LEXINGTON, Ky. — The second season of the upstart Overtime Elite (OTE) professional basketball league is set to boast several mouthwatering matchups between some of the best high school basketball players in the country.
In addition to Amen and Ausar Thompson, who are projected top picks in next year’s NBA draft, the OTE league features several of the best college basketball recruits in the country, like Naasir Cunningham (who has UK interest) and Bryson Tiller.
Players of this caliber will be facing off against other top prospects like Elliot Cadeau, Isaiah Elohim and Bronny James as the OTE league recently announced improved scheduling changes for the 2022-23 season, including marquee preseason games.
Players like Cunningham, who announced in April that he was joining Overtime Elite, can remain college basketball recruits while playing in the OTE league as long as they forgo a salary to preserve their college eligibility. Cunningham signed with OTE as a scholarship player, becoming the first player to take that route.
OTE players like Cunningham can still make money from name, image and likeness opportunities while retaining their college eligibility.
The upcoming 90-game schedule for Overtime Elite this season also features enhancements like growth from a three-team league to a six-team league (three prep schools from around the country were added), in addition to a highly anticipated preseason tournament featuring Bronny and Bryce James, Cam and Cayden Boozer and five-star Duke commit Jared McCain.
More than two-thirds of the 90 scheduled OTE games this season will be played at OTE Arena in Atlanta, which is part of a more than 100,000 square-foot facility that houses the OTE program.
All 90 games in the 2022-23 season will be shown on YouTube, and if that exposure wasn’t enough, a Pro Day for NBA teams will be held in late October.
The league — which counts Jeff Bezos, Drake and several NBA players among its investors — is continuing to make a move toward reshaping the basketball landscape for young talents seeking departures from traditional college and high school pathways.
“In trying to think about what’s going to set Naas forward — getting better, stronger, and what environment he should be in — that’s where it all started,” Cunningham’s father, Erik, previously told the Herald-Leader about OTE.
A look around the current basketball recruiting landscape reveals just how effective OTE has been in a short span of time.
While in Chicago last month for the Under Armour Next Elite 24 basketball showcase, the Herald-Leader asked some of the top basketball recruits in the country what their impressions are of both Overtime Elite and the G-League Ignite, another development pathway that serves as an alternative to college basketball.
Some players, smartly, responded by leaving the door open to both options.
“I’ve thought about it. I feel like there’s way more I can learn about it, so I don’t want to just jump on it, but I’ve definitely thought about it,” said Ian Jackson, a top Kentucky recruit currently in the class of 2024. “It’s definitely been something to think about, but I’m not going to turn it down. I feel like if it’s the best situation for me by the time I get to where I’ve got to go, then I will do it. But if I don’t think it’s the best then I won’t.”
Others were more steadfast in their belief in the traditional high school to college route, like current Kentucky class of 2023 commit Justin Edwards.
“Overtime came in, but I just wanted to choose college. I wanted to go to college,” Edwards said. “I can get more out of it, I feel like I can get prepared more (in college).”
While both the G-League Ignite and Overtime Elite pathways offer the opportunity for young players to earn money before their potential NBA careers, college basketball now does the same through NIL opportunities.
This was stressed by class of 2024 point guard and UK recruit Boogie Fland.
“I feel that now that we have NIL, we can still pursue our dream in college,” Fland said. “Everyone has the dream to go to college, I’m pretty sure. They have a dream of being a high-level basketball player, going to a big college, so I feel like college gives that advantage now because you can still do that dream that you had as a kid.”
Ahead of its second season, most OTE players are choosing not to maintain their NCAA eligibility and instead receive a salary.
According to OTE, every contracted player is offered a six-figure salary, with a guaranteed minimum salary of at least $100,000, in addition to other perks.
Of the 30 players in OTE for the 2022-23 season, only 10 are forgoing a salary (like Cunningham) to remain college eligible.
All of these players will be in their first season with Overtime Elite.
“The product on the court opens up those options,” Cunningham’s father, Erik, previously told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “I don’t want (Naasir) to be thinking about the next $10,000 or whatever. I want him thinking about the next jump shot, the next free throw.”
So far in this current college basketball recruiting period, Kentucky has visited two class of 2024 players at Overtime Elite: Cunningham and small forward Jahki Howard.
