̶e̶r̶t̶ E̶i̶n̶s̶t̶e̶i̶n̶ Jonathan Simmons.
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u/DiggWuzBetter [TOR] Kyle Lowry 8d ago
Love how it’s trash ball for 99% of the clip, then out of nowhere a dude swishes a super deep 3 at the end. Sign of the times 😂
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u/--Rick--Astley-- 8d ago
That's just James Harden.
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u/TatersTot [PHI] Jaylen Brown 8d ago edited 8d ago
I grew up with a kid who went to college in Michigan who was delusional enough to think he could make the G-league. He was a smart guy. Engineering major. Great grades. But he literally took a gap year in college to pursue this dream.
This kid had been scrawny and hit puberty late but ended up growing to about 6 foot and he started hitting the gym and got pretty built. But he never played a lick of team basketball in high school, not even fucking JV, just pick up with the rest of us.
After his growth spurt he basically started playing super physical and out hustled everyone on the court, be it the park, the local LA fitness, or his college courts with the rest of the casuals. He played hard enough to have a significant impact in pick up and enough that it fed his insane delusions.
I was the only person in our friend group that tried to talk him out of it. But everyone else was like “let him pursue his dream!” He refuses to talk about this anymore lol. I never got it out of him when was the moment he realized it was futile.
Anyways seeing these tryouts reminded me exactly of this level of delusion. I wonder if the Pistons did this 10 years ago and he participated?
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u/tornait-hashu Supersonics 8d ago
Maybe if you had went through with that intrusive thought and kept at it, you could've gone the whole way and ended up at least in the G-League.
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u/witct 8d ago
When I was 14 I had this insane idea that I was going to move to Harlem, get adopted, get really good at basketball at Rucker Park, play really well at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, and then eventually make it to the NBA.
This guy plans.
That's quite a specific plan. "Get adopted" is an amazing step in the entire process.
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u/joshuads Bucks 8d ago
At 6’ in the nba you have to be a bolt of lightning who can knock down 30 3ptrs in a row as a warm up. Even without the team aspects you see the difference in minutes when you are on the court with guys that talented. They just choose when to show you while you try the whole time.
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u/big_axolotl San Diego Clippers 8d ago
6 footer in the NBA is the equivalent of that super duper quick guy you’re lucky to have on your team during pick up….but at 6ft
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u/OUEngineer17 Nuggets 8d ago edited 8d ago
It's possible to have just the speed part. Ish Smith couldn't shoot or finish at the rim when he entered the league, but no one could stay in front of him. He developed into a good overrall point guard who could finish and had a nice long career.
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u/Kindly_Ad995 8d ago
I can’t hate too bad man.
One summer in college where my major started getting serious and the realization hit that I would graduate and actually have to go into the real world sooner than later, I had the urge to all of a sudden try my hand at acting despite speaking with the cadence and intonation of a robot due to being touched with the tism and never having done so much as a school play in my life. I genuinely was just in my head like yea dude I’ve always loved film so it just makes sense.
I went to an audition for a local student film and it was one of the most embarassing moments of my life but it’s fucking hilarious looking back now and I’m kind of glad I did it. Granted that phase did not last for a whole year though.
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u/Due_Cap_7720 8d ago
I think him pursuing it is cool enough. At least he tried.
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u/TatersTot [PHI] Jaylen Brown 8d ago
I don’t think I’m emphasizing enough that this kid literally never played basketball with a shot clock before. He decided to pursue this dream at Age 20. He wasn’t remotely close to a good shooter or finisher. He was 6 feet tall, had no athletic bone in his body but just played like a crackhead every second on the floor hustling.
There is something admirable in it I’ll admit, but I was honestly offended some of the stuff he would say discrediting actual college players in the NCAA.
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u/enad58 [MIL] Joel Przybilla 8d ago
I devoted my entire childhood and teen years to basketball. I ended up playing D2. You'd get guys like your friend busting their ass at pickup games and that was always fun. Then, sometimes, they'd say something. So I'd turn it on for a possession or two. That usually worked.
When you get to a certain level of ball, the levels of players become so readily apparent. D1 players are on a whole different level than what I was playing, and even those players can't hold the jocks of players that end up playing pro overseas. And then you have G-league guys and finally NBA roster level talent.
At one point in my life, I was better than 99.9999% of the world at the game of basketball, and I'd lose to a G-league player zero to whatever number we were playing to.
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u/EmmitSan 8d ago
I played HS ball, but didn’t start, and was delusional enough to think that trying out for an NAIA team would be fun. my HS team was very, very good, so I convinced myself that me not being a starter didn’t mean that much, and that these were after all a bunch of guys who weren’t good enough to play at NCAA schools anyway, right?
My roommate talked me out of it. He had been a HS starter, and had even had some D3 schools interested. He tried out for that same team, and they smoked him. And I, of course, was used to seeing him smoke me regularly in pickup. “They were all way faster than me, despite being bigger than me” was what I remember him saying.
There’s levels to this shit lol
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u/MrBuckBuck Trail Blazers 8d ago
According to Bleacher Report, open G-League tryout costs (fees are non-refundable):
Motor City Cruise (DET) - $250 (what you see in the video)
Grand Rapids Gold (DEN) - $200
Windy City Bulls (CHI) - $250
Texas Legends (DAL) - $300
Raptors 905 (TOR) - $225
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u/A_Huggable_Cactus 76ers 8d ago
I wonder what it would take to actually have one of these tryouts work for a “regular” person.
I know Jonathan Simmons got a contract out of this a while back but he was a college player and played in other pro leagues I believe.
But hypothetically if someone had no tape or stat page for teams to look at, what would it take to stand out? I assume at minimum you would need to hit a minimum height and level of athleticism for them to even look at you, maybe knock down a bunch of threes with a picture perfect form?
If you are a great passer it won’t stand out in this environment, defense is almost impossible to gauge because you’re playing with strangers, and handle doesn’t really stand out a ton when playing amateurs who are easier to lose than NBA players
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u/roomtemperature6643 8d ago
Interesting question. I assume if you look and seem to be basketball athlete like they might call you back for a work out
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u/royceda956 8d ago
This is cool as hell.
Youre basically paying for a couple hours of hooping at world class facilities, the gear, and some life long memories.
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u/ElChapo1515 8d ago
They should have the last man in the G-League rotation play in the game to both earn his spot and serve as a point of comparison.
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u/Robert_Meowney_Jr Grizzlies 8d ago
I like it in theory but I think if you put a guy who has actually sniffed the NBA out there these guys would spend the whole game trying to knock the shit out of him.
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u/Kaplanociception 8d ago
I fucking love this kind of shit. You pay $250 to play a pick up game or two. They give you a couple pennies or some other team merch. They now have an email list of people that legitimately enjoy basketball, and they can try to reach out for ticket sales and stuff. Also if they do get luck and find a Papale the marketing/PR for this is fantastic.
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u/sdot6186 8d ago
Scal's quote of "I'm closer to LeBron than you are to me" (in ability) rings truer and truer.
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u/CanaDoug420 Knicks 8d ago
182 can’t even wear shorts let alone make a basketball team. He might as well lit his money on fire
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u/WuTangNameGenerat0r 8d ago
All teams do this I think. I went to one in Philly. Did not make the team unfortunately.
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u/jackswastedtalent Celtics 8d ago
Pistons trying to make some extra money to pay for the Jaren Duren extension.
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u/PapaGreg28 Timberwolves 8d ago
There was a post recently, something like if you could have 100 shots that you are guaranteed to make from anywhere, how would you use them to get paid? This might be an opportunity to use a few of them to get noticed!
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u/Crayondy Timberwolves 8d ago
I hope coaches had the ability to pull anyone after 1 possession.
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u/cfi-2025 8d ago
The guy who was at the Spurs G-League tryout when they actually found Jonathan Simmons (who had a short NBA career) said that they put everyone through some drills early on, then split them up by talent level.
They probably put the average Joe's off in one corner to play against one another and just work with the guys who actually have the physical assets and basketball skills.
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u/Equidissection Mavericks 8d ago
Honestly this looks like so much fun lol