NXT HOOPS: A Modern Spin to Adult Basketball
NXT Hoops Founder and CEO, Diego Garza, has always found basketball woven into his life from the beginning.
“I was born in March, right during March Madness. My dad always tells me this funny story—20 minutes after I was delivered, he looked up at the hospital room TV and saw Mike Miller hit a buzzer beater on national TV,” Garza said.
Garza grew up in Mabton, WA, a small railroad town where he became a 1,000-point scorer in high school. Garza went on to play division II basketball at Multnomah University.
“I came to realize that whenever I’m dealing with anything that has to do with basketball, it doesn’t feel like work,” Garza said. So, when the opportunity arose to organize “The Niko Garza Memorial Tournament” in honor of his late cousin, Niko Garza, he didn’t hesitate.
“He passed away in a car accident, and my family wanted to do something in his honor. I told my family, Let’s do it. I’ll be in charge of it. I just put forth my best effort, and our whole family just came out,” Garza said.
The tournament helped fund a scholarship for athletes pursuing a higher education. The positive feedback from several players at the tournament became the catalyst for Garza to consider his next step.
Garza went straight to Canva and started experimenting with logo designs, eventually settling on one and obtaining a business license. The tournament became an instant success, and NXT Hoops was off and running.
“As soon as we had one in Yakima and one in the Tri-Cities, we had some Seattle and Spokane teams travel in, and they gave us feedback to bring the tournament to Spokane or Seattle,” Garza said. “So we had one in Spokane. We got about 13-14 teams, and for the prizes, we gave out Nike basketball shoes.”
Garza envisioned a professional, respectful, and competitive space for adult basketball players. As well as bringing in the social media aspect that many adult players missed out in their playing days. NXT Hoops posts highlights throughout their social media providing an element of professional media that is missed in the average adult league.
THE RUN SEATTLE: The Perfect Alley Oop
When it came to planning the Seattle tournament, Garza’s connections ran a bit dry in the Rain City.
“When I throw a tournament over here on this side of the mountains, I just go inside my contact list and hit up like 35-40 team contacts that I have. It was a little more difficult on this side (in Seattle), I had to depend more on social media marketing because I didn’t have all these pre-established connections,” Garza said.
At this point, Joe Jesse, Creator of The Run Seattle, reached out to Garza about collaborating.
“It made me feel a lot better knowing that I could partner up with someone like that and kind of get a market that’s already there,” Garza said.
The Run Seattle and NXT Hoops collaboration worked perfectly for Garza and Jesse. The Run Seattle’s Instagram account, with more than 18,000 followers, gave them a great way to market the event to Seattle’s basketball scene.
“To see Diego be able to bring this over here is a big reason why I even agreed because I felt what he was doing was incredible,” Jesse said. “My inbox got flooded with NXT Hoops posts, and a lot of my guys wanted a more real game setting with referees, scores, winners, losers, and tournament style.”
In the tournament, Jesse coached “The Run” and provided big moments, unfortunately his team fell in the knockout rounds. Though, like Garza, Jesse has used basketball as an outlet to address issues beyond the lines and took the time to spread that message.
“On the surface, (The Run) appears to be one of the most competitive pickup basketball games that happen weekly at Rainier Community Center. In reality, a lot of us don’t have outlets or proper tools or ways to deal with a lot of the mental health issues we deal with, and basketball is a tool that we use to combat some of those issues,” Jesse said.
Through an initiative with Seattle Parks and Recreation, Jesse continues to host pickup games every Sunday at the Rainier Community Center for Women, Men, and even players over 40.
NXT Hoops x The RUN Seattle Tournament
At the end of the day, the name of the game is to win, and the tournament brought electric plays and good hoops. Top players like MVP Jordon King, Muhammed Kora, Tresai McCarver, Cian West, and Markeith Brown Jr. highlighted the event with their electrifying plays and brought a level of competitiveness sometimes missing from regular pick-up basketball games.
The tournament had Women’s and Men’s divisions. “Gals Burning Cals” won the Women’s division. MVP Cian West and All-Stars Grace Sarver and Harriette McKenzie led the way.
“Playing with so many amazing girls, it was really fun,” West said. “It takes you back to when we all played at high levels. It’s good energy.”
King led the “Scuba Squad” to the men’s championship. The two-time state champion and former Rainier Beach Viking honored his Seattle roots.
“This is my roots, I love to be here and give back to the community. It’s always a good bump here in Seattle with some of the best hoopers,” King said.
Reflecting on the tournament’s success in their first year, Garza looks to his late cousin for inspiration and staying grounded.
“Niko had this saying: Be humble. I’m working with something great here, but I just want to keep my feet on the ground and take it one step at a time, getting 1% better every day and never getting too high, or too low,” Garza said.
Garza hopes to expand NXT Hoops into more West Coast markets, eyeing the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.
A recap of the tournament can be found below.
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