McGrady and O’Neal, who both are 41 and live in Texas, said they were secure financially but felt a pull to forge a new path in their post-playing careers after discussing the matter regularly over the past two years. Their talks intensified over the past four months while they were mostly limited to their homes because of the coronavirus pandemic. McGrady (who lives in suburban Houston) and O’Neal (who lives in suburban Dallas) found themselves, in O’Neal’s words, with “time to process and think hard — together” about how they could help young players, particularly young Black players, the most.