Another season of the innovative Overtime Elite basketball league has tipped off in Atlanta. OTE, which plays its home games at Atlantic Station located in Midtown Atlanta, features a host of the nation’s top prep prospects under one roof. Some players can choose to get paid for playing in the league, while others can decline the money to maintain eligibility to play college basketball.
Now in season three of action, OTE has a track record of success stories from its alum. San Antonio Spurs forward Dominick Barlow and New York Knicks forward Jaylen Martin are both on two-way contracts in the NBA, while twins Amen and Ausar Thompson were selected in the top five picks of the 2023 NBA Draft to the Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons. After the Los Angeles Lakers played the Pistons on Nov. 29, LeBron James spoke to Mike Curtis of The Detroit News about facing Ausar, who said James was his favorite player growing up. James said he told Ausar it was crazy to be playing Ausar in an NBA game because he had just played his son Bronny at the OTE Arena in Atlanta a year before. James complimented Ausar on his game, comparing him to Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler and he shouted out OTE for providing a space for future NBA players to develop.
New: Ausar Thompson’s favorite player growing up was LeBron James.
Last night, he faced his childhood idol for the first time.
I spoke to James after the game & he gave a glowing review of the Pistons rookie.
“His movements are so Clyde Drexler-esque.”https://t.co/MBG4X76Moc pic.twitter.com/JctXN8x0Ef
— Mike Curtis (@MikeACurtis2) November 30, 2023
“It’s like dog-eat-dog,” Tyler Jackson, a 5-star 2025 guard said of the league in a postgame press conference on Dec. 9. “The opportunity is great. You come in, compete and work every day. We do school upstairs, so it’s just great … you have to push every day, even if you’re not 100 percent, you have to push every day and they expect you to push every day. They expect you to be your best every day.”
Now, as University of Kentucky freshman guard and OTE alum Rob Dillingham averages 13.8 points, 5.4 assists and 4.4 rebounds through his first eight games, all recruiting eyes go to Atlanta to catch 5-star junior forward Bryson Tiller in action. After scoring 13 points and pulling down 13 rebounds on Dec. 8, Tiller headed straight to Hartsfield Jackson International Airport to catch a flight to Louisville for a visit on the early morning of Dec. 9. His list of offers includes blue blood programs like Villanova, USC, UNC, Michigan, Georgia Tech, Kansas and Indiana.
Other athletes are already locked in with college programs like Ole Miss signee 7-foot-1 center John Bol, high-flying North Carolina State signee Trey Parker and Georgia Tech 4-star signee Jaeden Mustaf.
“It’s kind of fun,” Mustaf said of already playing in Midtown Atlanta before going to college next summer. “I know people are coming out to see the next Georgia Tech player, so that’s pretty fun. I’m excited about it.”
