A place in the 10-team shadow league, which counts Cider House Rules' Tobey Maguire, R&B crooner Brian McKnight (last year's MVP) and ex-Superman Dean Cain among its players, is even more coveted by Hollywood types than a courtside seat at the real McCoy. The 110 spots are filled by mostly actors and musicians, with agents and studio execs rounding out the remaining quarter.

"There's literally hundreds of people trying to get into the league from the industry," says the NBA's senior manager of entertainment marketing and player-talent relations, Zane Stoddard. "I get phone calls basically all day [from] people begging to get into the league — which is great, but it's also difficult."

Of course, Dean and friends could probably round up a few pickup games on their own, but the NBA offers "a touch of NBA authenticity," says Stoddard. "We provide full uniforms. It's extremely exclusive and invitation only, [and] we have top referees, including some NBA referees."

At the end of the 12-game seasons in fall and spring, playoffs are held at L.A.'s Staples Center and the winning team gets trophies and replica NBA championship rings. The rest of the games, all of which are private and can only be attended by the b-ballers' usually famous consorts, are played at gyms around L.A.

Naturally, teams are named for their professional league counterparts. Last year, the Raptors — consisting of Broken Hearts Club star Cain, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Marc Blucas and CAA agent Pete Micelli, among others — made off with top honors.

Recognition of athletic prowess is not the only prize. "There's a lot of business going on in the league," Stoddard observes. "We have agents who are trying to get guys on their team because they want to sign them. We have producers who have told me firsthand that they want to cast every guy on their team for a TV show that's in development." They also have three Survivors available for work: Gervase Peterson, Joel Klug and Dirk Been will play on the pseudo-Sonics this fall.

No money changes hands for the tournaments, but there is a payoff for the NBA: Stoddard's office is active in placing NBA products and teams in TV and films (such as this year's Love and Basketball), a process involving many of the entertainment league's players. Ideally, it all adds up to handshakes and high profile exposure for the league.

But Stoddard emphasizes that above all, the entertainment league is about who's got game. "They take it extremely seriously," he says. "I've spoken to quite a few people who have been getting in shape for the league, working out. I spoke to a basketball coach who's training a guy in the league."

"Back at One" singer McKnight has flown in from a concert tour to participate in the tournament; Practice star Steve Harris flew out from a Houston film shoot. It seems the only thing that can tear the players away from their matches is an actual NBA game: Last year's La-La Lakers crew — Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio (who has to bow out from the league this year for an overseas film shoot) and David Arquette — were forced to forfeit a game so they could attend the real Lakers' playoffs.

This season, there's an odd man out in the Hollywood-heavy league: a woman. Olympia Scott-Richardson of the WNBA's Detroit Shock will become the entertainment league's first and only female player, joining Road Trip star Breckin Meyer and other pretty boy players on the bizarro-world Timberwolves.

Scott-Richardson was surprised but unfazed to learn she'd be the only woman in the league. "[It's a chance to show men], you may have more muscles, but I'm just as tough. I have muscles too, and a lot of the game is intelligence."