Kevin Durant will be appearing Saturday in Wilmington to lead a team against some of Philly’s best pros
The Brotherly Love Showcase Game is about more than just basketball, and that's what the organizers — two former Philly basketball stars — said attracted Durant.
The Philly guys were trading friendly smack talk two months ago with Kevin Durant’s older brother as they started discussing a summertime basketball game between many of the city’s best pros and the best from Washington, D.C.
But Ramone Moore and Novar Gadson — two Public League stars who played Division I hoops before playing professionally overseas — still did not expect K.D. to take part just because they were talking to Tony Durant.
But the Philly guys said the event — the Brotherly Love Showcase Game — is more than just a basketball game.
“Once Kevin Durant saw what we were doing outside of basketball, he locked in with us,” said Gadson who played at Bartram High and Rider. “It was one of the best things that could happen to the game and one of the best things that could happen to Philadelphia.”
Durant, a 12-time NBA All Star, is expected to coach on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Chase Fieldhouse in Wilmington for Team DMV against Team Brotherly Love. The game will showcase the 10-best pros Moore and Gadson could assemble against the best that coach Tony Durant could find from the Washington area.
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The game spawned from the pro-am league that Moore, Gadson and former Roman Catholic star Mike Ringgold are running for the second straight summer at the Kroc Community Center in Camden. The goal of the Brotherly Love Pro-Am, Moore said, can provide a positive influence to children growing up in the same neighborhoods the founders came from.
They use the league to employ people — such as DJs and trainers — in the summer, run food drives at homeless shelters in the spring, and give overseas players the chance to play at home again for their family and friends. And that’s what they said made Durant want to come this weekend to Delaware.
“I can’t wait, to be honest with you,” Moore said. “It’s not too often that we can get a player of Kevin Durant’s caliber to come to the city outside of an NBA game. For him to take time out of his busy schedule, I think it’s pretty dope. We want to show kids that there’s still hope out there. If you stay out of trouble and do the right things, at some point in time you can be somebody like him.”
Moore and Gadson first started talking two years ago about starting a pro-am league in Philly. They were teammates in July 2020 during The Basketball Tournament (an annual summer basketball showcase) and wondered why their city didn’t have a summer league. Philly has tournaments — like the Danny Rumph Classic each August — but not a league for the pros who return to town, many from overseas, each offseason.
“We wanted to give guys who play professional basketball something to do besides just work out,” Gadson said. “You can work out all day but if you don’t put those reps in from working out into a game format, then it absolutely means nothing.”
The league partnered with a production company so the players could receive highlight reels to send to their agents, as Moore and Gadson — who have been pros in places like Japan, Romania, and Australia — know how difficult it can be to find a team overseas. The league also hired security guards to make sure the gym could be a safe place for fans, employed teenagers to run the concession stand and sell tickets, and try each night to give the community an escape that they wished they had growing up.
“We’ve been kids in the neighborhood,” said Moore, 33, who was the Public League MVP at Southern before playing in three NCAA Tournaments at Temple. “We know how hard it is around the city. I think it’s harder for kids now growing up. There’s so much more violence. They have social media and a lot of distractions. We’re trying to bring different things and opportunities to light for them.
“If we can get people out and enjoy themselves with basketball for three or four hours, I feel like we did our job. There’s so much stuff going on in our city and we just want to create a safe space. That’s our vision.”
Moore and Gadson are still finishing their roster, but they have commitments from Dion Waiters, the South Philly native who played eight seasons in the NBA, and former Roman Catholic star Brad Wanamaker, who played last season for the Pacers and Wizards. They’ll be joined by Reading’s Lonnie Walker, who signed this month with the Lakers after spending four years with the Spurs, and Alize Johnson of Williamsport, who played last season for the Bulls, Wizards, and Pelicans.
Durant’s team can draw from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, so the Philly team is reaching outside the city limits, even bringing in Hornets center Montrezl Harrell (Tarboro, N.C.) and another out-of-town surprise, Gadson said. The Philly team won’t have a two-time NBA champion who’s a member of the league’s 75th anniversary team, but Moore and Gadson said they like their chances.
“We’re rocking with our guys,” said Gadson, 32. “I just feel like we have that toughness that a lot of cities don’t have. Yeah, they have Kevin Durant. But one thing that we take pride in as a city is that we don’t back down from whoever steps onto the basketball court.”