Meet 17-year-old Bryson Warren, a high school student-athlete who is earning a six-figure income. He is among a few high school athletes who have been signed by Overtime Elite, a New York-based company that recruits and pays some of the best young talents in basketball from around the world to play at its academy in Atlanta.
He was signed along with some 26 other student-athletes to earn six figures while they work towards even getting drafted into the NBA.
“Not too many 17-, 18-, 19-year-olds can say they made at least $100K,” Warren, who is a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, tells CNBC Make It. “We’re just really getting a head start on life, just playing the game we love.”
Warren was ranked by ESPN as the 14th-best U.S. high school basketball player in his age group, making him appealing to sports agents like Overtime. Warren spends most of his time at Overtime’s 100,000-square-foot Atlanta facility, which, according to CNBC Make It, is an all-in-one arena, training facility, dormitory and boarding school.
The outlet reports that athletes at Overtime attend classes and study for a diploma while also competing against each other and other high school basketball teams from across the United States.
“They also offer a base annual salary of at least $100,000 for every student-athlete, with on-court performance bonuses potentially pushing that figure above $1 million,” CNBC Make It reports.
According to Black Business, Warren has been using part of his salary to support his community through investment in local co-educational AAU basketball team in his hometown in Arkansas. The move is to help support kids from second to sixth grade.
