EXCLUSIVE: Shon Abaev Looks Ahead to Senior Season with Overtime Elite

Shon Abaev is looking forward to showcasing his talent this season on the newest team in the OTE family -- Fear of God Athletics.

Shon Abaev | Overtime Elite / Overtime Elite Communications

As Overtime Elite gets underway with a new season of action, the program continues to be an incubator for some of the best young basketball talent in the country. While there will be plenty of returning faces to the league, there will also be several new stars taking the stage.

Most notably, Shon Abaev will look to prove he's one of the top prospects in the Overtime Elite program. He will be a headliner for OTE this season playing for one of the external teams outside of Atlanta, but his first game of the season on campus at Overtime Elite Arena will be taking place on Friday.

Abaev is playing for OTE’s newest team, Fear of God Athletics -- as he leads Calvary Christian Academy into a new chapter of their program. Although based in Florida, the school's basketball program will compete in OTE's league this season as one of the several teams based outside of Atlanta.

OTE | Fear of God Athletics / Overtime Elite Communications

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A 6-foot-7 lefty with perimeter skills, Abaev is built for the NBA. While he still has one final high school season and then a collegiate career before making it that far, there's no question he has a professional skillset and archetype. A four-star recruit with offers from Arizona State, Auburn, Oregon, Cincinnati and Tennessee among others, Abaev is breaking out as a star. He's really starting to hit his stride, with a tremendous summer of play behind him.

Abaev recently spoke to Draft Digest about his emergence and the upcoming season, giving insight into what he was able to accomplish this summer.

“I feel like something that I'm very proud of for myself is winning the championship at the NBA Top 100 camp with my team. Everything is not just about myself, you know, it’s being able to show that I'm able to win and even go undefeated with other great players in my class across the country," said the senior wing. "From an individual standpoint, winning the MVP at the Elite 24 in Brooklyn shows that I'm able to compete and even hold against the best in the country."

While he was already a highly-rated recruit before this summer, he truly has broken out in the past few months. Abaev understands the importance of that and is grateful for how his hard work is starting to pay off.

"Just all the hard work that I put in, seeing it pay off at the end of the day, it just makes me happy. Because sometimes God just gives little hints to show you that all your work — he sees it," Abaev said as he reflected on recent accomplishments. "Obviously I feel like I'm nowhere close to where I want to be right now as a player, so just seeing little hints like that has definitely helped me stay strong and keep going even harder.”

Again, Abaev is a jumbo wing who can score in a variety of ways, but is really a prospect who has the ability to do a little bit of everything. That's because of how he's shaped his game, which was modeled after three very prominent NBA players -- LeBron James, Kevin Durant and James Harden.

“It’s really three players. I don't try to compare myself to anybody, because I feel like everybody has their own unique game. So I feel like, for me, I try to take different things from different players," Abaev told Draft Digest. "When I was younger — and even now — LeBron [James] was my favorite. Just the way he plays and gets teammates involved. He does everything on the court at his size. The body he has and the way he’s able to move, the way he’s been able to dominate the league for 20 years now is just amazing to me. I take his IQ and the way he reads the game, he’s like almost three to five steps ahead of everybody on the court, even the coaches. I also look up to Kevin Durant, because of his size and the way he’s able to move and score at all three levels. Like him, I’m taller than most players who guard me. Being able to shoot over them and get to my spots with less dribbles and being more efficient is something he does. Third, a lot of people know me for my step-back and how I could can space for a shot — I get that from James Harden. And I just try to manipulate that as well and take that from him and use it for my  game as well.”

These are three unique players who have made an incredible impact on the next generation of athletes. In fact, Abaev has been able to spend time watching Harden train and he’s tried to emulate the creation of a signature, unguardable shot. So when you watch him playing amongst OTE competition this season, don't be surprised to see his step-back move work to perfection.

Our first chance to potentially see that will be on Friday in Atlanta. From there, Abaev will get to showcase his skills against the best competition in the country for an entire season, which is something he's looking forward to. The rising star has a chip on his shoulder and has a lot to prove.

“Just proving that me and my team are able to compete at this level — and even win at this level. We're able to compete at this level if we just lock in and play together and fight for each other every day on the court, every day in practice," Abaev said when asked what he's looking forward to most this season. "I feel very confident in our team, and a lot of people don't believe in us because we're the new team. So we're just coming here to prove to people that we're not what they think and we're better than they expected.”

While winning is a top priority for Abaev, this is also an opportunity to showcase his individual game to collegiate and NBA personnel. Given the amount of talent in the Overtime Elite league, he will have the chance to play meaningful minutes in front of decision-makers nearly every night. Most notably, he'd like to prove that he's more than just a scorer.

“I’d like to show more that I definitely can play on both sides of the court. A lot of people know me as an offensive threat, so I want to show people that I can also play on the other side of the court as well. You know, because NBA, you're gonna have to play on that side of the court to stay in the NBA and to even get to there," he told Draft Digest. "I also want to show that I can rebound more, you know with my size I can get a lot of rebounds. And then I also just want to show I can lead my team and help my team win day in and day out.”

So for OTE fans who haven't ever seen Abaev play, what should they be expecting? He described his game in his own words ahead of the start of the season.

“I'm a team-first type of player. You know, I love to get my teammates involved," Abaev said. "People always see me scoring, and they don't really see the part of me that facilitates and gets my teammates involved but I always love to do that. But you know, if you need me, I can get a bucket whenever somebody needs me to get a bucket. So just somebody that can help your team win in every way possible.”

Over the next few months, expect Abaev to continue his ascension to stardom and become more of a household name. Now that he has the visibility that Overtime Elite provides, he will likely become one of the most well-known players in the country by the time he kicks off his collegiate career this time next year.

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