Former NBA players highlight rosters for $500K 'The Basketball Tournament'

Starting on June 6, 32 teams of seven basketball players will compete in what is being called the ultimate basketball tournament, or simply The Basketball Tournament for short.

The event gained some notoriety in late February when Grantland's Zach Lowe explained the event, including the $500,000 grand prize for an entry fee of $0:

Three years ago, a television producer whom Rob Kennedy had never met walked into the office where Kennedy oversees a youth basketball organization and pitched a crazy idea: a nationwide, five-on-five basketball tournament open to almost anyone, with social media elements and a multimillion-dollar, winner-take-all prize.
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Three years later, the tournament is set to go in an altered form. The lead organizers, Vin Martelli and Jonathan Mugar, will later today unveil The Basketball Tournament, a 32-team five-on-five bracket with a $500,000 winner-take-all prize. The event will not be televised, though TBT may decide to live-stream the championship game, Mugar says. The lead investors have had ongoing talks with several national networks, and if the first tournament is a success, they will kick around the possibility of a future television deal or Internet-only broadcasting.

If a high-stakes elimination tournament sounds like your thing but you'd be wary of low-quality ball, the tournament allows for former NBA and NCAA ballers, and pretty much anyone over 18 years of age, really, to be involved (though current NCAA players would risk losing their amateur status).

It seemed a fun idea, if not a bit of a hoop junkie pipe dream. Well, it's now a reality. 

Over the past two months, teams were built and solicited fans over social media, with the 32 teams being announced this week. Action begins on June 6 at Philadelphia University with teams playing as many as four games over three days before a break ahead of the June 28 final.

Again, with $500,000 on the line.

Some big names have signed up, and you'll likely recognize a few of the participants:

• Hakim Warrick, former NBA player and NCAA champion (Team TYGTAL)
• Marshall Henderson, entertaining Ole Miss gunner (Team TYGTAL)
• Reggie Williams, former NBA player (Team TYGTAL)
• Aquille Carr, 5-foot-6 YouTube legend (Team Rep Your City)
• Edgar Sosa, Louisville alum (Team International All-Stars)
• Most of the 2010 Cornell Sweet 16 team (Team Cornell Sweet 16)
• Villanova's 2009 Final Four team, including Scottie Reynolds and Dante Cunningham [they're also the hometown team] (Team ROBY)

This should be a lot of fun, so here's hoping the games wind up on YouTube later.