New York City is preparing for the reality of a summer with no basketball

As a native New Yorker, I feel it's my duty to escort visiting friends and family around New York City. The uninitiated will come with their list of "must-see" landmarks and monuments, and rightfully so, who am I to dismiss the Ellis Island experience or discount the view from atop the Empire State Building. So l gleefully oblige them, sort out the logistics, and hit the road while incorporating "impromptu" activities along the way. Sometimes it's a detour to one of my favorite eateries or an unannounced stop at a park festival.

I try my best to introduce them to an experience they wouldn't find in their travel guides. One of my absolute favorite things to do is take unsuspecting guests to summer basketball tournaments around the city. It doesn't matter if you’re a hardcore hoops fan or unfamiliar with the sport; it's become requisite for all vacationers under my watch. 

The New York City summer basketball circuit is unlike any hoops scene in the country, every city has its share of Pro-Am tournaments, but few have the rich lineage or profile of NYC's more popular leagues. The city is teeming with quality leagues; there is "Soul in the Hole'' in Brooklyn, Hunter College Pro-Am and West 4th tournaments in Manhattan, Hoops in the Sun and Watson in the Bronx, Dyckman in Washington Heights, along with the Tri-State Classic and the Entertainers Basketball Classic in Harlem. All are storied leagues with rich histories and traditions dating after far back 40 years.

Each league has an assortment of high schoolers, collegiate athletes, overseas professionals, and local talent on their rosters. It's also commonplace for NBA talent to sporadically pop up at games. The leagues are a big deal, in the last twenty years the city has had a former President in attendance, a league MVP go for 66, heck "the Black Mamba" Kobe Bryant made the pilgrimage after winning his 3rd straight NBA title.

For those who inhabit these neighborhoods, the tournaments are a seasonal celebration, a place where members of the community can congregate to decompress, socialize, and indulge in one of the city's celebrated past times. 

This summer is going to look dramatically different than any other in history; the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed every aspect of our daily lives. City dwellers are coming to terms with the real possibility that this season's summer circuit will be canceled with sweeping changes to come in the following seasons.

The framework for these tournaments have always been a part of their allure: DJ's mixing in the booth, MC's working the crowd, hundreds of fans packed into bleachers. It all feels very intimate and creates this almost primitive aura as if you had front row seats in the Roman Coliseum.

How will these tournaments look and feel in this new world with social distancing? Can these leagues exist post COVID-19? These are valid questions to which there are no absolute answers, at least for the foreseeable future. The COVID-19 pandemic is a watershed moment in American history, like with 9/11, there will be a "new normal." New York City announced that it would begin removing rims from backboards across the city to promote social distancing.

When I consider this new, stark reality, I can't help but think about all of the things I may have taken for granted, while being incredibly grateful for the memories I do have. I do not know what the future holds, but I hope that somewhere down the line, basketball comes back to our city.