The Shelby County Pro-Am is putting the best basketball players from Memphis on one floor

One week, all four Lawson brothers – Dedric, K.J., Chandler and Jonathan – played on the same team for the first time. Former Memphis Tigers star Jeremiah Martin hit a fadeaway 3-pointer that had grown men running up and down the sideline in disbelief. New Memphis transfer Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu threw down alley-oop  dunks and leapt for blocks that looked like volleyball spikes in front of a city crowd for the first time.

The next week, former NBA player and Memphis native Lester Hudson teamed up with the Lawson brothers and started dropping in 30-foot 3-pointers.

Tigers coach Penny Hardaway has been there to watch his son, Jayden Hardaway. Adonis Thomas played in a game last week.

This is what it's like at the Shelby County Pro-Am, which is bringing the city's best basketball players back together and keeping a tradition alive.

“We got some of the best talent in the world, but if everybody got to go through Atlanta or Nashville to compete in the summer time, we losing,” said co-founder Tayloe Taylor.

Memphis hasn’t had a league where the pros can annually shine in the summer since the Bluff City Classic ended in 2015. Stanley Blue, who was an organizer for the Bluff for 26 years, announced then that the tournament would not return due to lack of financial support.

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Cities like Nashville and Atlanta have since become popular southern summer hotspots for pickup runs, and summer pro-am hoops like the Drew League in Los Angeles, where LeBron James showed up to play alongside DeMar Derozan last weekend, are staples of their community.

The Shelby County Pro-Am began in 2019 as a way to get Memphis back in that hoops conversation.

This year's league began in June at St Luke United Methodist Church, where the cramped gym got so jam-packed each Wednesday night that organizers moved the games to Orange Mound Community Center last week.

'Memphis, we all love here'

The atmosphere is reminiscent of classic Memphis high school games. A courtside DJ blasts music before a who's who of the top players of the past two decades in Memphis take the court. Fans are feet away from the action, and the players often trash-talk and interact with the crowds.

In addition to many locally based current and former U of M players like Chris Crawford, Willie Kemp and Will Coleman, the league also includes players who prepped in Memphis and played collegiate ball elsewhere, such as Chris Jones (Louisville) and Nick King (Memphis, Alabama and MTSU). .

“That was key for me, just trying to get those Memphis players and introduce them to the city, because a lot of those guys transfers,” Taylor said. “Memphis, we all love here. Most time when people come play in Memphis, they end up staying in Memphis because we show so much love.”

Taylor started the league with Nick Tuggle and Lawrence Kinnard. Tuggle and Taylor are Memphis natives who played together at East Tennessee State in the mid-2000s. Kinnard was a member of the 2004-05 Commercial Appeal all-Metro team before attending UAB.

There was a void in the Memphis basketball scene, and they wanted to give the best players a reason to come play back home again. After missing the 2020 season due to COVID-19, the endeavor appears to be picking up momentum.

“After last season ended, a lot of guys were kind of mad that it ended and wanted it to last longer,” Tuggle said. “They enjoyed it so much. Without the players, it wouldn’t be a success, so I got to give all the kudos to the guys that come out and support.”

Many of the players also play in the Keep it Sweven Pro-Am League on Saturdays at Fairley High School.

"We got to have all the players here under one building making each other better, competing at a high level," Taylor said. "We giving you Memphis' best, and that was our whole goal. Give you Memphis' best pros, Memphis' best college players, all coming together to compete at a high level every night."

The playoffs began Wednesday and there are indications this year's six-team field will jumpstart even more growth in the future.

There's still a large contingent of Memphis players playing professionally who haven't experienced the event. Local NBA players like Chris Chiozza, Cameron Payne and Thaddeus Young are on the league's wish list. Eventually, top high school prospects from the area will be allowed to play, too.

But the biggest goal is to get Memphis Grizzlies players to suit up for a week and create a memorable community moment.

“I just want to see more NBA players coming out competing,” Taylor said. “I want to see it to the point of how the Drew League is. We want to get there.”

Contact Damichael Cole at damichael.cole@commercialappeal.com and on Twitter @damichaelc 

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis basketball Pro-Am is showcasing the best basketball players