Lucky Brannon has been an instrumental figure in orchestrating high-level events featuring a handful of New York City and surrounding area talent.

Brannon's brand first really took off during COVID, with the shutdown of gyms and cancelled season allowing him to operate events and keep the city's youth engaged with tournaments and college exposure that was otherwise impossible.

Brannon has been a valuable source in not only the promotion of players and guidance. He is a major advocate for the steady crop of local talent for the entire New York State. He has and continues to churn out, with his events helping lesser known recruits gain due credibility. We sat down with Brannon and spoke about his experience cultivating young minds on the court and off it, his emergence on the NYC hoops scene, and his future plans.

ZS: How did you originally get involved with event coordination and how did the process start for you?

LB: My first event, with me being from the Upper West Side, and the Freeze brothers being from the Upper West Side, we had a prior relationship. They knew I always wanted to do a tournament I just never had a facility. They had purchased a new facility in Green Point, Brooklyn. We sat down and then we figured out we would do the opening of the gym as the first event. It was at January of 2020, right before the world changed. The theme was upstate vs the city. We got the best teams from upstate to play the best city schools. The event was so terrific. After that, everyone wanted another one. We had Park School in Buffalo, East Rochester, we had players from Mekeel Christian Academy (in Buffalo). I had several known upstate schools play against city schools. This was the last tournament before the world changed.

ZS: How would you describe the current state of New York City basketball?

LB: The state of New York City basketball currently is terrific. There's a lot of talent. We just need to have the resources to showcase the talent. As far as talent, I think New York is definitely one of the top states in the country as far as talent. We need more evaluators. I've been having a lot of conversations with (college) coaches, interested in city kids and upstate kids. They didn't know there was so much talent in the area. Coaches realize a lot of kids don't play on the AAU circuit, the shoe circuit, so that changes things.

ZS: Who are some of the best players around that might not get the same credibility and coverage as mainstream and signed guys?

LB: At my recent event was St. Francis Prep. They've got a point guard in Class of 2024 Vere Anthony, who is a solid playmaker. They've got a sophomore, Oesoemana Sacko, he's really good. They've got another sophomore who is under the radar in Troy Fason Jr. They've got a freshman who is really good and going to be good in a few years. Iona Prep, they've got some talent in (Class of 2025 point guard) Johnny Keenan, Lucas Morillo, Alex Bryant. New Rochelle, Scarsdale. Jacob Moreno from Holy Cross. William Gregory from Fordham Prep. You've got Ryan Jackson, Fordham Prep. Steven Williams from St. Jean The Baptiste. You've got Ray Bouten from Nyack. There's so much talent in New York, the list just goes on.

ZS: With the multi-layered niche you've established for yourself on the grass-roots scene, what's the real title you consider for yourself? Talent evaluator?

LB: I'm more of a platform-setter. I provide a platform for the kids to get noticed and then once they play in my event, I help market them. More or less I help them showcase their talent. I give them the resources to no longer be underrated. You've got valuable evaluators, then you have upstate. You've got so many sources, we need to get together and work in unison, as one, to showcase New York talent.