Unrivaled's 1-on-1 tournament is a concept the NBA needs to adopt. 1-on-1 hoops is the fix for All-Star Weekend. Unrivaled has a 32-player bracket. There are four, eight-player groups based on position. That'd be fun in the NBA, but in today's NBA version of the Unrivaled 1-on-1 tourney, positions will be irrelevant. Our list won't give you the pound-for-pound best 1-on-1 player, but it'll show who's the best when lined up against anyone.
We're going to pull rules from the YouTube 1-on-1 scene as well. The guys at The Next Chapter and Off The Dribble are paving the way for 1-on-1 hoops on the men's side.
32 players will be put into four groups of eight, and the whole tournament will be single-game elimination. Games will go up to 30, going by 2s and 3s. There will be a seven-second shot clock, so players with physical advantages can't spam them. 1-on-1 basketball is a display of skills, and our tournament will attempt to highlight that. An intentional foul will reward the offensive player with a one-shot free throw and possession.
We are seeding these players in each group based on isolation scoring and defense. Shot-making from everywhere on the floor is the most important aspect of 1-on-1 basketball, especially with the seven-second shot clock. Shotmakers will take precedence over players who are better all-around players. A great defender who can't score would struggle in this environment.
Speed is a killer here; you only have seven seconds to beat someone off the bounce. How fast you are with the ball in your hands could be a difference maker. How tight one's handle will inevitably come into play when you're on that island. Strength definitely helps with absorbing contact, getting stops, and dominating any game. There are rules in place to mitigate strength advantages, but it's impossible to take away strength as a whole.
The stage is set, so let's introduce our bracket and seeds for each group. This is the current healthy version of each player. It shouldn't be a surprise that an isolation assassin like Joel Embiid will be a 1 seed even though he's probably not considered a top-10 player in the league currently (health/games played are the only things holding him back). Injured guys like Kyrie Irving and Jayson Tatum cracked this list, but are either of them elite enough to win the whole thing?
Bracket/seeds
Group A
- No. 1 Kevin Durant vs. No. 8 Norman Powell
- No. 2 Kawhi Leonard vs. No. 7 Austin Reaves
- No. 3 Jaylen Brown vs. No. 6 Cade Cunningham
- No. 4 Steph Curry vs. No. 5 Jamal Murray
Group B
- No. 1 Joel Embiid vs. No. 8 Bones Hyland
- No. 2 Giannis Antetokounmpo vs. No. 7 Cam Thomas
- No. 3 Kyrie Irving vs. No. 6 Brandon Ingram
- No. 4 Donovan Mitchell vs. No. 5 LeBron James
Group C
- No. 1 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander vs. No. 8 De'Aaron Fox
- No. 2 Nikola Jokić vs. No. 7 DeMar DeRozan
- No. 3 James Harden vs. No. 6 Tyrese Maxey
- No. 4 Zion Williamson vs. No. 5 Paolo Banchero
Group D
- No. 1 Luka Dončić vs. No. 8 CJ McCollum
- No. 2 Anthony Edwards vs. No. 7 Pascal Siakam
- No. 3 Jalen Brunson vs. No. 6 Devin Booker
- No. 4 Jayson Tatum vs. No. 5 Victor Webmanyama
These groups were randomly drawn. The goal is to find out who can hold their own in any weight class, so there will be some size and speed mismatches. Let's start with Group A.
It's going to be hard to convince us that KD doesn't dominate this bracket. There's good competition there, especially with Kawhi Leonard's two-way capabilities. That said, KD is arguably the best 1-on-1 scorer the game has seen. He can shoot over anybody and get to any spot without help from defenses on the help side.
Leonard is the biggest threat to KD, and Jaylen Brown will make certain games interesting, but Durant is taking this bracket with shotmaking leading his charge. Steph Curry's size will hurt him eventually in this setting. KD moves on to the Final Four.
Joel Embiid is the first seed for good reason in Group B. The 7-foot-plus behemoth can dribble, shoot, face up, use strength-based finishes, and footwork to bury any defender. It's virtually two points when he has a mismatch on an island. That island would get lonely in these 1-on-1 games. Giannis is no easy out and has more size to defend Embiid than the others in the group.
The downfall for the Greek Freak will be his jumper. I don't see him bulldozing his way to 30 points against Embiid. Cam Thomas isn't a star, but he'd get busy in a tournament like this. If this were divvied up by size, Thomas would have a good shot to beat anyone. 1s hoops are different from a 5-on-5 NBA game.
Players from the past, like Nick Young and JR Smith, would be problems too. Another No. 1 seed advances to the Final Four, with Embiid beating Thomas, LeBron, and Giannis on his way to his matchup with Kevin Durant.
Group C is lethal. James Harden is the No. 3 seed, and he has a case for the best iso player ever, too. If this were 2019, Harden would be a one seed and one of the favorites to win. Jokić's touch and shooting would shine bright, but his defense in space could dim his shotmaking. Jokić would need to get one stop and not miss another shot to head to the Final Four.
I don't think SGA could get consistent stops on Joker, but if SGA got the ball in that matchup, I don't see how Jokić stops him either. Zion is too much of a physical presence to count out. The rules go against what he does best, but Zion is so quick with cartoon strength that he could walk to the basket the majority of his possessions. Shotmaking is king here, admittedly, but Zion's brute force and quick second bounce make us believe there is an exception to every rule.
His bulked-up body could be just enough to get a few stops with the shot clock winding down. We've seen him BULLY Victor Wembanyama, and that was with help defense available.
Zion has an impossible path to the Final Four, but ultimately, he's going to get our pick. He's still trying to erase a lot of smut from his name. The New Orleans Pelicans aren't winning, so the playoffs won't be his showcase. This tournament is an opportunity to showcase how good he is on a national stage.
Wemby himself is in group D, and I don't love his game in this setting. He can shoot over anybody, but isn't the consistent shotmaker that KD or Embiid are. He can guard the perimeter, but not at an elite level. Maybe his length is enough to bother offensive players and allow him to shoot over anyone, but I'd favor Luka in a matchup between the two.
Luka has range, craft, and he's strong as a bull. He could put some shoulders into Wemby's chest to knock him off balance more than once. Luka would ultimately need to beat Ant Edwards, who seems to crave these types of matchups. That wouldn't be an easy task for Luka.
We have Luka scraping by Wemby in round two, but Ant's meanlity and on-ball defense in high leverage situations are enough to crown him king of this group. Not to mention Edwards may be the best 3-point shooter in the entire field, not named Curry.
The Final Four is set — KD vs Embiid and Zion vs Ant.
NBA 1-on-1 Final Four
KD and Embiid lining up is fireworks. This matchup would be like the 2026 NFC Championship Game. This isn't the official championship, but nobody is beating Durant or Embiid besides each other, just like the Rams and Seahawks.
KD is more agile and a better shooter than Embiid, but the big man from Cameroon is massive. He's so massive and so skilled that it's hard to go against him. Defending Durant in space could end him, but Embiid is that size and looks like Kobe Bryant on the floor at times. It's never easy picking against Durant, but Embiid would reign supreme.
Zion vs Ant is another size mismatch. This matchup would feature two No. 1 picks who were supposed to be the face of the 2020's. This would be an exciting, trash-talk-filled battle that sees Zion edging out Edwards. Zion isn't as skilled as these guys, but his explosion is too much to ignore when defenders don't have help.
His explosion blowing us away stops with Joel Embiid in the championship game. Embiid is too big and too good for anything Zion has to offer him. Embiid's career hasn't lived up to his talent due to injuries and playoff failures, but it's hard to see his game and think anyone could be him in 1s.
Anything can happen in a one-off game. I'm sure there'd be a lot more upsets if this concept were put into practice. But on paper? I don't see the player I'd favor over Joel Embiid in a 1-on-1 game today. This addition to All-Star Weekend would bring life to a product that needs it.