Props 2 Pops summer hoops league thriving in fifth season

Aug. 12—SALEM — When Coky Espinal founded the 'Props 2 Pops' summer basketball league in 2017, he never envisioned it would blossom in to what it is today.

A Salem resident, Espinal created the league in an effort to not only give aspiring young hoopsters the chance to work on their game and showcase their skills in the offseason, but to pair many of those kids with coaches who could serve as mentors. A number of the players who joined came from single family homes and lacked a father figure to look up to.

In its debut season, Espinal fielded six teams for what was a successful and entertaining run. Five years later the league has well over 20 squads, with separate age groups for middle school, high school and college level talents. Last summer they even had a women's division, something Espinal hopes to bring back in the future.

"I feel very blessed; honestly, I did not think we were going to get to this point," said Espinal, who hosts the league at Salem's Palmer Cove Park. "There were people that were doubting us and I let that get to me at first, thinking this was just a one-year thing. But my internal fire started kicking in and I wanted to make this a legacy. We're now in our fifth year and hopefully we can continue you that."

While a large number of competitors hail from Salem and nearby Lynn, Props 2 Pops is open to players from all over.

Each team played six regular season games this summer before the field was cut down for playoffs. Espinal and Co. keep scoring stats and give out regular season MVP awards for each division, capping it all off with a championship series as well as a 3-point contest, dunk contest, king of the court (1-on-1) competition and an end-of-the-year barbecue to celebrate the summer that was.

This season, Lynn English-bound Jacob Klass took home MVP honors for the middle school division, former Lynn Classical standout and Endicott College bound Jeffrey Hill Jr. was named MVP of the high school division, and former two-time state champion at Tech Boston, Shamar Browder, was the college division MVP.

The competition and overall buzz of the league has reached new heights in 2022, and it appears that trend will likely continue down the road.

"I've been playing since it started when I was in 7th grade and ever since it's been jumping," said former Salem High standout Darlin Santiago, who will be taking his talents to Northern Essex Community College in the fall. "We get kids from all around, and Coky's done an amazing job putting this together for the kids. The competition keeps rising and it gets better every year."

Santiago and his former teammates Treston Abreu, Angel Tejada and Bryan DeLacruz, among others, suit up for "Team Elite" and were on the court Thursday evening for a championship battle against "All Lynn". Salem Academy stars Jorbert Peralta and Dexter Brown also play for the squad. Their opponent boasted familiar faces in the fold, too, including St. Mary's standout Ali Barry and Lynn English's Lou Rivera.

"It's a great league," added Abreu. "Everyone comes together from the city and it's just a good league to come out, have fun in the summer and get some good runs in. It's great to just compete against other guys from other cities and try to put on a show for everyone that's out here."

Espinal runs a Props 2 Pops account on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, but says that word of mouth has been the main reason for the league's increase in numbers and interest. This season alone there are college level players from schools like West Virginia, Endicott College, Salem State, Gardner-Webb University, Pace University and St. Anselm, among others.

Espinal believes that one day it may serve as a Pro-Am for recognizable, high level hoopers.

"We already have a lot of big time high school players and D1, D2 and D3 college players ... even a couple of G-League people playing," said Espinal. "Just the buzz has been incredible. There's no better promotion than word of mouth and it's just been spreading and spreading. Hopefully P2P will elevate to have have some pro players in the future, too."

Contact Nick Giannino at NGiannino@Salemnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGiannino_SN.

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About Props 2 Pops

* All games are held at Palmer Cove Park in Salem. Competition regularly begins during the first week of July and goes through mid August.

* Champions from each division receive medals and a team trophy. There is also awards handed out for regular season MVP, scoring champion and Finals MVP.

* Fees for the league is $40 per person which covers the cost for MIAA referees for each game, special Props 2 Pops uniforms and other miscellaneous funding.

* Middle school and high school division games implement two 16-minute halves while college sessions are 20-minute halves, all of which are running time until the final minute of the first half and final two minutes of the second half. A regular scoring system is used for all games.

* The league wraps up with a 3-point contest, dunk contest and King of the Court competition.

Contact Nick Giannino at NGiannino@Salemnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGiannino_SN.