Kanon Catchings is spending his senior year of high school more than 500 miles from home, which is an adjustment that goes beyond school and basketball.

The biggest change?

“Not coming home to my mom and brother every day,” said Catchings, who transferred from Brownsburg to spend his senior year in Atlanta at Overtime Elite, an upstart league going into its third season. “Those were the main people I talked to every single day.”

Catchings, a 6-9 senior, would have been one of the top basketball players in the state as a senior at Brownsburg, a surefire Indiana All-Star with an outside chance to challenge for IndyStar Mr. Basketball. He said there was “not a bad decision” between staying or leaving, but in order to prepare himself for college at Purdue — the program he will sign with Wednesday — Catchings said the opportunity at Overtime Elite was one he did not want to pass up.

“It was a super hard decision,” said Catchings, who is rated as a four-star prospect and the No. 30 player in the country in his class on the 247Sports composite. “Neither decision was going to be a bad decision. It was a long-term decision, really. … It’s good preparation for college next year.”

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Catchings, the son of former Illinois star Tauja Catchings and nephew of Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings, committed in July to Overtime Elite, a league for 16- to 20-year-olds founded in 2021 by Dan Porter and Zack Weiner. While some players are paid a salary — a minimum of $100,000 per year according to the New York Times — others can retain college eligibility through a scholarship program that forgoes a salary but allows them to make money through Name, Image and Likeness.

According to the OTE website: “Everything we do is led by athlete empowerment and choice. No matter what path they choose, every player gets the same access to world-class coaching, state-of-the-art training facilities and integrated data and analytics, in addition to a rigorous and customized academic program at OTE Academy. This allows our athletes to prioritize their development while also preparing them for a successful life off the court. We provide this comprehensive program with the overarching goal of putting young athletes in the best position to succeed after moving on from OTE.”

Ausar Thompson, the regular season and finals MVP of the league last year, was drafted fifth overall by the Detroit Pistons. His brother, Amen Thompson, was drafted fourth, giving Overtime Elite two top-5 NBA draft picks. There are eight Overtime Elite teams this year, including Catchings’ Cold Hearts roster. The team plays at the 103,000 square-foot Overtime Elite Arena, which has three NBA-sized courts and can seat up to 1,300 spectators.

Catchings said his mornings normally consist of getting in “some skill work” on the basketball court, then about 3 ½ to 4 hours of school from 11 a.m. to 2:30 or 3 p.m. He practices with his team, coached by Tim Fanning, at 4 p.m.

“I’d say it does operate like a normal school, but the difference is you see the same people you play with every day,” Catchings said. “In regular school, you see people other than your teammates.”

The teams play several preseason games from the end of September through November before starting the regular season Dec. 1. Among Catchings’ teammates are junior point guard Mikel Brown Jr. (ranked No. 15 in class), Brazil natives Samis Calderon and Reynan dos Santos, four-star sophomore shooting guard Adam Oumiddoch, 7-1 senior Ole Miss recruit John Bol and 7-foot Missouri recruit Peyton Marshall.

In eight games during the preseason, Catchings is averaging 14.5 points and 5.1 rebounds on 43% shooting from the 3-point line. His team will play mostly at home in Atlanta, but will make trips to New York in mid-December, North Carolina in late December and early February and Phoenix in February before the OTE playoffs in late February and March.

“I’ve gained quite a bit of weight and I think I’m paying better attention to other stuff off the court, like eating habits,” Catchings said. “I’d say it’s harder than it seems like from the outside. Most of the things you see on (social) media are just the highlights. There are things you have to do 1,000 times before the highlight happens. There’s a lot of trial and error.”

Catchings’ signing with Purdue will officially mark the end of a recruitment that never really got going. He committed to the Boilermakers in early September of 2022, prior to his junior year Brownsburg.

“I’ve pretty much always been set on Purdue since recruiting started,” he said. “I didn’t get too deep into recruiting.”

There were rumors, around the time he announced he was enrolling at Overtime Elite, he might take a look at opening up his recruitment. Catchings said heard “a little bit” from other schools, but said his relationship with Purdue assistant Brandon Brantley went beyond basketball.

“I’d say every time we talked, it wasn’t just about basketball,” Catchings said. “It was about school and other stuff, too. He was a player at Purdue as well so I felt like he could relate to what I’m about to go through.”

Catchings looks like the jewel of a five-player Purdue recruiting class that also includes Brownstown Central 6-5 shooting guard Jack Benter, 6-10 Cincinnati native Raleigh Burgess, combo guard C.J. Cox of Milton Academy (Mass.) and recent commit Daniel Jacobsen, a 7-3 center from Brewster Academy (N.H.).

Current Purdue freshman Myles Colvin, a Heritage Christian graduate, is also a player Catchings is familiar with.

“I got to know Myles playing with him and against him at USA Basketball,” Catchings said. “He’s an exciting player. We have a good class; it will be exciting. Coach (Matt) Painter expects us to come in and work hard and earn your playing time.”

Catchings said he has returned home “about once a month” and wishes his former teammates at Brownsburg the best this season. He hopes to get home to see his eighth-grade brother play this season, too.

“I feel like you have to grow up once you get to college and figure some stuff out,” Catching said. “Either way, I think I would have done that. Maybe this will help me most in the long run.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue basketball signing day: Kanon Catchings preps at Overtime Elite