The EuroCup debutant has gained stardom through his successful YouTube channel
Trey Drechsel inspiring other players with YouTube videos
Player Spotlight
6 Mins read
Lietkabelis Panevezys didn't just sign a versatile shooting guard this summer who can light it up from the outside. In Trey Drechsel, the Lithuanian club added a player who has built up a strong following with a YouTube channel that helps shine a light on what it’s like to be a professional basketball player in Europe.
Drechsel will be making his BKT EuroCup debut this season and the 29-year-old American is thrilled to live in a country where the people are so excited and knowledgeable about the game.
"I came here because it's a basketball country. Somewhere where basketball is like a religion. So I’m super excited about it. You can already tell everybody here actually knows basketball at a high level,” Drechsel, who played the last two seasons in Portugal, told David Hein.
Then again, it was in Portugal where Drechsel not only became a leading player with SL Benfica but also became a bit of a YouTube star. He regularly chronicled his time in the country and his channel – TreyDrechsel5 – grew from about 5,000 subscribers to more than 60,000 after his second season there.
“I'm just really trying to provide tools and value and real insight that other athletes can apply. So not only am I sharing my journey and the cultural experiences of living overseas and what goes into being a professional, but what truly being a high-level professional looks like,” said Drechsel, who has built out his brand which he calls Atypical.
His now wife – then girlfriend – had been doing a vlog about exploring Serbia and experiencing the culture in Serbia during their time there in 2020-21, and Drechsel would appear in the episodes.
“She started a YouTube channel, and in Serbia if you talk about their country at all, your channel blows up,” Drechsel said.
Her channel was getting a lot of momentum in three months or so and he started enjoying the process of making the videos and then also having the videos to look back on.
Drechsel started his video blog before the 2021-22 season in Poland, doing so while he was back in the United States recovering from a broken hand. The videos recalled his process of coming back from that and preparing for his third season as a professional in Europe.
“I was going through a lot like just like every athlete does when they get injured,” he said. “I knew a lot of other athletes are experiencing something like this so I just wanted to start documenting this journey so that other athletes can feel less alone.”
There was another reason, too.
“I've always been a big family guy. I wanted my future kids to be able to see some of the stuff that I went through while I was playing overseas, to see that their dad was a dog overseas.”
Drechsel says he can’t really watch the really raw videos from his time back in Poland with Stal Ostrow Wielkopolski. Things got a bit better during the 2022-23 season in Germany at EWE Baskets Oldenburg, but they really took off when he got to Benfica in Portugal. In January 2024 he hired an editor from Portugal. He later added a Turkish graphic designer living in France, who Drechsel calls his "solver" in terms of logo and website design and leveling up the brand as a whole.
The third member of the team is kind of a YouTube consultant – kind of like a brand consultant. The person was living in Athens but is actually from the same area in Washington where Drechsel is from. The company, Audience Labs, supports a bunch of other creators in the space such as EuroLeague stars Elijah Bryant and Shaq McKissic.
Drechsel’s episodes are a mix of storytelling about things he experiences on and off the court as well as assistance for other players, looking at his routines on the court and in the weight room.
He says doing the videos also benefit him in a couple of ways. The first of which is reflection on his own life.
“I film and then look at the rough cut from the last couple of days and think, 'What was I getting out of that time?' It makes me just live a lot more intentional because I have to be intentional about the stories I want to tell and the life I want to live,” he said.
Drechsel also talked about him watching the game footage helps him level up his film study.
“I watch over my games way more because I'm telling the story of each game. So I have to watch the film, see what I learned, see what I did good, see what I did bad. So I'm a big proponent of this. I think this has absolutely helped my basketball career, just in terms of thinking more retrospectively and objectively.”
When Drechsel started the vlog in Poland there were not many other athletes documenting their journeys. But he is excited about seeing more players doing so on various media channels now, such as McKissic, Bryant, Chima Moneke and Shane Larkin.
After spending two seasons in Portugal, Drechsel is still trying to get a feel for how much he can film at his new team in Lithuania. Another change coming up soon is that Drechsel’s wife is expecting the couple’s first child. It’s unclear how fatherhood will change his videos and storylines.
“That's a hill that we're going to have to climb once we get there because I have no idea. I wish I knew how my son is going to change my life,” he said.
One change for sure is that Drechsel will be collaborating with the EuroCup this season through video content.
EuroCup fans will get a chance to experience what makes Drechsel’s videos so good – the vulnerability that shines through in them.
“That is one of the things I got, why my channel has been successful and why I got over it early is accepting that vulnerability and not really caring what people are going to think or say and just being open about your struggles, your good moments, your bad moments. I think that's the most relatable aspect,” he said.
The videos Drechsel said also allow him to look at things from a different perspective.
“It gives me a way to step away from basketball, a way to level myself up as a well-rounded human being… You can take a step back from the day-to-day intensity of practices and games and big wins, big losses. It helps you float above the wave rather than getting trapped underneath the wave. And it's just so free mentally to have a creative outlet and to kind of inspire people along the way.”
Lietkabelis fans, get ready as Drechsel looks to inspire with his play on the court and through his videos about life off the court.