Leigh Ellis was already living any basketball fan’s dream.
As one of the hosts of ‘No Dunks,’ a popular NBA podcast from The Athletic – formerly ‘The Starters,’ an NBA TV show – Ellis made a living geeking out on the sport he’s always loved.
But in October of last year, he surprised listeners and his fellow hosts alike by announcing that he was resigning from the show to travel the world playing pickup basketball.
Shortly after that announcement, he embarked on what he calls the “20-20-20” tour, with the goal of playing 20 games of pickup hoops in 20 cities in 20 different countries.
The tour has made 13 stops so far, and his next one will be in Toronto on Thursday at 4 p.m. at the underpass courts, located at 29 Lower River Street. It will be a homecoming of sorts for Ellis, who started his sports journalism career as an intern at The Score in Toronto almost 15 years ago.
Ellis told CP24.com that he got the idea for his new endeavour while travelling to Europe with his wife and two young sons in recent summers during the NBA offseason.
While he was abroad, he would often head to outdoor basketball courts to shoot around, and ended up playing countless pickup basketball games with strangers.
“I put those clips up on social media just [to say] ‘hey look I'm having a great time here in Berlin playing basketball,’ and I got flooded with messages from all around the world,” Ellis said.
“People saying, ‘if you're in my city, or in Japan, Brazil, Greece, Turkey, or wherever, and you want to play, I’ll organize a run.’ And at first I didn't think much of it, but then the more I got these messages, I said to my wife, I wonder if I could turn this into something.”
The 47-year-old said he wanted to take people up on their offers to play pickup on courts around the world, and in doing so, merge two of his biggest passions; travel and basketball.
“The more I thought about it, I said to my wife, something like this is only going to happen if I make it happen, and that means sacrificing my stable career that I've gotten to this point, but at the same time if you're not prepared to take on a big risk, you're not going to gain a big reward,” he said.
“And not only that, I think the biggest key for me is if you wait for the timing to be right, you'll never do anything. You sometimes just have to cut that cord and [say] I'm diving in the deep end here.”
FROM AUSTRALIA TO TORONTO TO ATLANTA
Ellis, originally from Sunbury, Australia, first came to Toronto as a backpacker in 2001, and ended up living in the city for about a year.
“[It] was amazing because that was the same year that the Leafs swept the [Ottawa Senators] in the first round, then they had that incredible seven-game series with the New Jersey Devils in the second round, [and] at the same time the Raptors had their series with the [Philadelphia 76ers] – the Vince Carter and Allen Iverson series,” Ellis said.
“So, my first six to eight weeks in Toronto, I was seeing the most amazing city light up because their sports teams were doing so well – it was incredible. And it was great, so I fell in love instantly with Toronto after I moved there.”
Ellis also met his future wife in Toronto, and after a brief stint in the U.K., he moved back to Canada and got married, eventually taking a job as an intern at The Score.
That’s where he met J.E. Skeets, Tas Melas, and Jason Doyle, Toronto Metropolitan (formerly Ryerson) University graduates and creators of an NBA podcast called ‘The Basketball Jones’ that had been picked up by The Score.
Ellis eventually joined the crew, and prior to the 2013 season, NBA TV asked the group if they would be interested in turning the podcast into a TV show, which led to them all relocating to Atlanta, Georgia.
“We did that for six incredible years. [It was a] really amazing time working there and being on NBA TV and talking basketball with your friends,” Ellis said.
It was during that time that Ellis was able to show off his encyclopedic knowledge of the NBA dating back to the 1980s.
He also developed his catch phrase “very solid play,” which he awarded each week to a play made by a player or team that wasn’t particularly flashy, but was effective and fundamentally sound.
After their contract wasn’t renewed with NBA TV in 2019, the group went back to their podcasting roots, starting No Dunks, which Skeets and Melas still co-host alongside Trey Kerby, and Doyle still produces.
In early October of last year, when Ellis abruptly announced his departure from the show, Skeets said that while he was disappointed to see Ellis leave, he was impressed by his willingness to try something new.
“It’s how you’ve always lived your life,” Skeets said.
‘BASKETBALL IS THE LANGUAGE’
Ellis said that one of the things he loves about playing pickup basketball with strangers in other countries is that the game transcends age, culture, and language barriers.
“That's what makes it so cool. There's no language barrier when you step on the court. Basketball is the language; it's like, let's play, let's pass and share the ball,” Ellis said.
“Instantly, you become a teammate even when you don't know a single thing about that person, and you're competing to win of course, but you’re not rubbing it in anyone's face, you're just [trying to] see if we can achieve a little something here together as two strangers, and that feeling is what I love.”
So far, Ellis’ 20-20-20 tour has taken him to over a dozen countries across the globe, including some in the basketball-crazed Balkans, where he shared a meal with NBA star Luka Doncic’s father in Slovenia, and was shown around the Drazen Petrovic museum by the late Croatian basketball star’s mother.
Ellis said that he wishes he had a camera crew with him to capture moments like those, but he would need additional funding to make that happen.
In his farewell episode of No Dunks, Ellis said he hopes his new endeavor is able to make money in the long run, but he understands that it may take some time.
For now, Ellis is documenting his 20-20-20 tour on social media, where followers can see videos and images of pickup runs being played on picturesque basketball courts all over the world.
“The one thing I love about basketball courts that's really different than pretty much any other sport is depending on the city you're in, if it's an outdoor court, you can get the most amazing view, the most amazing court, beautiful weather, and that's what I love,” Ellis said.
Playing basketball and connecting with people on outdoor courts is something Ellis says he did countless times while living in Toronto.
“I've played basketball with guys from literally all over the world in Toronto. I used to have a run on the Danforth, and those guys actually still run; there were Filipino guys, there were Mexican guys, there was a guy from Greece, so I've always felt in Toronto like a Torontonian even though I'm not a Canadian in that sense,” Ellis said.
“And there’s so much more passion for basketball [in Toronto] now.”
Ellis says anyone is welcome to show up for a pickup run on Thursday, adding that he’s expecting a big turn out, but he’ll make sure everyone gets a chance to play.
“Based on the messages I've received, it’s going to be a fairly big crowd. And really, all it's going to be is; turn up, we’ll pick some teams and we’ll play. Everyone will get a chance to play and show their stuff,” Ellis said.
“And also, it's really important for me that girls understand that they are just as welcome and they're going to have just as much opportunity to play because this is not just a guy thing.”
Ellis says he hopes the event can connect people and forge friendships that go beyond the court.
“That's been the most meaningful thing to me, that people have found friends and connections through basketball and that's what I hope is going to happen in Toronto,” he said.
“And having obviously lived there and spent a big chunk of my life, a very meaningful part of my life as well; getting married, having my first child, getting my career off the ground, I'm coming home in that sense, so I hope and expect to have a big crowd.”
Photos courtesy of Leigh Ellis.
