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NBA Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady and six-time NBA All-Star Jermaine O’Neal are launching a sports agency together. According to them, Seven1 Sports Group and Entertainment will help young players, particularly young black players, through their NBA journeys.
The agency’s name is a combination of McGrady and O’Neal’s jersey numbers. They were both drafted straight out of high school a year apart (’96 & ’97), and shared the same agent for a majority of their careers.
Agents Of Change
“We think it’s needed, and we have a passion for it,” McGrady said in an interview with The New York Times. “We’re around kids every single day because we have youth programs. We see the lack of information these kids are getting, so we would be doing a disservice to our people if we don’t lend our expertise of what we know and help guide them. This is a calling that we have.”
McGrady says he will most likely step down as an ESPN broadcaster and serve as a co-owner and adviser to players. O’Neal will be McGrady’s partner and became a registered NBA agent after taking the league’s test in January.
The two hope to begin representing players by the 2021 NBA draft.
“We’re not trying to say we’re the magic wand,” said O’Neal, “but we’re going to be different. You can’t name another pair of people (in the industry) who have had the level of success and the ups and downs that we’ve had in our careers.”
McGrady was selected by the Toronto Raptors with the No. 9 overall pick in the 1997 draft. O’Neal was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers with the No. 17 pick in the 1996 draft. The two players have a combined 13 All-Star selections.
Article written by Chaos Media
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