The Jalen Lewis Blog: Overtime Elite, USA Basketball Gold, Drake, Kanye and More

Lewis helped to lead the USA Basketball U16 team to the gold medal in Mexico.

Jalen Lewis was the top frontcourt player in the 2023 class with a who’s who of college suitors like Duke, Kentucky, UCLA, Stanford, California, Michigan and others all in pursuit. Still, he chose the newly formed Overtime Elite (OTE) pro league as his next step. Fresh off winning a gold medal with USA Basketball’s U16 team, Lewis has agreed to give Sports Illustrated exclusive access into his world by chronicling everything from intimate details about his recruitment to his everyday life in a blog.

What’s up world, Jalen Lewis here just giving you guys the next segment of my Sports Illustrated blog!

I’m still excited about winning gold with the USA Basketball team in Mexico! I’m probably gonna get a frame for it, but I’m just enjoying it right now.

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It was a great experience in every way! I would have to say that it was even better than I expected because the last two teams we played were really tough competition and we had to earn it.

It felt so great getting that last win against Argentina. We fought hard against a talented team and got it done.

We didn’t do much in our downtime over there because of COVID, but we had fun just kicking it with each other.

A lot of the guys had different questions about my decision to go pro, but they were all really supportive.

I’m really excited to move to Atlanta and I get started with school there too!

It’s pretty wild to be a pro; it doesn’t really feel any different. I wouldn’t say I feel like a pro, I don’t even know how that would feel.

Haha!

It’s all just normal to me.

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I just saw that this was a good opportunity for me to get to the pro level and learn from NBA guys. I feel like my game is gonna grow so much with the individualized training and consistent tough competition, so that’s something I’m very excited about.

It was tough not to go to college; that’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but these opportunities don’t pop up every day. I took it and it still feels like the best decision for me.

I’ve already started talking to some of the other guys that will be playing with Overtime, and we’re all just ready to go and ready to get into a routine.

I’ve heard that Atlanta is a fun place to live, and I’ll have my dad there with me for support so that will definitely help me settle in easier.

Of course, everyone knows about the Kanye’s “Donda” and Drake’s “CLE” albums and I actually liked both of them. I think I liked Drake’s a little better, but Donda was good too!

OK guys I’m gonna get out of here, but I appreciate you reading and I’ll check back soon for another segment.

Take care guys!

Don’t forget to follow Jalen Lewis:

Twitter: @jalenlewiss

Instagram: jalenlewisss_