La Familia makes late addition to TBT roster. But who is Jesse Riedel?
A face unfamiliar to BBN has joined the La Familia squad.
The team made another addition to its roster Tuesday, adding content creator Jesse Riedel, better known as Jesser. Riedel is the 11th player to join La Familia, which is comprised mostly of former Kentucky Wildcats, and will compete in The Basketball Tournament (TBT) for the second consecutive year this month.
“I’m super hyped to announce that I will be joining the University of Kentucky’s TBT squad,” Riedel said in a video posted by La Familia on X. “It is going to be so sick, and we’re competing for a million-dollar prize. (I’m) pretty much a pro player now.”
Riedel is a basketball content creator with over 31 million subscribers on YouTube. Riedel’s inclusion on the roster came through a connection with his La Familia teammate and former UK big man Willie Cauley-Stein.
Team general manager and former UK guard Twany Beckham said the two formed a friendship while filming a video, “64 College Hoopers Compete for $10,000,” posted to Jesser’s channel on March 20.
Cauley-Stein made the initial suggestion to get Riedel involved with La Familia. Beckham said Riedel had been looking to get involved with a “professional team,” and La Familia saw him as a great way to gain a national platform.
“It was a perfect match,” Beckham said
Beckham said Riedel’s addition was more of a “content play” than a basketball one. He said the team is working on plans to expand La Familia beyond TBT and said that Riedel will help promote the La Familia name.
Beckham said the plan is for Riedel and his team to produce “behind-the-scenes” content.
“It (the partnership) was just all extra benefit,” Beckham said. “Extra eyes on what we’re doing, extra notoriety. It was a win-win for both organizations.”
It’s not impossible for Riedel to see playing time this summer. Beckham said if La Familia has a “nice, substantial lead,” they will try to get him in the game, but said Riedel won’t be a factor in whether the team wins or loses.
“I don’t want a situation where, let’s say we come up short and people are upset because we had a YouTuber on the team,” he said. “He’s not going to be a distraction to what we are doing. He knows that.”
Riedel has played ball on a big stage before. He competed in the 2023 NBA All-Star Weekend Celebrity Game, tallying nine points, eight rebounds and four assists. According to MaxPreps, Riedel has high school hoops experience as he was listed on the 2014-15 junior varsity roster for Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks, California.
Beckham said Riedel will be a part of everything the team does, including practices, when he gets with the team on July 15.
La Familia’s roster is “pretty closed off,” Beckham said, but he is still in talks with a couple of players for a potential final addition.
La Familia will tip off the 64-team, single-elimination, $1 million winner-take-all tournament against Stroh’s Squad — a team of former Bowling Green University players — on July 18 at 9 p.m. EDT in Memorial Coliseum. That game will be televised on FS1.
If La Familia wins that one, it would host a second-round game at 2:30 p.m. EDT on July 20.
The finals of the Lexington Regional will be played at 6 p.m. EDT on July 22.
2025 La Familia roster
Ansley Almonor — 6-7, forward, Kentucky (2024-25)
DJ Burns — 6-7, forward, Murray State University (2021-23)
Willie Cauley-Stein — 7-0, forward, Kentucky (2012-2015)
Archie Goodwin — 6-5, guard, Kentucky (2012-13)
Aaron Harrison — 6-6, guard, Kentucky (2013-2015)
Andrew Harrison — 6-6, guard, Kentucky (2013-2015)
Karem Kanter — 6-9, forward, Xavier (2017-18)
Doron Lamb — 6-4, guard, Kentucky (2010-2012)
Deandre Liggins — 6-6, guard, Kentucky (2008-2010)
Jesse “Jesser” Riedel — 6-2, guard
Khalil Whitney — 6-7, forward, Kentucky (2019-20)