Overtime Elite is in Abu Dhabi to showcase the talent from the USA
OTE honored to build on development strategy at its second NextGen Finals
Makale
5 Dk okuma
U18 Overtime Elite has become a strong contributor in the youth development game in the United States over its span of four years on the market, and the Atlanta-based league is thrilled to showcase itself for a second time at the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Finals.
OTE showed last spring in Berlin that it can keep up with the strongest in Europe as the team surprised U18 FC Barcelona in a thrilling 102-98 victory for its first-ever win. The Americans followed that a day later by knocking off U18 ALBA Berlin 99-91 for a 2-1 record in its debut in the competition.
“Being here last year was a great experience but the second time around now I don’t think it’s gonna be a shocker that we’re gonna play hard and play with pace, we’re gonna play fast and we have athletes,” said Corey Frazier, the head coach of the OTE team who served as an assistant last season.
“We talked about the opportunity to be on the world stage. They guys respect that and honor that and are gracious of the opportunity. For me the main thing is they go out and play and be at their best and let everything happen organically.”
Things will definitely not be easy in Abu Dhabi in the team’s second appearance. The team will face three former U18 continental champions, starting off against two-time defending winner and record five-time champion U18 Real Madrid.
A day later OTE squares off against two-time winner and last season’s finalist U18 Pole France INSEP Paris. And the Group B stage finishes off with a showdown against U18 Zalgiris Kaunas, another two-time continental champ which also reached three more championship games.
“It’s a great opportunity for our guys but more importantly for our league of OTE to showcase our league but also give us the opportunity to play against some of the best in the world,” Frazier said. “We are very happy to be here and glad that we got chosen.”
Despite only finishing its fourth season, OTE already has its share of famous alumni. The twins Amen and Ausar Thompson were selected No. 4 and 5 overall in the 2023 NBA Draft. French star talent Alexandre Sarr spent one season with OTE before moving to the Perth Wildcats of the Australian NBL and then being picked No. 2 overall in the 2024 Draft.
Other ex-OTE players to get drafted are Rob Dillingham and Tyler Smith while Jean Montero, Izan Almansa, Dominik Barlow, Jaylen Martin and Jazian Gortman all played in the league as well.
OTE was founded in 2021 by Dan Porter, the founder of the digital sports media company Overtime, and Zack Weiner, who like Porter was a former executive at the talent agency William Morris Endeavor. Early investors in the project included Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ investment firm, global entertainer Drake, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and several NBA players.
OTE is housed in a 103,000-square-foot campus complex in Atlanta, offering players personal living space and room for education courses. The building has three NBA regulation-sized courts that can seat up to 1,300 spectators. The building also has a 7,000-square-foot fitness center, a hydrotherapy room, classroom spaces, a dining hall and locker rooms.
The league, in which players aged 16 to 20 compete, started in 2021 with three teams – Team Elite, Team OTE and Team Overtime – playing against each other as well as prep schools and high schools. For season two, the league expanded to six teams. Team Elite, Team OTE, and Team Overtime were rebranded as the City Reapers, YNG Dreamerz and Cold Hearts, respectively. Joining the league were high school teams high school teams Hillcrest Prep Bruins from Phoenix, Arizona, Our Saviour Lutheran (OSL) Falcons in the Bronx, New York City, and the Word of God Holy Rams of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Season three (2023-24) saw the expansion of two more teams to eight – City Reapers, YNG Dreamerz and Cold Hearts while OSL was branded as JellyFam; Hillcrest as Blue Checks; and Word of God as Diamond Doves. Joining OTE were RWE (Rod Wave Elite), an AAU team created by YouTube star Came Wilder and located in the league facilities in Atlanta; and Rolling Loud, which is described as the world’s largest hip-hop festival located in Los Angeles and partnered with the league.
There was one change for the 2024-25 lineup with Rolling Loud being replaced by Fear of God Athletics, affiliated with Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and partnered with fashion designer Jerry Lorenzo.
Team Elite won the first OTE title in 2022 with City Repears taking the crown in 2023 and becoming back-to-back winners in 2024. YNG Dreamerz lost in the 2022 finals and got their revenge in the 2025 finals, beating City Reapers to claim their first championship.
The OTE players and staff now shift their focus to the organization’s second NextGen Finals. It will be another chance for OTE to learn from Euroleague Basketball and its teams.
“What it does for us is give perspective on building programs long term,” Frazier said. “We’ve had guys with us a couple of years and you can see they have gotten better. Our development is more important than anything. Where their development is more as a team, our development is more of an individual. We’re just trying to bridge that gap. It gives us a perspective on team development.”
OTE will intend on taking those lessons back to the United States.