Inspired from Jorge Santiago’s visual report: Hoop Dreams in Oaxaca’s Hills, featured in the New York Times photojournalism section Lens.

THE LAST SHOT is a 6-part verite docuseries that follows the life of the forgotten American basketball player, who despite all of losing every attempt to make the NBA, the thought of actually quitting forever, forces them to consider what they once heard of an underground cash-prize scene that are held in certain rural regions of Mexico, for good reason.

“This was no ordinary basketball game. This is Mercenary ball.”

Players form their own teams by messaging one another through Facebook or WhatsApp and travel, village to village by any means necessary searching for the next slot, vying for prize money that wreaked of blood, sweat, and micheladas. Tournaments are either announced on-the-fly in dozens of villages or scheduled ahead on the feast days of a town’s patron saint, which adds another dimension with political and religious beliefs coming together as gamblers exchange bets and pay-off referees in plain site.

Introduced to the Oaxaca region by a president who wanted to unite, or perhaps distract, the various indigenous groups, the sport quickly became just as popular than soccer. Another source of pride for most, and a radical rebirth for a group of Americans that accepted freedom from ego-death.