Overtime Elite (OTE) signed its first high school players Friday, inking five-star
West Oaks Academy (Orlando, Fla.) forwards
Matthew Bewley and
Ryan Bewley, per a
report by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The elite Class of 2023 forwards will forgo their high school and college eligibility to join the startup league in September for contracts expected to pay out seven figures for each player over their two year contract.
Matt is regarded as the No. 2 prospect in the Class of 2023 according to
247Sports, while Ryan is ranked No. 16 in the class.
Both players were selected as
MaxPreps Sophomore All-Americans last season. Matt Bewley earned first team honors after averaging 17 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks per contest while Ryan Bewley earned honorable mention after averaging 10 points, 10.3 rebounds and two blocks per game.
Overtime Elite, in the process of building a
100,000 square-foot arena and training facility in Atlanta, hired 13-year NBA veteran and national championship-winning coach
Kevin Ollie to run the team.
The upstart professional league is offering players a guaranteed minimum of at least $100,000 per year, plus bonuses and shares of equity in Overtime. It also maintains players will participate in revenue from use of their name, image and likeness, including through sales of custom jerseys, trading cards, video games and NFTs.
Overtime has secured $80 million in financial backing from Jeff Bezos,
Drake, Alexis Ohanian, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant and others.
Matthew Bewley in action during his freshman year at Northeast.
Photo by Nicholas Koza
