Overtime Elite pro basketball league was met with skepticism. Now, it’s here to stay.
Of the non-traditional basketball pathways that have emerged for talented teenagers in recent years, none arrived with as noticeable a splash as Overtime Elite (OTE).
The Atlanta-based professional league for high school basketball players carries with it plenty of eye-popping facts and figures to entice the next wave of basketball stars: A guaranteed minimum salary of $100,000 per year in addition to bonuses, shares of equity in Overtime (the sports media company behind OTE) and the ability to earn money from name, image and likeness opportunities.
Starting this season, OTE players also have the option to forgo a salary as a “scholarship player” to retain college eligibility.
It takes place in a 24-7 basketball environment that includes the 1,200-person capacity OTE Arena in Atlanta’s Atlantic Station neighborhood.
Now approaching the end of its second season, OTE’s mark in the prep basketball space — both in college basketball recruiting and as a direct pipeline to the NBA — is beginning to take full form.
No OTE players were selected in the 2022 NBA Draft following the league’s first season: Dominick Barlow became the first OTE alumnus to play in the NBA in November after signing a two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs.
The first NBA Draft selections out of OTE will arrive in June: Brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson are both projected to be lottery picks after spending two seasons with OTE.
Of more direct interest to Kentucky basketball fans though, is the pipeline beginning to form between OTE and college basketball for players that have passed up a salary to keep their eligibility.
Three OTE players have signed with major conference schools for the 2023-24 college basketball season: Kanaan Carlyle (Stanford), Trey Parker (North Carolina State) and, most notably, Robert Dillingham (Kentucky), after Dillingham joined OTE in November after previously committing to the Cats.
Down the line, Naasir Cunningham (2024) and Bryson Tiller (2025) are top recruits in their respective classes who are being courted by college basketball’s elite.
Cunningham, who holds a UK scholarship offer, recently released a top-five list of Duke, Kansas, Memphis, Rutgers and UCLA. Tiller owns a plethora of top college offers, including from Houston (the current AP No. 1 team), Indiana and Xavier.
OTE appears here to stay, and the players drawn to it set to play a major part in both the NBA and college basketball for years to come.
How has this happened?
“Everything at OTE is set up to help prepare us for the next level,” Cunningham told the Herald-Leader this month, standing on one of the dedicated practice courts inside OTE’s multi-level Atlanta facility.
“We have everything here that a high school would have, but more.”
OTE prepares players for basketball future
Cunningham in particular is a worthy case study in OTE’s ability to lure top talent.
Previously the top-ranked player in the class of 2024 by several national recruiting outlets — he’s currently ranked as the No. 5 player by the 247Sports Composite — Cunningham became the first high school player to join OTE as a scholarship player (forgoing a salary to maintain college eligibility) last April.
It was an undoubtedly risky decision by Cunningham, but one backed by a solid infrastructure setup at OTE: Former UConn and NCAA title-winning head coach Kevin Ollie is OTE’s head of coaching and basketball development, and the three head coaches of OTE teams all come with high-level experience.
David Leitao (City Reapers) served as head coach at DePaul (twice) and Virginia, in addition to the Maine Red Claws in the NBA’s Developmental League. Timothy Fanning (YNG Dreamerz) holds international basketball experience and was an assistant coach in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv, a top team in European competition.
Ryan Gomes (Cold Hearts) is the all-time leading scorer at Providence and carved out a decade-long NBA career that featured several seasons as a starter, as well as time spent playing in the NBA D-League and overseas.
This variety of basketball experience in OTE, along with curriculum that includes financial literacy and media training, has suited Cunningham well.
“(In) regular high school, there’s some teams that have no players that you would really see at the next level,” Cunningham explained. “But here at OTE, everybody at every practice, every scrimmage, everything we do is going to help prepare me for the next level playing against high-level players.”
Gomes, who coaches both Cunningham and Dillingham on the Cold Hearts team, stressed the distinct basketball experiences he brings to the table during a one-on-one interview with the Herald-Leader this month.
“I played at the college level, the G-League level, the overseas level, and the NBA level. I bring all of those things to the player, whoever I’m coaching,” Gomes said.
“You’re going somewhere after (OTE), but people are evaluating you (based) on where you’re at right now, too. So this matters just as much as the next year matters when you go play your next game and you just keep building and building and building. I give my guys that reminder pretty often.”
Increased exposure, player pool helping OTE thrive
When you visit the OTE website, three bold bullet points highlight areas of the prep basketball marketplace that OTE strives to improve: Economic empowerment, education and player development.
A big reason why these priorities can be addressed by OTE is the facility the league is housed in: There are dedicated basketball spaces including a film and weight room, two practice courts and the neon-infused OTE Arena, as well as technology like the Noah Shooting System that logs data for every shot a player takes.
Other supplements to the basketball experience include an academic wing for schoolwork, access to nutritionists, trainers and a sports psychologist and a production room that helps broadcast all OTE games via either Amazon Prime Video or OTE’s YouTube channel.
Prime Video is set to stream a season-long documentary series on OTE in summer 2023.
“I had never seen anything like it before outside of a college, it was crazy. It really helps making the decision on whether you want to come here or not,” Cunningham said of OTE’s facility. “It speaks for itself. They don’t even have to say anything. You can just look around and see what we have here and it’s impressive.”
That broadcast contract with Amazon, as well as other money-making streams, help fund OTE’s operations.
These include branding, marketing and merchandise related to players: There’s a small store inside OTE Arena called The Shop where apparel is sold.
Across its four principal social media channels on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube, Overtime has more than 34 million combined followers.
Investors in Overtime also include Jeff Bezos, Drake and several NBA players like Kevin Durant and Trae Young.
Something else that’s been elevated in OTE’s second year is the player quality in the league.
In addition to the three OTE teams based in Atlanta — City Reapers, Cold Hearts and YNG Dreamerz — the league added three additional teams for the 2022-23 season: Hillcrest Prep (Arizona), Our Savior Lutheran (New York City) and Word of God (North Carolina).
Among the talented players who play at those three schools, and who have served as competition for OTE’s three flagship teams, are class of 2023 signees Jordan Burks (Ole Miss), Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (Illinois) and Youssouf Singare (UConn), and class of 2024 commit Jason Asemota (Baylor).
In a “rising tide lifts all boats” fashion, improving the overall depth of the OTE player pool will increase the credibility the league has with NBA Draft evaluators, national recruiting experts and college basketball recruiters.
Cunningham, along with Cold Hearts teammate Somto Cyril (a class of 2024 center who has retained his NCAA eligibility), both agree they’ve gotten better thanks to the players around them in Atlanta.
“I feel like the improvement from when I first came here to now is tremendous,” Cunningham said. “There’s stuff that I can do now that I couldn’t do back then. The confidence I’m playing with here is a lot higher.”
“I feel like I’ve gotten way better because it’s really tough playing with these guys on this level. Of course, everyone out here is on the top level, top talent and everything,” added Cyril, who currently holds scholarship offers from the likes of Indiana, Kansas and Tennessee, and who has drawn recruiting interest from UK.
“I feel like I’ve gotten way better because if I can do it on this level, I can for sure do it in college.”
This story was originally published February 22, 2023 at 12:21 PM.
