Kyle Fogg went to the free-throw line in the final seconds Thursday with $2 million hanging over his head.
His Overseas Elite team led by a point in the final seconds of the winner-take-all The Basketball Tournament final, meaning the opposing Team Challenge ALS had just enough time for a final shot.
So two misses by Fogg, and Team Challenge still could win. One miss, and the opponent could win or sent it to overtime.
Fogg hit both. Forced to take a final 3-pointer for the tie, Team Challenge missed.
That meant Fogg finished with 29 points, a giddy celebration with his teammates and a winner’s share worth $147,000 headed to his bank account.
Maybe it was no surprise.
During and after his unlikely career at Arizona between 2008-12, Fogg has always delivered beyond expectations. He went from a virtually unrecruited high school grad in the spring of 2008 to an all-Pac-12 player in 2011-12, to the MVP of the Finnish league (2013-14), to the leading scorer in his German league (2015-16), to a key member of the EuroCup champions last season.
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So two free throws with some cash on the line?
“Even going back to Arizona, you get used to those clutch moments,” Fogg said. “All the work you put in kind of compounds itself.”
Same goes for the rest of the Overseas Elite core players, who have won all three titles — and a total of $5 million — since the TBT began in 2015. Fogg said they formed because many of them had the same agent, and they’ve made minor changes every year since then.
Fogg said they spent the postgame Thursday just chilling out and saying goodbyes before they scattered again on flights home in the morning.
“It definitely doesn’t get old because you only get to see these guys during the summer,” Fogg said. “We’re so close and now everybody was talking trash to us because we were trying to three-peat.”
Fogg said the TBT was also special because it was held in his home country, with friends and family able to watch in person, while everybody else could see it on ESPN. Last season, even in a high-level Spanish league, those in the U.S. could only see Fogg via internet streams.
Fogg’s team, Unicaja Malaga, wound up winning the Eurocup in yet another pressure-filled experience. Yet, in part because of where it was and what it represented, it was a much different feeling than the TBT, whose finals were played in Baltimore.
“For the Eurocup, it was incredible just because the whole city was behind us, and it felt so different to win,” Fogg said. “We had a parade after and the whole city was celebrating. (The TBT) was a single-elimination tournament, playing in front of family and friends. Plus you get a giant check.”
That’s in large part because Fogg also signed a two-year deal earlier this summer worth just under $2 million with China’s Guangzhou Long-Lions. He’s obligated to play there next season, then both he and the team have an opt-out for the second season if needed.
Fogg said the offer was so good that he put off thoughts about playing in the NBA summer league.
“Definitely, I’m always striving toward the NBA but I’m very happy with the China deal and I love the GM there,” Fogg said. “It was definitely tough not going back (to Malaga) but the deal in China has been one of my big goals. The season’s a little shorter and it’s huge checking another continent off the list and being able to check out another culture. It’s definitely a blessing to go to the places you wish you could.”
Back in 2008, Fogg could have hardly imagined such a ride. He signed up for Dinos Trigonis’ Belmont Shore travel team the summer after his senior year of high school, attracted the eye of then-UA-associate-head coach Mike Dunlap, and played for a few weeks under Lute Olson before the longtime UA coach retired and Russ Pennell took over.
Then Fogg started working his way all over the world.
“I think I got better at Arizona but I think I’m a different player now,” Fogg said. “I always had to work hard. (In 2008), I had no offers and went to play for (Trigonis), and he got me the exposure. Then coach Dunlap brought me in and coach O signed me. Without them, I might not be here. So I’m thankful to all of them.”
