Former top prospect Jalen Lewis has eyes on the NBA

OAKLAND, California – Former Denver Nuggets assistant coach Chris Farr turned to the potential NBA prospect and asked, “What time is it?”

Former Overtime Elite forward Jalen Lewis looked at his smartwatch and responded, “It’s 12:32 p.m.”

Farr, NBA star Damian Lillard’s former basketball trainer, looked at Lewis directly and said, “Thank them and move on. Leave all things behind. Press on. It’s 12:33 now. You’ll never get that time again. Move forward. Don’t relive it.”

A locked-in Lewis took in every word and nodded in agreement following his basketball workout at Merritt College on Monday. Just three years ago, the 6-foot-10 big man was arguably the best player in the Class of 2023. Now, however, the draft-eligible Lewis is not on ESPN’s Top 100 NBA draft prospects list after a three-year stint with Overtime Elite didn’t go as hoped.

Lewis, however, has a chance to spark draft interest from NBA teams when he takes part in the G League Elite Camp beginning Saturday in Chicago. Current NBA players Jose Alvarado, Caleb Martin, Terance Mann, Max Strus and Kenneth Lofton Jr. all participated in the G League Elite Camp. The two-day event gives prospects an opportunity to showcase their skills to NBA and NBA G League scouts, coaches and front-office executives in 5-on-5 games and strength and agility drills.

The 18-year-old Lewis plans to prove he is deserving and hopes to also be promoted to the NBA draft combine next week.

“I’m real excited going into this. Just excited to showcase my abilities again,” Lewis told Andscape. “My dream has always been to play in the NBA. I’m just excited to play against the top guys again and showing that I am the best.”

Overtime Elite was founded in 2021 and is based in Atlanta. It serves as a pathway for elite teenage basketball players to play in a league against other talented players en route to the NBA or other pro leagues. It also is an accredited private high school and media conglomerate. Eighteen Overtime Elite alumni have gone on to play pro basketball, according to the league. Its most well-known alumni are Houston Rockets swingman Amen Thompson and his twin brother, Detroit Pistons swingman Ausar Thompson, who were NBA rookies last season. Former Overtime Elite center Alexandre Sarr played professionally for the Perth Wildcats in Australia this season and is projected to be a top 5 pick in the 2024 NBA draft. Overtime Elite alums Dominick Barlow (San Antonio Spurs) and Jaylen Martin (Brooklyn Nets) also played in the NBA this season.

In 2021, Lewis was more heralded than the Thompson twins, Sarr and any other prospect when he agreed to a three-year, $1.7 million deal with a player option in the third year.

“I remember going to the top of the rankings,” Lewis said. “It was an exciting feeling knowing that my work had paid off. At that time, I was being noticed as the top player [in my class] across the world. All the years growing up hooping, I always wanted to be one of the best. Just being noticed globally as the No. 2 player [behind Dajuan Wagner Jr.] was big to me inside. It meant a lot.

“I always tried to be humble about it. I didn’t take it too far mentally. I always remembered how I got there, what steps it took and the process.”

“I’d describe Jalen as an absolute difference maker, a rare talent with a combination of size, athleticism, good hands and ball skills that impact plays on both ends of the court. There are no limitations to what he’ll be able to do in his career. And through Overtime Elite, he’ll have the resources in place to help him reach his dreams,” then-Overtime Elite coach and director of player development Kevin Ollie said in 2021.

Lewis and his father Ahlee moved to Atlanta to be near the Overtime Elite headquarters after the signing. Lewis’ mother, Tiffany Massimino, died of breast cancer when he was 2 months old, leaving his father to raise him. Lewis also lived with the Thompson twins during his first year at Overtime Elite.

The first Overtime Elite class was walking in faith on what to expect, but it had a new basketball venue with three NBA-sized courts, a state-of-the-art weight room and training facility, and a basketball and skills development staff of more than 40 people. Lewis said the competition during Overtime Elite games and practices pushed him to play at the highest level and improve. Lewis also enjoyed playing in an environment where NBA scouts were around regularly.

“You can’t really have any bad days when you’re surrounded by all those good players and everyone looking at you all the time,” Lewis said. “There is basically a bunch of scouts in there, too. OTE was full of scouts.”

Lewis is also a quiet, introverted teenager who said the atmosphere of Overtime Elite was a distraction. During games there are flashing lights, a boisterous public address announcer, camera operators on the floor, a sliding camera on the sideline, theatrical smoke, blaring music and more to promote the Overtime Elite brand and add to the fun of the games, which air on YouTube and Amazon Prime Video. Ahlee Lewis believed there was more focus on entertainment than basketball.

“The most challenging thing was the social media aspect of it,” said Lewis, who has nearly 15,000 Instagram followers. “Every time at practice, every break you get in between workouts, every time you’re trying to rest, get a drink — regular things you are doing in the gym at workouts — there was always some video or social media thing that they’re trying to get you into. It’s exhausting, for sure.”

Lewis averaged 6.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 39% shooting from the field in three seasons with Overtime Elite. Sources told Andscape that Overtime Elite questioned Lewis’ desire to be a part of the program and his maturity during his time. Lewis, who received his high school diploma in 2023, will turn 19 years old on May 21.

“Being a young kid and hanging out — doing a few of the things that he shouldn’t do — and OTE being aware of it, instead of really just trying to communicate with him and help him grow from it, they kind of branded him for doing certain things,” Lewis’ agent, Aaron Goodwin, told Andscape. “And I think that because he’s an introvert and because he went down there a hundred percent to play basketball and not really think about all the other attributes and things that went along with being a part of the OTE program, there was a lot of confusion there.”

Lewis, who wasn’t eligible to play college basketball due to signing with Overtime Elite, contemplated leaving the league before his third season. Forwards Tyler Smith and Izan Almansa signed with the G League Ignite, guard Bryson Warren entered the G League draft and played for the Sioux Falls Skyforce, and Sarr went to Australia. Smith, Almansa, Warren and Sarr all could have returned to Overtime Elite, a source said.

In January, Lewis and Overtime Elite agreed to allow him to opt out of playing in games while still working out at their facility with his own trainers in preparation for the 2024 NBA draft, sources told Andscape. He also took part in some Overtime Elite practices and continued to have access to all facilities. While Overtime Elite stopped promoting Lewis on social media because he was not playing, they did continue to pay him the remainder of his contract.

“We started OTE in part to provide alternate pathways for basketball players to achieve their professional dreams,” Dan Porter, Overtime Elite co-founder and CEO, said in a statement to Andscape. “Jalen was one of the first players to sign with OTE in Year 1 and was one of three who chose to spend three years here. There is no one perfect path. Every player does what’s right for them. As he transitions to the next phase of his career, we are happy to have been part of Jalen’s path.”

“I felt like it was time to get ready for the draft and get with my team to stack some good days like I did in the previous years of OTE. The third year was something different for me. They were bringing a lot of different kids into OTE that they were trying to hold on for years to come. They weren’t really caring about the people that were still there from the previous contract from the first year. …, ” Lewis said.

“I definitely felt like the old guy in there, for sure. It was time to move on and get ready for bigger things.”

Goodwin also believed his client was confused about Overtime Elite’s direction after three key executives left the program during his time there. Ollie left Overtime Elite in March 2023. Brandon Williams, who was instrumental in signing Lewis, left his position as Overtime Elite’s head of basketball operations in June 2022. And in May 2022, Tim Fuller stepped down as Overtime Elite’s vice president of recruiting and player personnel to become an assistant men’s basketball coach at Providence College. Former NBA player Damien Wilkins was promoted to Overtime Elite general manager and head of basketball operations.

“Initially, it looked like a great opportunity for him and his family,” said Goodwin, who also represents NBA stars Lillard and DeMar DeRozan. “It became a situation where when Brandon was there, he pushed it as if they’re going to focus on building these players, getting them better, having a team of people around them to make sure that their athletic skills, their maturation, their academic skills, everything got better. And then it became more of a distance-type relationship between Jalen and the program where there wasn’t a lot of communication.

“In hindsight, I wish that there would’ve been more communication. In hindsight, I wish that I would’ve went out there and maybe viewed what the program was about, which I didn’t do. Ahlee, his dad, was down there and his dad expressed a lot of frustration and a lot of questions on what they were doing. But it became a difficult situation for the kid communication-wise.”

“All of the people that recruited us there were now gone. And when we came back, it was totally different … I wish we were more educated in the business of basketball,” Ahlee Lewis said.

Lewis and his father moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area in March, moving temporarily into Lewis’ grandmother’s house, where he grew up. Since then, Lewis has worked out regularly with former San Diego State forward Jaedon LeDee, an NBA draft prospect who averaged 21.4 points and 8.4 rebounds as a senior last season. They have been taking part in basketball workouts with Farr at Merritt College and beach workouts at Crown Beach in Alameda, California, with renowned Oakland athletic trainer Anthony Eggleton.

“Coming home was definitely a good move,” Lewis said. “It has me in a great mental place. I’ve always loved California. Being back here and being able to work out on the beach, seeing where I grew up has been great.”

Farr has trained NBA stars such as Lillard, DeRozan, Hall of Famers Gary Payton Sr. and Jason Kidd, Miami Heat guard Patty Mills and Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton II. On Monday, Lewis and LeDee worked on 3-point and mid-range shooting, and aggressive dunk drives to the basket while the latest rap songs filled the otherwise empty Merritt College gym.

“There have been over $1 billion made in this gym. We succeed in this gym. Y’all are the next two,” Farr yelled to Lewis and LeDee during their workout.

Said Lewis: “Coach Farr pushes us to the max, our limits.”

Before that workout, Lewis and LeDee also did a beach endurance workout that included frog jumps and sprints with Eggleton as curious joggers and walkers passed by. “Coach Ant” has been training Oakland-area athletes from high school to the pros for about 40 years in strength, conditioning and mental health.

Eggleton believes Lewis is “just reaching his potential.”

“His work ethic has been right where I thought it should be,” Eggleton told Andscape. “It’s been high. I think he’s learning to take it to another level.”

“I feel like Coach Ant has really helped me tap in spiritually. The beach workouts, the field workouts and running in the gym have been big for me and my conditioning. Being in the sand is always going to make the game on the court so much easier,” Lewis said.

Lewis is one of 45 prospects invited to take part in the G League Elite Camp at Wintrust Arena. He arrived in Chicago on Wednesday night.

Lewis was one vote shy of being invited directly to the NBA pre-draft camp beginning Monday, a source said. But a strong performance at the G League Elite camp could lead to an invite. The Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Sacramento Kings, Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards and Houston Rockets have requested to interview Lewis over the weekend, a source said.

Lewis said he is mentally and physically ready for the challenge and what is next. He added that he looks forward to showing his athleticism and ability to shoot the NBA 3-pointer.

A positive that came from the Overtime Elite experience, Lewis said, is that he will not be in awe of working out in front of NBA scouts.

“I don’t think that will ever faze me because of all the different trials I’ve been through. I’ve been in front of the crowds every day,” Lewis said.

“Flat-out, I believe the kid can play, and that the team that takes a chance on him will be pleasantly surprised by the fact that he has not lost his ability to play,” Goodwin said.

Oakland has a long list of former and current NBA stars who are a part of its legacy. Lillard, Payton, Kidd, Bill Russell, Antonio Davis, Brian Shaw, Paul Silas, Jon Barry, Brent Barry, Greg Foster, Drew Gooden, J.R. Rider, Juan Toscano-Anderson, the Thompson twins and more. Lewis has met Lillard and Kidd and has received words of wisdom from Payton, Rider and Shaw.

When asked what it would mean to hear his name called during the NBA draft, Lewis took a lengthy pause.

“To hear my name draft night would be an incredible feeling,” Lewis said. “I would just feel at peace.”