New league for prep standouts gaining notice
They took a chance on each other: The teenage power forward from New Jersey on the start-up league. The start-up league on the young player with immense talent.
Dominick Barlow received on-the-job training — and a six-figure salary — to skip college and join Overtime Elite, a new basketball league created to give high school players another path to the pros. He learned about nutrition, social-media skills and financial literacy as he immersed himself in hoops.
He has parlayed his time with OTE into an invitation to the NBA draft combine this week in Chicago.
For the league, it demonstrates there’s room for yet another option beyond the conventional route through the college ranks, the NBA’s G League Ignite or playing overseas.
“This just shows how big this industry is,” said Jay Bilas, a basketball analyst for ESPN. “There’s not just one way to be successful and have a productive and long career.”
There were almost as many OTE players (Barlow and guard Jean Montero) invited to the combine as from Kansas, the NCAA champion (Ochai Agbaji, Christian Braun, Jalen Wilson).
Over the next few days, they will participate in games, drills and go through interviews. It’s a chance to possibly move up a team’s draft board. Montero and Barlow are currently forecast as second-round picks (although some mock drafts have Montero going late in the first ).
Coming out of high school, Barlow wasn’t a five-star recruit. He had suitors — DePaul, Illinois and Florida among them, according to Rivals.com — but elected to go with the league that guarantees at least $100,000, along with shares in the company (Overtime) and other revenue streams through sales of custom jerseys, trading cards, video games and NFTs.
Barlow learned about nutrition and simple lessons like how to balance his plate when sitting down to eat after a heavy workout.
He took a course on media training and on expanding his brand on social media. The 26 players who formed the inaugural OTE class were divided into three teams and played a full schedule against prep schools and each other. Throughout the year, more than 300 pro scouts passed through the complex.
“We don’t have the history of some of the blueblood schools,” said Brandon Williams, head of basketball operations at OTE. “We have to embrace that difference.”