I have been very fortunate over the years to have had a very good journalist to player relationship. I love featuring player´s journey on eurobasket.com and germanhops.com, because every player no matter where they are if it´s the NBA, first division France, 4th division or somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Argentina, every player has their own unique story. Obviously through my good contacts with players, I often am able to get in contact with other players. But what happens if I can´t get that desired number from a player? Well over the years, I have also been fortunate to preserve good relationships with agents. I have befriended many agents over the years and my list always gets larger. There is nothing better than for a player to get some free exposure. Not only the players profits, but so does the agent. One agent that I have become very friendly with has been One Motive Sports founder Drew Kelso. I was shocked to learn that I got to know him back in June of 2022. In a short span of 2 years to 2024, I had interviewed 17 of his clients. The list has continued to rise in the last 1 year. The last player I interviewed was Tevis Olison. It was actually 15 in 2024 and only a few months later it grew to 18 as he added Vlad Moldoveanu of VM Hoops Agency as I had interviewed a few of his players. “Man, 18 guys is crazy! We appreciate you and your hard work first of all”, stressed Drew Kelso in 2024. After a brief moment in thought, I realized that we are very much alike. I´m a workaholic and never take a day off. I´m always looking for that next interview and writing articles on players. My passion for the game is extraordinary. For me it´s like a game. Who will be my next interview and how big is the challenge to reel in a NBA player for a Q&A? Drew is the same as me. He is an ultimate workaholic. Not only is he doing all he can to get every player of his in the best situation, but when he does, his job isn´t done. This guy shows so much love and does so much promotion for his players on social media on a daily basis. I honestly have not seen another agent give as much love for his players as he does. Whenever I have interviewed a player, I like to follow their journey closer. It wasn´t any different when I was able to interview Daeqwon Plowden (198-G/F-1998, college: BGSU, agency: One Motive Sports) of One Motive Sprots a few years ago after hie finished college. He played NBA Summer League and has made a massive rise in this time. He paid his dues in the G-League and got a 2 way contract with the Atlanta Hawks in 2023. You could feel Kelso´s joy as he was posting news about that. It made me happy as well. But now it´s time to hear about his unique journey as a basketball agent.
Drew Kelso hails from Arkansas and went to Lincoln trail college and then finished at Blue Mountain College in Mississippi. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a pro ice hockey player and sportscaster. Since I´m from Boston and watched every sport news cast in the 80´s from the local channels 4,5 and 7. I remember often hearing the name Bob Wolfe and seeing him in interviews as he was handling Larry Bird. Kelso also had a vision of where he wanted to go jobwise when he was a kid. “I told my Dad when I was 13 years old that I wanted to be a sports agent. Life took me a different direction when I started a retail business in my dorm room when I was 21 and then wound up back chasing my dreams 9 years later (another story for another day, lol). But, looking back I guess I really had no idea of agents truly were. The obvious answer is the dramatized Jerry Maguire or even Dom Pagnotti from “He Got Game”. Coming from a small city in Arkansas, it’s not like we had any agents coming around for me to learn from. So, I guess, I didn’t really have any role models in the agent world. I am a self-proclaimed agent nerd though. I study agents, agencies, scouts, etc. Not in a sense of being envious, but at the end of the day I am eight seasons into this but I’m still on a constant pursuit of learning and not afraid to ask questions or admit that I’m wrong in a scenario. When I played, I used to watch certain players and try to immolate my game after them. I do the same in the agent business. I also try to take things I don’t like from certain agents and implement into what we don’t want to do. I always say, I have a lot of respect anyone crazy enough to get into this business and I keep that respect for anyone in the business until something is done for me to lose it somewhat”, stressed Drew Kelso in 2024. He is in his 8th year as an agent and founded One Motive Sports in 2018 and in a way is like a player who just plays the game he loves. “It’s been a blessing to be in my dream profession. But if I had to say one thing, it would be being able to genuinely get to impact the lives of so many players and their families. To know that we’ve been fortunate enough to see young men’s lives changed from when they signed with us at OMS has been amazing. We’ve not only seen players make the NBA, high levels all over the world, see them make a lot of money, but also have been fortunate enough to see players get married, start families, begin coaching, etc. We just believe in the person more than the player and that makes it more of a mission in life more than a job”, stated Drew Kelso in 2024. One of my favorite questions that I love to ask players is what their wake up call was to being a rookie overseas where they knew you were far away from home. Of course I couldn´t refrain from asking Drew what his was as an agent. “I think the wake up call for me was the constant rejection. Reaching out to teams around the world, being left on read, been told no thank you so many times, etc. And we’re not talking about Real Madrid or Alba Berlin teams, respectfully we were being told no by super low level/entry level type teams, which in hindsight, is what we were… low level. I think that and then just the COVID pandemic in 2020. In March of 2019 we had 1 player playing abroad. In March of 2020, we had grown to 36 players in 27 countries. Dealing with the pandemic and getting all of these guys home safely back to their families in a state of so much uncertainty, that was insane. They didn’t teach the art of dealing with a pandemic on our FIBA Agent test”, commented Drew Kelso in 2024.
The company started from scratch and has really have made a name for themselves step by step. It wasn´t easy for the company, but on their website there is a quote that reads, “The distance is nothing when one has a motive. A very important sentence that has helped the company grow and have success. “Everyone’s view of success is different. For me, it’s the ability that we’ve been able to start something from literally scratch as you said and grow it into something real. To see OMS guys in the NBA to across so many countries across the globe, it’s special. Everyone can look at our journey and see guys like Trey Jemison and Malevy Leons in the NBA and how cool that looks, which it is but when we started this thing in 2018 and Thomas Sandlin and I were up at 4:00 AM cold calling, Facebook messaging, emailing, etc. teams in Regionalliga Germany or the second division of Sweden and getting no replies and ignored? Man, that was a different grind. But we had to go thru that to get to where we are now. That’s where the quote “the distance is nothing when one has a motive” comes in. Thomas and I always knew we had a higher calling to make OMS into something special. Even though its never been easy, I wouldn’t change a thing”, warned Drew Kelso. The company continues to grow and expand thanks to great guys helping Drew with Thomas Sandlin, Davon Bell, Josh Jones and Clay Mallory. “Wow, what can I even say about these guys. Thomas is like the brother I never had. We started this company together on a mission that was bigger than basketball or either of us. We are complete opposite in every sense of the word, but at the same time, just because we think differently, we’ve been around each other so much that we normally end up at similar thought processes about the business. It’s been great to go through this journey with him and we tell stories and reflect back so much on what we’ve been blessed to build. He has such an immense value to OMS and I couldn’t do this without him. Davon Bell and Josh Jones are special to me because they have seen OMS from both sides. They were both former clients and then turned agents. Josh was our first hire at OMS. He was such a talented player and got the short end of the stick with COVID as so many players in the international basketball world did. I saw immense value with Josh in his ability to relate to players and he’s been instrumental in recruiting several players at OMS like Terry Allen, Tevin Olison, Raekwon Rogers, and more. Davon and Josh were both part of our very first “recruiting class” in 2019 and believed in OMS when there wasn’t much to believe in. Forever grateful for them for that. Davon played two years in Europe and was one of our first “real” clients when he was playing very well at Jamtland in Sweden before an injury cut his Rookie year short. His basketball mind is terrific and I lean on him to help me with talent identification. Both of those guys embody what we want to have in our company and represent us the right way. Clay Mallory has been huge for us at OMS. I met Clay in 2019 at an exposure camp in Las Vegas during NBA Summer League. We both were just starting out and both had very little going on (even though we thought we did lol). We always stayed close and bounced ideas off each other. In 2021, we made the decision to merge his company in with us at OMS and he take on a role at OMS. He is the Director of our Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) side at OMS and my eyes out in California/the West Coast. Clay has really grown during his years at OMS and just will continue to get better. Great guy that does things the right way”, warned Drew Kelso in 2024. It is always beneficial when one has ex players in the company. These are guys who have seen it all and know exactly how players tick. “Yeah, as aforementioned with Davon and Josh, it’s been awesome. The value that those guys brings is immense. They can relate to players, especially the ones that are playing abroad, way better than I can. I’ve never flew hallway across the world to chase a dream to play professionally, they have. I feel like I can relate to our clients pretty well still, but those guys are probably way cooler for our guys to talk to than me”, smiled Drew Kelso in 2024.
Being an agent is no piece of cake. It is constant work. Not to mention the travel around the globe visiting players and seeing how their doing. “Typically, I am at home and able to work out of an office at the house. Depends on the time of year, but regardless I wake up early to work with the European and international market as a whole, our players over there, etc. In the summer, I usually am in the office a little after 4:00 AM to be able to talk to decision makers with the time difference. Right now, it’s a little different. We have some things in the works (stay tuned), but I am more focused on our current clients and making sure they are ok. All but a handful of our clients at the time of writing this are on a team currently, so it’s more maintaining the guys we have and monitoring their progress, keeping an eye on the market, and recruiting is really ramping up. The cycle keeps going”, stated Drew Kelso in 2024. One thing that separates One Motive Sports from other agencies is just how important the player really is. The motto of the company that it pursues happiness. This has a deep meaning having to do with a fallen friend. “Yeah, without getting too deep into the story. Thomas and I started One Motive Sports (and named it after) the passing of our mutual best friend. He gave me the vision to chase my agent dreams still even though I was seven to eight years removed from basketball about a week before he tragically passed away. So, the name “One Motive” was something that he preached all the time and his One Motive was to pursue happiness at all times. I fought the idea of leaving everything I knew in my adult life and closed the retail business and got into the agency business to honor him. When you do something that’s bigger than you, you work that much harder. I always tell players to remember their “why” and what got you here. Without that none of us really have anything worth fully pursuing in my opinion. It’s not about the deals, contracts, levels, etc. for me as much as it is honoring my friend and making sure we live out the legacy left and live his dream for me thru our clients”, stressed Drew Kelso in 2024. One often hears about how team´s check players characters before signing them. There are so many agents out there that will sign anyone, but with One Motive Sports, they have a clear idea of who they want to represent and not. “Yeah, no doubt. I will admit, early on we were very bullish and had to take chances on a lot of guys that we may or may not should have. But in retrospect, they took chances on us too. Some of those guys turned out to have great careers (some still going from the early OMS days) and some we all learned valuable lessons on. One thing that I’ve learned is character matters so much. You can only be a bad person for so long. No matter how talented you are, your character eventually has to kick in. The OMS logo and name has such a deep meaning to us and we want people that represent that well. I could genuinely care less if people know who I am in the general public eye. I want them to know what OMS stands for as a company and that they are not only getting a talented player, but often times a better person”, expressed Drew Kelso in 2024. I love how the company doesn´t like to call their players clients, but family. Is having this feeling of being one family the difference between success and not? “No doubt. The word “family” gets thrown out a lot from teams, agents, etc. We truly treat these guys like family. If you know me, I am very passionate about our guys and talk to them constantly (Thomas Sandlin even more than me usually lol). Not just about basketball, but life, their families, their trials and tribulations. There’s only so much business you can talk about with a client. You get what? One, maybe two contracts a year? How many times can you talk about that during the season legitimately with that client? We’ve done a really good job of not only signing these guys but a lot of them we’ve had for their entire pro career and retained them. Retaining players is half the battle. We live in a “transfer portal” society and players leave the moment something is tough. Have we lost guys? Sure. Have we had to let guys go? Sure. But, ultimately when you build the Family culture that we’ve built, guys want to stick around and the feeling is mutual on our side”, added Drew Kelso in 2024.
One Motive Sports continues to build their client pool and no they don´t take just any player. They do a lot of recruiting in finding the right players for the agency. “We definitely have taken the road less traveled in our agency journey. In retrospect, I guess a lot of our players have to. That’s what makes finding the right players that much more special. Have we been wrong before? Sure. Have players maybe been wrong about choosing to come to OMS before? Sure. But, at the end of the day we always say “we will get the players that we are supposed to get. We do a ton of due diligence in recruiting players to become a part of the OMS Family. Not just talent evaluation. It goes into deep “intel” of each player, many conversations with that particular player and their inner circle whomever that may be, etc. I do think that the evaluation process may be my favorite part of the agency business personally. I love being able to get with our group and talk about certain players, go to games, watch them on film and building relationships. Thru trials and tribulations we’ve learned what we are looking for as well. We feel really good about where our current group is and continuing to grow the right way! Still a long way to go from where we want to be though”, said Drew Kelso in 2024. In the last few years the company has helped guys like Trey Jemison, Daeqwon Plowden and Malevy Leons reach the NBA. These were solid guys coming out of college, but not necessarily future NBA guys. Obviously these players put in a lot of hard work, but this wasn´t a fluke either. “I got licensed to be an agent in the NBA in 2021. We started our NBA journey in 2022 with Drake Jeffries and Daeqwon Plowden. Both went thru the NBA Pre-Draft process with them. From then, it’s just been a strong focus for us at OMS. Trey, Daeqwon, Malevy, weren’t guys as you said that had much NBA interest coming out of college. Some, but not a ton. We always talk about “can you cultivate a role?” These guys have an elite skill (or multiple) that can translate to the NBA as a role player, where you can make a ton of money and live your dream out. These guys bought into what we preached to them and then they did the work. All I can really take credit for is signing them and putting them in positions to succeed. They are the ones that did the work and put their body on the line day in and day out. The NBA is tough, man. Especially with where we are in dealing with “fringe” NBA guys. People always talk about the NBA is the best 450 players in the world (600 if you count two-way contract guys). It’s not. It’s about the best FITS in the world. We try to find the guys that are the best potential fits for an NBA team. These guys have shown that they are capable and worthy of being in this position whether anyone else really thought so or not”, commented Drew Kelso in 2024. One of the massive surprises in 2024 was seeing the incredible rise of Malevy Leons attain real NBA minutes a few months after playing NBA Summer League. Kelso´s great support via social media looked like he was a small kid in a candy store. “ It’s the best. When you are growing up wanting to be a sports agent, with all due respect, I never had a dream of sending a player to play in Slovakia or Hungary. Nothing wrong with those as we have done many deals in places like this (and will continue to), but I had the dream of representing NBA players. It’s so much harder than people think. I worked my tail off to even get my NBA license let alone building rapport with teams to be able to talk about our players like a Malevy Leons about when we signed him. Seeing those guys live out their dream? Unbelievable. Malevy is the American Dream personified. He came to America for junior college and barely spoke English about six years ago. A lot of scouts doubted him during the Pre-Draft process. We saw something in Malevy and more importantly Malevy saw something in himself. He was the first player born in the Netherlands to make an NBA appearance in twelve years! Even though there was a Dutch draft pick this year and two other guys that signed NBA deals, Malevy was the first to play an NBA regular season game in twelve years. That’s bigger than basketball. He put a whole country on his back that night and made people back home so happy. I’m forever proud of Malevy for that”, stressed Drew Kelso in 2024. I also cover many of Kelso´s players in Germany in the top 5 league easyCredit BBL since that is the country I cover most. “I think I’ve literally placed a guy in six different levels of Germany over the years, so I’d say we’re pretty well versed there lol. From BBL to Oberliga. I personally love the German market. The people there are good to deal with, no real issues typically like in some other markets. Good place to live. We rarely have complaints from our guys that go to Germany. I think the BBL is terrific. It’s extremely competitive and often the best step for a guy to get into other top leagues like Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, etc. I would say it’s in the top 5 domestic leagues in Europe. Even though some of the teams don’t have the budgets that teams in other top leagues have, they do such a good job with the resources they have. We always want to have a mainstay in the BBL market for sure”, said Drew Kelso in 2024.
So what is the future of One Motive Sports. Is Quality more important than quantity or is a goal to keep expanding the player list? “Actually, as we speak, we are going thru a lot of potential scenarios to grow OMS. Our thing is we want to do it the right way. We are in the process of growing and expanding and that comes with a lot of due diligence and planning. Quality is definitely the most important thing. We feel that it doesn’t really matter the number of clients a company has, its more do they have the infrastructure and the ability to maintain and grow those clients the RIGHT way. That’s all we focus on is doing things the right way. We have some things coming though that will continue to hopefully keep OMS going the right way”, warned Drew Kelso in 2024. Another trait we both have is that we are Never satisfied. “I think if you’re satisfied then you stop pursuing dreams. I was so naïve coming into the agency thing when I first started. I thought that we would get in the NBA right away and make all this money, lol. That took a LONG time to even scratch the surface of the NBA. I want to secure a long-term NBA deal in the near future. We’ve had three guys make the NBA but nobody on a multi-year standard NBA contract. That’s a goal. I’d love to have an NBA Draft pick as all three guys we’ve had make the NBA went undrafted. As far as Europe, I’d love to have someone in Euroleague. Something we haven’t been able to accomplish but a dream for sure”, said Drew Kelso in 2024. Since our interview, he has helped many more players reach the NBA. One of my favorite things as a report/journalist is interviewing NBA or ex NBA guys. For him it isn´t any different either. “ I think the coolest experience for me was seeing our guys play in NBA games. Trey Jemison’s time in Memphis was really special to me because Memphis is an hour from my house and I grew up going to games there as a kid. I said shortly after I started the agent business that I wasn’t going back to a Grizzlies game until we had a player playing there. I didn’t think it would take five years and I didn’t think it would be an OMS client wearing a Memphis jersey. But overall, the whole experience as an agent has been a blessing and so, so many cool experiences”, added Drew Kelso in 2024. The experience Drew Kelso with his clients reminds me of when I opened baseball card packs as a kid. It was exciting to get the allstar players. It is no different then waiting for the moment when Drew Kelso helps that next college player get an NBA contract. The excitement never wanes in Drew Kelso´s basketball life.
German Hoops 