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Hey, guys. I'm Rachel Demita, and welcome to our very first episode of The Courtside Club,
where we give you exclusive access to your favorite athletes, entrepreneurs,
creators. And today, I am super excited to have one of my good friends. He's also the most
legendary streetball player in the world, in my personal opinion. He's an actor, a social media
star. You guys are all familiar with him. Grayson Boucher, which I just learned how to
pronounce your last name today. Perfect.
A.K.A. The Professor. Grayson, thank you so much.
Thanks for having me. Yeah, glad to be here.
Welcome to The Courtside Club. Thank you.
I feel like we have collaborated so many times, but this is the first time that I've been able
to really sit down with you in chat. And one of the things on Courtside Club that we like to do
is give our audience a courtside view, because obviously,
you have millions of fans around the world, but they're sitting in the bleachers. We want to give
them that inside, that exclusive look. Got you. Got you. Definitely. When was the
first time we did collab? I'm trying to think. This goes way back now, right?
Honestly. Did we meet? Yeah, but I think we met before that, right? Through YouTube space or
something? No, I remember it was a dunk contest we both hosted. It was me, you, and Isaiah Ryder
for Balls Life. We judged a dunk contest. Yeah, that was way back.
I can't remember what year.
It was like 2015, 2016, maybe 2014. Yeah, I wasn't at 2K yet.
Okay. Right? I don't think so.
I don't know. Yeah, I'm not sure. I don't know. Anyways, we go way back. We've
collaborated multiple times. You've been on my YouTube channel. I've even helped you out with
your Spider-Man series. Yes, it's awesome. Some of my favorite episodes, too.
Spider-Man basketball was huge for you. Yeah, Spider-Man basketball actually blew up my
YouTube channel. So I started my YouTube, and it was funny because I started the channel
just to get more exposure for bookings. So super early, and I was trying to just put a bunch of
stuff out there because I saw the decline of Ant-Man a little bit, and I recognized that
getting an international booking was a big check for me, you know what I mean? Because you're going
overseas, so it's a bigger payday. And so I was like, cool. And then when Ant-Man ended, I was
like, we need to go crazy with this because this is now my TV channel. And I recognized that I
didn't think it would ever be on the level of TV, funny enough, back at that time. But I was like,
this is virtually your own TV channel for free distribution.
Right. So I was like, let's go. So I was trying to flood it. But then basically what I was getting
at is 2013 Spider-Man basketball episode one took my channel to a million subs in a week.
That's insane. Yeah, the videos. Episode one did six million views in a week, and then
my channel went to a million subs from 17,000 to a million subs overnight.
Were you expecting with Spider-Man basketball that it was going to do that?
No. So my friend Rob, who you know, right? Shout out to Rob Monroe. He
was like, yo, this would be great. He said, why don't we have you dress as a superhero? Go play
people one at the park. We'll choose Spider-Man because it covers every part of the body. So now
it's a prank. So it's like we're mixing prank with sports, with comedy, you know what I mean?
Like all these things in one. In the cosplay, I guess.
Yeah, in cosplay. So we go do it. We literally shot in like 30 minutes. We thought it was
hilarious, right? It's kind of like grown man.
Dressed in a costume. It's not an everyday thing. So we were like laughing with that. It was like
really funny. So we got home that night. I had a flight early in the morning. So it's taking
forever to upload. So I woke up in the morning for my flight. It's still uploading. So I was
like, screw it. I'm just going to leave. I remember those days.
Yeah, I just left my computer off. So I'll turn it off when I get back Monday or whatever. This
is like, so by the time I got to the airport, it already had like 300,000 views.
And then by the time I got on the plane, it had like a million. By the time I got to Chicago,
I had like 2.5 million. Like this video is just going berserk.
End of the week, it was like 6 million or something like that. And then to date,
it has like 50 or 60. The funny thing is we thought it was going to be comedy.
And I didn't know anything. But like you're saying, Spider-Man, like I didn't know.
Rob knew all about it. Now I learned like there's genius in comic books and stuff like that, right?
But we thought it was going to be funny, but people took it as like swag. They were like,
oh, Spider-Man, like that's clean. We thought it was more like fun. I didn't expect that. So
that was funny how it came together. But no, Rob,
knew all of Spider-Man. He kind of put me on to cosplay and comic culture. And I learned it from
I'm kind of mad, actually, because originally my role in the series. So I did one episode with
you where we first met or whatever.
Episode nine, by the way. Y'all go check that. You were in-
I did two episodes with you.
I think it's Spider-Man.
The first one, I was with my friends. Remember playing ball? And we met and you were not
Spider-Man. You were in your-
In your Peter Parker outfit. And we were at the park. It was windy or whatever.
I was shooting. So then the second episode is where you saved me as Spider-Man.
And then, but then you broke up with me, right?
Yeah, we broke up.
This all happened in the same. Yeah. So I think it's Spider-Man basketball episode nine. And then
you're on the very last one.
I think we went to 11.
Okay. But I have a bone to pick with you because I was supposed to die off.
Do you remember? You told me I was going to die.
Oh, we said potentially. I don't think we went that route. Like,
sorry, you didn't get the memo.
That's what I'm saying. I wanted to.
I was like, man, this is my like acting debut.
I get to die as Gwen Stacy. I get to get dunked on and it just takes me out.
We did talk about that.
I got cut from the Spider-Man series.
No, basically what happened was the video stopped doing as good. But I think also we
kind of like got, we deep dove into story and it's really like, it was all about hooping.
You know what I mean? So like we deep dove.
Listen, I'm joking. I wouldn't have had you on the court side club if I was really that pissed,
but I feel like that would have been dope.
So maybe there's just like this side, like three minute episode.
Maybe. They want us to bring it back. You know what I mean? So we might have to consider that.
We'll consider it.
We got a little bit off track. I do want to dive into your upbringing because you've been in this
game literally for nearly your whole life. You grew up in Oregon, right?
When'd you start hooping?
Started playing basketball actually when I was two years old. I have a picture
hooping with my dad in the driveway.
Yeah. He put the basketball in my hands really young.
And then I'd like this Larry Bird Nerf hoop. And it was funny because even at two years old,
I would tell my whole family, like at family gatherings, I'd be like,
ready? Like, watch. You know what I mean? And then I'd like shoot or whatever,
go dunk on the little Nerf hoop. So yeah, I started young.
Did you come from athletes, like a family of athletes?
Not on the collegiate or pro level. Like my uncle was like, he won a national championship
like as a wrestler or something like that. But no, like my dad, he just like loved the game. He had
a passion for it, just playing like city league. He was like, I'm going to go to Oregon. I'm going to
Yeah. I feel like that's similar because people always ask me, like, do you have a family of
athletes? And I'm like, I'm actually the first one kind of, you know, my dad played at the park.
My mom is the first one to say that she's the biggest dork. Like, you know, she won MVP in
volleyball when she was in like sixth grade or something. You know what I mean? So I just think
it's funny sometimes when athletes come from that because like you find the passion within yourself
almost, right? Like you're not looking at,
you're not looking at your dad as like a pro basketball player and be like, I want to emulate
him. You clearly, like you found a love for the game somehow. Do you remember when that spark came?
Uh, yeah, I think I decided or realized I had loved the game at like third or fourth grade
actually. So at that point it was like, I want to make the NBA, you know?
So that was your goal?
The NBA for sure.
Yeah. Playing for a living.
Some of your older fans, like we talked about earlier, might know you from and won. I personally
do, which it's kind of surreal. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
It's kind of surreal that we've become friends and work together as much as we have because you
are somebody who I looked up to and just what you did with and one was dope. That whole crew
that you guys had and like you created this culture in hoops. That was very special for a
lot of people, you know? And then there's an audience now who is younger, who only knows you
from YouTube and your social media and whatnot. I don't even know. How did you get that call from
and when, how did you make that decision to go play?
And one, first off, humble. Thanks for supporting for so long. It's funny that today I found out you
even knew when and actually didn't know that. I knew you probably knew of it, but I didn't know
like you watched it. I didn't know that.
I was so into like me as a Hooper, right? I had a completely different style of play than you. I
was just a straight shooter, but I was obsessed with that kind of culture. Like that was the
cool culture of basketball. Like my favorite player was Allen Iverson. Just like the swag,
the way that Hoopers carried themselves. You know what I mean? And I was like,
just the shooter who couldn't jump or run fast or dribble, but still could be admired, right?
Regardless. Yeah. And no, and I did great in what I did, but like that was so cool. And I feel like
so monumental and like we needed that, you know what I mean? And in that time, a hundred percent.
So what year was that when you first signed? Yeah. So this is 2003. My favorite player in
NBA was Allen Iverson at that time too. I think Jordan retired that same year actually. So,
And one, I was already a fan of it, 2003. They're having open tryouts.
So it was an open tryout.
Yeah. So this was an open trial that they would have before every tour stops. So yeah. So I hop
in there, nothing to lose. And I just start showing out. This is how I played. I was
culturing and one. So I started showing out a crowd, started going berserk. You know what I
mean? Cause people don't know at 18, like people say I look young for my age now, right? At 18,
it looked like I was 10 or 12, like crazy young. So.
And also like the jerseys at that time, the shorts and the jersey,
it has just made everybody look so small. Cause they were so baggy.
Yeah. That was the parachute clothing era. Like if my shorts didn't touch my socks,
I thought they were too small. That's just to give you an idea. Sleeves got to be past the elbow.
And it was like the baggy you were like the harder you were. So anyway, getting the open run,
I pulled a couple moves off. Like the dudes I'm going against, they over six foot and I'm at the
time, I'm probably like five, seven or whatever. So they losing it. And then
prime objective, uh, one of my ex teammates, he was out there and he kind of like noticed me first.
And then by the end of the trial, all the N1 players were there like on the stage. And
I think they even left it up to the crowd. Like who should go in? Is it this kid? Or there's like
some other dunker dude. And so like our applause was almost equal. So they're like, cool. They're
both, they're both coming in. So we go in and I think it's that Memorial Coliseum where the
Blazers used to play and then play against team N1. Next thing I know I'm going against one of
my idols, hot sauce. We having this back and forth and.
Even like slid me one time. I like touched the ground, but then I was going back at him and the
crowd liked it. I didn't back down. So I didn't go berserk that game, but I got the crowd really
excited to probably like eight points, a couple of, a couple of alley-oops or something. And then
afterwards, uh, they came in the locker room and main event was like, yo, we decided to pick you.
You know what I'm saying? So, and I'm, and I'm like, I don't even know what he means. So I'm
like, okay. I was like, respect. Then the corporate comes in after the cameras cut and they leave the
room and corporate comes in. So yeah, you've been selected to go on tour with us. Like, are you
going? And I was like, oh, I was like, oh, on tour. I was like, why they liked your play. You
know what I mean? Like you did really good. So like you and this thing, and then I knew that
there was ongoing TV show. Cause I'm like the biggest fan of it ever. So I'm on tour. I stay
on for about three weeks. I'm going crazy. I'm doing things that like I couldn't duplicate right.
Buzzer shots score 30 crazy highlights against like guys who are pro level. It just so
happened. I, my, the summer or the off season prior to that, the little spring summer leading
up to that improved like 300%. I was a dude who played two minutes a game at community college.
So when the show came on three weeks later, I see the ESPN show. I'm hoping I can like pause it
so I could tell my friends back home. Like maybe one of my highlights would make the show.
And then I didn't realize I was like the star of the show. The show was about the people trying
out, trying to get on the and one team. And I remember being nervous. I was in my hotel watching.
It was, you know, it was on ESPN, but I don't know. I was like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm
you know, it's on ESPN, but I'm like, I got probably 20 minutes of airtime shows only 30.
So I was just like, but also you're not from this world. So how would anybody know?
Yeah. Like, and it's funny too. Cause I was so young, like just, I was so immature,
just, they probably told me everything, but I just like miss that detail. It's about finding
new talent. Cause I just feel like I was so far below my idols. You know what I mean? That I'm
like, I don't deserve, you can't put me on the show like more than that. You know what I mean?
So I remember after that, my phone just like blew up. Like I couldn't even take a call.
Like it's just bringing so much or whatever, but it was good times. It happened all really,
really fast. So that's how I, I went through that whole, that whole summer. I hit a buzzer
shot mass square garden, like two games before the end. And then I had like a showdown with
hot sauce in the hood. They, the last game was in main events hood in London, New Jersey. So on the
show, they were like, all right, so you can do it in the arenas, but can you do it in the hood?
And so we had like this back and forth.
Or whatever. And that's how I won the contract.
But I remember the storylines were kind of one of my favorite parts about the show, because
it was like the first time that anybody's done something like that. And we didn't have social
media at the time either.
Do you think you came into fame pretty quickly? Was that hard being that young?
Or were you just riding the wave?
I was having so much fun. It's hard for me to say with hard or problematic.
if I would look at like the cons, because I got pros and cons to everything, right? The pros was
I was living my dream. My idols were now my teammates and then soon to become friends and
family or whatever. The cons of it were like, you know, I wasn't really ready to manage money,
partying too much. You know, we got into a little bit of trouble in certain regards.
That's like, that's hard for me to hear now because you're not that guy now.
Oh no, not at all.
Like you're the most like chill, like when I'm describing you, like chill, like when I'm just
describing people, I'm like, he's super humble. He's nice. He's like chill. He's like a regular
dude who just happens to be like a legend in the basketball world. You know what I mean?
So like to think you were like partying sounds, I don't know.
Out of character.
Obviously. Yeah. But you were 18 and you were like living the dream, you know what I mean?
Yeah. Yeah. So we were trying to live it up, but I had so much gratitude just to be in that
position because my whole career, I was really, I looked like I was 12 or like my whole time,
like even in high school, right? Like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was
like, even in high school, right? Like I didn't get it. I was on JV as a junior, but like my
identity was in basketball. So that was a big hit to my pride and everything. I had skills like
offensively, but on defense, I like shied away from contact. And then like, I looked so young
that like coaches didn't really want to like give me the opportunity.
That's honestly like saying that you were on JV is wild to me because now you've gone up against
former NBA players, current NBA players. Like you go to any park and you're dropping somebody,
you know what I mean? So like to know that like a high school system, I guess, didn't
accept kind of this kind of ball that you were playing or maybe you, you were timid. I don't know.
No, you're exactly right. So where I was coming up in Oregon, the, the style of play was very like
Hoosiers, very like, you know, people would call it like Princeton offense. We're going to run
these defensive things. So like if you went out of the offense, like cross somebody over, throw no
pass or like score, like it might be, it might come off,
and that environment is like a little bit showboaty or whatever. And then like,
I was like good, but I wasn't like ranked in the state. So I probably didn't have the trust of my
coaches to be able to like show out like that. Right. You know what I mean? So, and then if
you make a mistake doing a flashy move, like you you'll get benched quicker than if you, you know,
you're just throwing a regular bounce pass and it goes out of bounds. You do a turnover or whatever,
but you're throwing it behind your back and it goes out of bounds. Your coach is like,
get them out of here. You know, that's what I always tell kids. Like, cause you know, that
whole and one era. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Everybody wanted to copy the moves. Right. But you and I used to do it. My AU team used to,
yeah. I mean, I played like an and one who I was in high school, but like you have to earn the
trust of your coach. Like if you're going to be flashy, you better be the starter. You know what
I mean? Yeah. If you're going to do that and not take away from what's going on, like you got to
have the trust of like, if your coach is going to let you cross people over and throw no look passes.
And then by the time I'm a senior, I go between the legs, all this stuff, you know what I mean?
But I had the, by the time I was a senior, I transferred to a smaller school and I had the
trust of my coach to be able to do it. So it was,
it's more like seamless. Yeah. But yeah, I had a good senior year. I transferred to this like
really small Christian school for like better opportunity. But then again, like no college
offers. So you, and you gave up your college eligibility to play with and one because.
Yeah. Cause I wasn't going anywhere. And then my parents supported it like to my surprise at that
time, but they had invested so much into my dream. Like I wouldn't do what I do today without my
parents' support. Like they put me in a AU. I had went to all clinics and camps. I always had
like nice shoes. I had a personal trainer by the time I was in fourth grade that I worked with all
the way up until. Yeah. You know, even being on an one, so they had invested so much into it and
they knew I wasn't going anywhere like at the community college. So they were like, yeah,
let's do it. You know? And if at that time, and when was so popular, we felt like it was
going to be around forever. Like the globe trotters. Yeah.
And I, and I think too, we're similar in the fact that like, we're not necessarily
built like ballplayers, right? Like you're smaller in general. So you have to control
the things that you can control. So for me, I chose shooting. I was like, I'm just going to
be a lights out shooter. That's it. That's what I like to do. That's what I can do. And that's
how I got my scholarship and, you know, excelled how I wanted to in basketball. But I feel like a
lot of kids nowadays also need to understand that because right now on social media, you just see
highlights, you know, or it's like somebody doing moves like you, but like you had a trainer. I,
I never knew that, that you had a personal trainer since fourth grade
and you were doing all of these different things. You probably had to work
harder and smarter than some kids who maybe were born six, five, you know?
Oh, a hundred percent, a hundred percent. Like that's what I tell kids now there there's a whole,
like a lot of kids like to, uh, or parents will say like size doesn't matter. You know,
that's kind of like a word, right? Size doesn't matter. We're like, it does like the smaller you
are, the more skilled you're going to have to be, like say you were expert at shooting. So it's like
your shooting is going to need to be elite for you to be on, you know what I mean? So yeah. Cause
like, and that's what I always tell people too.
People don't really think about it like this, but like size strength and speed outweigh are more
a better asset than being high skilled because of the end day high skilled is based on how you
perform that day. Size and strength ain't going nowhere. Like by default, you're going to have
your size and strength. That's why in the NBA game, like that's really like a size and strength
game. Not the guys aren't skilled. It's like, it's like people have both, but even some posts,
you could be like, oh, maybe they might the most skilled, but they're so dang strong and big.
They got that spot.
So yeah, I never really made it until I got on and one, I never really made it. And like, even
I had a good senior year, but outside of that, they had allowed me to, my environment allowed
me to think maybe I wasn't really that good when it came to organized ball, you know, cause I played
pickup. I'll go crazy. People knew me for that. But in the season, it was like, we had to conform.
And so they made me think that's what basketball was in an organized level, you know, all the way
around. But by the time my and one of the teammates saw me, they were like, you're not going, you're
not going to college. You're not going to D1. I was like, d1. now I can cut from
three jucos. I only played community college ball cause my dad persuaded
my dad was a jeweler. He owned a jewelry store for years. So he was selling
jewelry to the head coach and he persuaded him to give me an opportunity to give me a shot.
And that's the only reason the guy was gracious enough to like, let me have a tryout.
And he saw, I had some skills, but he allowed me to like redshirt.
And then I ended up playing because like some guys got injured.. That's the only reason, man.
, because I ended up playing. Because some guys got injured. So that's the only reason.
reason i played community college that's insane yeah and then i don't think anybody if you told
them on the street like i had to like ask my way into playing at a community college i'd be like
shut up grace and you know yeah yeah right yeah do you remember the the feeling that you had when
and one was ending yeah yeah definitely a feeling of like the end of an era for sure what's next and
then partially i couldn't believe it either like astounded me but i didn't know a lot about
business like when a business gets bought out right it's just like a team or a program gets a
new coach it's new system new view new outlook new approach so the people that bought and one
they looked at the numbers on paper and it was good but they didn't know the whole thing was
built off streetball so they tried to like we're just going to do nba and go the traditional route
it's different now though for sure yeah i mean it's just different and i don't i think if you
didn't grow up in the era that we did you'll never really be able to understand like the impact that
i think kids today will say something else impacted them whether it's you know like social
media or some other wave that we've had in sports but that was something that was really big
so i can just imagine i've had transitions in my life where i've like graduated from big stages
even leaving the game of basketball in general walking away from my college team was like one
of the toughest decisions and then trying to figure out what's next when that's something
that's like your whole identity or something that was like so fun like did you feel lost at all or
yeah no i was gonna say i'm i was lost i'm like damn what's next because outside of streetball on
that highest level you had like actual streetball like at ground level like rucker park and like
these leagues on the east coast but you know you get like a little money here and there it's like
it's hard to make a career and then me coming from oregon try to like move to new york and do that
living it just it doesn't even make sense right you want to do something that's going to stick
around for the long term so when i would go overseas like i remember we went to europe
and even australia and like people would approach me and be like fessa i love your work
and i'd be like thanks for watching the show i used to just say that right right thank you
thanks for checking out the show i appreciate you and they'd be like no i saw your stuff on youtube
and so i was like oh youtube i remember first time i heard that i was like okay i was like i knew it
was something on the internet too or whatever yeah so i remember looking into it and then that
started to be more and more of a trend and that's why i knew like i just started my own channel try
to put videos here because i did find out through research it was in like 20 countries at the time
but like yeah it was all over the world so it was really just to get more bookings we have to pull
up some of those clips because i feel like we uploaded some stuff in like 2015 16 17 on youtube
that would kill now on like tiktok or reels or something right i want to pick up kind of where
we left off in the first half and go into the the second half of your career sure i think it's
20 years or so 19 years as of this year yeah 19 years and to stay on top like you have been and
continue to like make moves in this space is is a really hard thing to do and i think for any
creator out there they can appreciate that so let's pick off from and one we go into youtube
and then what yeah so start the youtube channel 2009 and then um i'm just doing one-off games
uh internationally so by 2011 i think i got instagram or sorry 2009 is youtube 2011 i started
instagram i remember i called myself global who i tried to do like a rebrand rebrand from
professor i was trying to go away from it so i called myself at global why did you go away from
the professor just felt like and one was becoming dated i remember this girl i remember uh this girl
i was dating at the time i think it was like 2010 and she was talking about and one and she was the
first one that kind of made it into the world and i was like oh my god i'm gonna be like oh my god
apparent to me that it was like it was like kind of something of old right like time goes by fast
sometimes you don't realize like how quick time goes by and then you're seeing things from the
inside out you don't necessarily know how you're viewed by the market right especially before
social media it's hard to know yeah you'll laugh even in 2022 people come up to me and be like
are you still with and one or like when's the next and one game and i'll be like so that was 15 years
that was a lifetime ago but yeah so there's no i literally haven't played on and one in 13 years
and i'm not gonna be typecast but like often you're remembered for your biggest thing you do so i kind
of just learned it was part of the territory so i'm like fine with it because i didn't know if like
the professor could be cool outside of and one that was the question at the time which it seems
weird but like i didn't know if it was possible just because espn hits so many people you know I
mean yeah so i thought a rebrand was good but then i was like rebrands are hard like why do it if you
don't need to so i switched it back yeah and i called my clothing brand that global hooper but
that's what that came from i was like i made a living for three or four years only playing
international was there any countries that you felt the most love when you were traveling oh uh
japan yeah japan brazil so japan people pass out like like if you're a superstar in america
you go to japan you're you're you're through the like your head can blow up real big I feel like
china actually yeah china and i think i think it's more special internationally in certain places
because they know that like you're not it's not a staple that you're going to come there every year
right like and one ended up did go and one went to japan once or twice a year every year from
04 to literally 2010. so like that was over and over but they don't know that right this could be
their last opportunity and over there it's expensive to go to the game right so they'll
lose their minds but then Brazil was I remember that
sticks out in my mind too because we played like a soccer stadium or like a tennis Stadium was huge
you know I'm saying it was like 20 000 plus and I remember we had a game on like a Wednesday and we
had never been to Brazil and one hadn't done Brazil right so it's like oh five at the peak
I remember playing that game we sold it out completely it's like 25 000 people
they went berserk off like anything like I remember I was at half court the defender
hadn't even got to me I'd like did a behind the back move and they go oh like just to see you in
I'm just saying I have a chance in Brazil.
Yeah, just the appearance was lit.
You know what I mean?
Just you being there.
So if you had a real move off,
you'd think the ceiling was going to pop off the arena.
And then it went so berserk and they sold out so quick
that they asked us, they're like,
hey, we'll double the pay.
Do you guys want to stay until Sunday?
We're going to throw another,
let's do another one on Sunday at the same venue,
And we were like, of course.
Yeah, and then we're partying in Brazil
and going to the beach.
So yeah, we're not turning down that one.
I'm like, sure, I'll extend my vacation.
Yeah, so Brazil goes crazy.
But those two, Japan and Brazil,
really stick out in my head.
But internationally, it was always like crazy.
I feel like you're really humble
when you talk about kind of taking that next step
or rebranding, not rebranding.
You're like, oh, I just did YouTube and it worked.
This was fun for me.
But I think you do have to give yourself a bit more credit
because this space is hard.
It's hard to navigate.
And especially now, it changes so much.
And you have to be adaptable
on any social media platform, on YouTube.
I've been through the ringer on YouTube.
It's way different than it was in 2012.
The algorithm changed like five times.
It always gets harder, every change.
That's what I'm saying, yeah.
Because there's more and more.
How do you stay on that?
Or do you have a strategy?
Or is it really just you putting up stuff that you love
and just going for it?
No, you know it's heck of strategic.
A little bit of both though, right?
I don't want to do something if I don't like it a lot.
But I always tell people, outside of strategy,
like if you just want a brand on social,
you have to do 50% something you love
and 50% something the audience loves.
Because if you do it 100% the way you want it,
like if the audience doesn't receive it,
it doesn't make any sense.
You're not going to get viewership.
But if you do it 100% the way the audience wants you
and you don't like it, then you're like selling out.
You ain't even going to have fun with it.
So you're not going to want to do it in the long run.
So I say it's got to be like a percentage of both, but then also,
from a strategic standpoint, I always talk to like people
who are doing it at a high level.
I'll hit them up and try to get in inner circles.
Or even like, even micro-influencers.
Some people are just really on the wave, on like trend wave.
So I just try to like stay really well networked and like talk to a lot of people
and then see what the trends are.
And then I try to like shift my content for that.
So for example, like TikTok, right?
We talked about this.
We did a collabs on TikTok.
Okay, but your TikTok strategy was, I was like you,
you don't even know how to, you were not using the TikTok audios.
You were filming your own videos and putting them up to an audio that you like,
or that was trending at the time.
So like my team repurposes like something from a YouTube shoot to make a TikTok video,
but I'll tell, I'll tell, I'll have ideas.
I'll tell them how to do it.
But basically we'll take, I just look at the viral trending songs.
So anything that's top 20, I take that song and I'll put it to like
a lit highlight or something like that.
And then like the beat will drop, like when the dude falls or when it goes off his head or whatever.
So it's kind of like you're using that trendy song, but I'm not really doing the trend.
It actually goes with that song and I make it basketball.
So I make it my own.
Which is kind of frustrating to me because I spend hours on TikTok seeing what trends I want to hit.
Cause I do have the exact opposite that you do.
I find the sound first or the trend first, and then I shoot my video, or then I go
find an old video that might fit to that song.
I mean, it honestly is a testament to the kind of like videos that you put out though,
because they're that good.
You know what I mean?
That you're able to do that.
But even when we did our seated dribbling routine.
Oh, that was hard too.
Thanks to Rachel.
Wait, it has no, it has, I think like 2 million on your channel.
It has like 2.7 million views.
So anyway, check out Grayson's TikTok.
Has a lot more followers than I do.
We did a seated dribbling collaboration.
Cause that is one of the trends that I think I do pretty well, which is funny.
Cause I've never been a dribbler, but I like doing seated dribbling routines.
Put me onto that.
I have to call you out a little bit because that was so out of your wheelhouse.
You don't ever dribble to music.
I do sometimes, but like only for a second, not like a whole, not like a whole thing.
But watching you, it is kind of like a dance in a way when you're
doing your different dribbling moves.
In my mind, I was like, oh, this will be like easy for him.
But you're like, no, this isn't the way I do it.
Cause I think, I think dribbling dribbling or like basketball as an art with freestyle
kind of like has its own rhythm, but it's not really like dance rhythm.
Like, cause think about you predicate whatever you want to look a certain way.
And they'd be like, oh, that's like rhythmatic.
But like, I wasn't marching to a beat, you know what I mean?
So oftentimes I lay beats to edits and posts, not, not as we're going.
Cause like, you know, I just break up YouTube videos.
I rarely, I'll do it.
It's straight Tik TOK videos.
I collab with you or like, or like when COVID was going on, we couldn't really hoop.
So I was doing like dribble combos that were like for Tik TOK and IG.
I took you out of your comfort zone.
I couldn't even keep up.
Rachel was going to the beat seamlessly.
I'm like, yo, how did you, you got to break that down step-by-step.
I don't even know what you're doing.
And then you show me one move and it takes me like four hours to get it.
Courtside club is presented for the people by Caesar sports book, the greatest sports betting
Download it must be 21 or older.
I want to talk about to your new series or that might become a series.
I don't know your space jam series.
Is that the next kind of Spider-Man move?
Um, that was the aim initially, but it was hard to pull off.
You know what I mean?
Like hooping in those costumes is like, so for people who haven't seen it, he dressed
up as in the space jam bugs, bunny, bugs, bunny outfit, essentially with the big like
Head and everything and went and hoop in the park.
So everything you've seen, I think there's four videos up from that.
There was all one day though, or excuse me, two days, but it was like, they were like
So we did it for one week and it was a lot.
You have as Lola.
Oh, Brianna shout out to Brie green.
She is a fantastic.
Oh, she's a beast.
I felt like she could pull that off.
Like play against dudes.
Just not be a hundred percent.
We wear the costumes.
You're like 30 or 40%.
You know what I mean?
And, and long hours.
We did two days of eight hour shoots, you know, off and on obviously, but like it was
long by the end of the day, I'm energy on zero.
Like I need two days to recover.
And then we went, I think we did a Monday, Thursday, but both were like from, from time
we got there to time we left, it was eight hours.
Uh, but yeah, I mean, it wasn't necessarily like, it's hard to plan a series like Spider-Man.
Shot a lot of content and I knew at the very least we would have at least, uh, three videos.
So bugs, money, one V one, the tune squad hitting the core.
And then maybe some like individual games that happened within that, but it happened
So I was like, all right, let's go.
But that's a testament to being adaptable because you don't know, you kind of took a
different spin on it, put it in reels, put it on Instagram, put it on TikTok, put it
on your YouTube channel.
Do you have any advice for anybody trying to get into this space?
Like if you were trying to start your socials today, I would say like, yeah, pick something
you really like, because if you want it, because being an influencer is a long play, it's like
a five to seven year before you get viewership.
You know what I mean?
Like they ask, like, people will call into like Gary Vee, you know, he gives like social
media business advice to people and like, they'll be like, I want to start my YouTube.
What do you think?
And I agree with him.
He'll be like, all right.
So are you ready to not?
To do Jack ish for viewership for about five to seven years?
How do you feel about that?
And they're like, they always get quiet.
No, but like, that's, that's the reality.
Like, usually it's a slow build.
Like, I feel like mine was kind of like lottery ish.
Plus people knew me from ESPN.
I think I had a little bit of an advantage going to YouTube, but most people it's like
build it from scratch.
A couple of my friends, I helped them build their socials by doing collabs and just like
advising and they do good, but it's like really like, it's like a slow build.
So I would say pick something you really like that.
You could see yourself.
Doing in five years also, and then just try a bunch of stuff because nobody knows what
kind of videos will work for them until you like really try it.
So I say just like, try it and the more content, the better.
And especially early on when you don't have like a huge following, you're able to try
It's like trial and error.
And I remember when I had a hundred thousand followers, I was way more just would throw
stuff up and see if it worked.
Now I'm a bit more calculated with everything.
Cause totally learn so much as you go.
And I would say too, if you were, if you were going to start it today, just to do vertical
content only and try to like really go hard on Tik TOK and make that your main thing, but
with your Tik TOKs, upload them also as IG reels and then put them on as YouTube as shorts.
So now you're only shooting one kind of video and you're just throwing it everywhere.
That's something I absolutely need to do.
That'd be my recommendation.
I know a girl who's a comedian and she got over a hundred or she got to, was it a hundred
I think she got to a hundred thousand in a year and then I knew it.
I knew another dude who got to a million in like a few months, all shorts.
Now, mind you, their, their content's like elite, like it's really good.
So therefore it can like go crazy, but YouTube's a hard grind.
I'd say you need to be everywhere.
Like influence people who only do Instagram or like only do Tik TOK doing themselves a
disservice because if you're going to be an influencer, the business is really on YouTube.
But like, if you're well-rounded your campaigns, companies like, you know, you've done a bunch
They'll come to you and be like, Hey, we want to do this, uh, this whole campaign where's
a 30 second YouTube integration.
A post on Tik TOK, two posts on IG, one story.
And that can pay you a lot.
You know what I'm saying?
The more platforms you have to offer, obviously the, the more money you can make.
Now that we are at the end of the game, I have some buzzer beavers for you.
Break down your ideal courtside fit.
Global Hooper, globalhooper.com.
The best game you've ever sat courtside at.
Season opener this year, it was warriors versus Lakers.
So I got to see Steph and LeBron courtside courtside head to head.
But then it's hard.
It was a toss up because on new year's Eve, I took my dad courtside.
We sat right next to the blazers bench and he's a diehard blazer fan.
So we talked to Lillard, we talked to the coach, we talked to some of the Lakers and
Has there been any NBA players who have complimented you that you were surprised, like even knew
Um, I think all of them, I was like in stride just because like when they first started
showing me love, it was like, I was still kind of young, you know, like, like Steph,
Steph Curry asked me for a photo when I met him and this was in 2012, 10 years ago.
So I was kind of like, oh, cool.
You know what I mean?
But you forget, like, I don't know.
I don't know how old he is, but he's like younger.
Of course he watched and one.
Oh, like when I met D Wade, he was like, oh, I feel like I know you, man.
I've seen so much.
And then Kyrie follows me on social.
Probably has since college.
I mean, I was in high school, high school, Westbrook.
Uh, so yeah, I think it's always humbling.
You know what I mean?
Like it always can surprise you because it'd be arrogant if you were like, yeah, of course
I, you know what I'm saying?
Well, you have to stop and think about it because I've even had, you know, like Shaq
compliment my jump shot.
And now we're friends.
I consider him a mentor, you know, I'm friends with you now.
I have Kobe Bryant, like compliment my jump shot.
And these people, you know, Snoop Dogg was like, oh, you're Rachel.
And I'm like, what?
He's like, can I have a picture with you?
That was another moment.
So you get surprised and we're, we've been in this world for so long.
I feel like sometimes we get desensitized to it, but it's cool to take a step back and
be like, wow, these are people that I look up to are also really great.
Next buzzer beater.
If you could sit courtside with one person dead or alive, who would it be?
Sit courtside dead or alive?
Oh, um, we got to go to the Laker game and sit courtside with Michael Jackson.
And I'm wearing global Hooper.
We going to be in photos.
What is one event in history that you would have loved to have been courtside for?
Um, one event in history.
Resporting event could be anything.
I'm going to say 1998.
Michael Jordan wins the NBA finals in Utah for the shot.
That'd be hard to catch courtside.
That's what came to mind.
And who is one athlete that you would love to talk smack from?
From the courtside.
Talk smack to from courtside.
Cause like I'm a courtside viewer.
I'm just like, I feel grateful to be there.
I don't really like talk smack necessarily.
That's not my style, but who knows?
I heard Larry Bird had some of the, like the most vicious.
That came out recently, right?
Well, I've heard it like in hoop circles.
You've been on it.
Like I've known this since like the nineties.
I used to hear about it.
Cause my, my trainer, shout out to my trainer ever since I was little Rodney Howard, he was
roommates with Gary Payton in college at Oregon state.
So he was, you tell me like iconic hoop stories that like Gary would tell him.
So like, I knew a lot about MJ and bird, like even back in the nineties.
Well, Grayson, thank you for joining the courtside club, helping us kick this thing off.
Well, Grayson, thank you for joining the court side club, helping us kick this thing off.
We're definitely gonna have to have you back.
That's for happy.
We'd love to for another shooting game.
The audience know where they can find you.
Definitely check me out.
YouTube for slash professor life.
And then I'm the professor on all other platforms and check out the clothing global.
Anything else that we should be on the lookout for?
I have a lot of exciting announcements in crypto coming up, but I don't want to announce them because it's a little bit too soon.
So just keep up with me on social, you know, Twitter, IG, all that good stuff.
We're going to have to touch on that next time because you have some painful projects.
Let's do it. Let's do it.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for having me.