Overtime Elite forward Jaylen Martin details what makes OTE a great choice for some players

Martin is one of a few prospects hoping to reach the NBA from Overtime Elite

Overtime Elite (OTE) is a new professional basketball league that started in 2021 — it just wrapped up its second season of operation. It's still in its infancy and growing.

The fresh nature of the league, combined with a unique level of young talent, makes it difficult to evaluate NBA draft prospects who played in OTE. One of the league's former guards, Jean Montero, had a solid summer league for the New York Knicks and reportedly agreed to a deal with the franchise, though it never materialized. Forward Dominick Barlow went through the OTE program, and he spent the past NBA  season on a two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs, where he averaged 3.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in 28 outings. Both were projected to be draft picks, though neither wound up being selected.

It's still early in the process of seeing what Overtime Elite players become in the pros. This year's class of potential draftees is just the second one ever. Jaylen Martin, a forward who is in the pre-draft process after spending a year in OTE, will be another data point for NBA clubs to monitor in the process of figuring out OTE's ability to generate quality prospects.

"I talked to him a lot," Martin said of Barlow after a pre-draft workout with the Indiana Pacers last week. "He was basically just telling me to just stick to the process. Just go through it. Stay happy, just enjoy the process."

Martin is an NBA hopeful along with Amen and Ausar Thompson, two draft prospects who are projected to be picked inside the lottery on draft night. Former Pacers forward Damien Wilkins is the league's general manager and head of basketball. He helps run OTE, which is designed to guide its athletes toward achieving their athletic and academic goals.

That, combined with the $100,000 minimum salary for all players, makes OTE an appealing path for young talent like Martin. The Tallahassee native joined the league in lieu of offers from multiple Division 1 NCAA programs.

The pro path was the right choice for Martin, a six-foot-six-inch forward who wants to reach the NBA. He played for the YNG Dreamerz in OTE.

For the team, he averaged 14 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. In his best outing, he had 27 points and 14 rebounds against the Falcons.

"It was pretty fun. Great energy. Love everybody there. It was just a good platform for me to develop my game over my senior year and my gap year," Martin said of Overtime Elite. "A lot of good resources. Great trainers, great coaches, great athletic staff. It was just all good."

Martin was talking about the league after a pre-draft workout with the Indiana Pacers, who own five picks in the 2023 NBA Draft. Their best pick is seventh overall, which is near the range where the Thompson brothers are typically slated to be selected in mock drafts.

Their upside appears to be high, but teams are still figuring out how players from OTE will do in the NBA. Barlow was a useful first data point. Martin is a part of the second group that will hope to push the new league forward.

Martin thinks that Amen and Ausuar are great talents, and that going against them helped him get better. He noted that, in general, going against the older talent of OTE instead of high schoolers helped him improve. There were a ton of benefits to the program.

"I can just take more time to develop my game, get individual training," Martin said of Overtime Elite. 

OTE has pulled in many top recruits for future classes, such as Robert Dillingham (2023) and Naasir Cunningham (2024). Pau Gasol, among other NBA legends, is on the board for the rapidly developing league that is producing NBA talent.

"Just make sure that we were prepared by just [developing]. Lots of strength and conditioning. Just going through drills that we do at combines," Martin said of how OTE prepared him for the NBA. "Different workouts, similar to NBA draft workouts. I just feel like they did everything to prepare us for where I'm at today."

The 19-year old is an NBA hopeful, though most mock drafts don't list him. He worked out for the Pacers alongside Toumani Camara, Tosan Evbuomwan, Landers Nolley II, Miles Norris, and Julian Strawther.

If Overtime Elite prepared him well, perhaps Martin could get drafted or land on a squad as an undrafted free agent. Time will tell. But the league is growing, and Martin, among others, believe it provides the necessary resources for young players to develop and reach the NBA.

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