Ovie Soko will draw the curtain on his glittering basketball career tonight, but you suspect there is abundant life beyond the final buzzer for him.
The London Lions captain is leading his side into the Super League Basketball play-off final today against Cheshire Phoenix and hoping to end his career on a high.
It would be the ultimate way to waltz into the sunset for one of the league’s standout names, who has enjoyed three trophy-laden stints with the Lions. They get going at 4.30pm at the O2 Arena this afternoon.
Yet the 34-year-old, who was once a charmer on Love Island, knows that win or lose, he will have the world at his feet in the years to come.
Soko has 1.4 million followers on Instagram and has worked with a royal flush of brands down the years, including ASOS, Louboutin, and Mercedes F1. That supply chain of opportunities won’t suddenly dry up for the friendly giant – or whatever you categories a 6ft7in athlete as.
Basketball was always the dream and where it began. As a teenager, he left London to finish high school and pursue his dream of breaking into the NBA.
Ovie Soko is waving goodbye to his basketball career this afternoon with the London Lions
The 2019 Love Island finalist has amassed 1.4 million followers on Instagram and worked with a host of brands
He reached the final at Casa Amor alongside India Reynolds and was considered more genuine than other competitors
Soko stood out at school-level and was picked up by the University of Alabama at Birmingham. For a kid who used to stay up late in England just to catch a glimpse of stars like Tracy McGrady, the dream must have felt so close.
‘I didn’t start playing basketball until I was about 12 or 13,’ he said at the time. ‘It was tough to decide which direction to go, because I had always loved soccer.
‘But I started getting taller and just kept growing, and eventually basketball won out. I guess I grew into it.
‘I wanted to challenge myself to play at the highest level possible, and that meant coming to America where the best players are.’
Soko dominated at high school level but struggled with the transition up to college level, which was much more physical than back in the United Kingdom.
After a season with the Duquesne Dukes, he went into the 2014 NBA Draft – college players’ chance to be picked up by one of the 30 best teams in the country – but was not selected.
As a result, his career in basketball has instead taken him around France, Italy, Spain, and Japan alongside two stints with the London Lions.
‘The ups, the downs, the lessons, the relationships and miles travelled, I would not change a thing,’ he reflected as he announced his retirement. ‘Grateful I did it my way.’
He never made it into the NBA but has played in France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and the UK
Soko turned down the opportunity to return for the Love Island All Stars show
Indeed he has done it his way. Not many people can say they’ve been a sports star and a Love Island favourite, so Soko is breathing rarefied air.
What stood out to Love Island fans is how different he seemed to other male headline-snatchers on the show. Many viewers felt that Soko came across more understated, emotionally intelligent, and authentic than your typical image of an Islander when he went on in 2019.
He also had his popular ‘message’ catchphrase when another Islander received a text, a reference to the 1996 Wayans Brothers film called Don’t Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood.
Soko shot into the final at Casa Amor alongside India Reynolds, with whom he split up after the show, but he later admitted that he didn’t realise how influential the series was when he first signed up.
He said: ‘I went to school with a girl who was on the series before me. I watched like one or two episodes because my friends were like, “Yo Alexandria she’s on TV”. So I just looked because I wanted to see that she was on TV.
‘After I had seen her, I never really watched it because I’ve always been doing the ball thing. So every time I’m back in the summers, I’m with the mandem, I’m going out. I’m not really watching TV.
‘I hear people talk about it so when I went on the show it felt like everyone around me they knew more than I knew. I was like, “It’s a chance to go on TV”. So I just took it from that perspective. When you get in there you see mad cameras. After three or four days you forget.’
Soko had catapulted himself into national renown but kept his focus trained on his sporting career.
The stylish star says his Christian faith and bond with his family has helped keep him grounded
‘The plan was to always go back to ball,’ he said. ‘I had no idea it was going to pop off or it was going to blow [up] like it did.
‘My whole thing was before I went into the [villa] I told them my only stipulation was my basketball contract, if my agent has to be able to call someone and tell me what contract offers I have, so I could still negotiate my basketball contract from while I was in there.’
His next steps are currently unclear. He dipped his toe into punditry and podcasting in his 19-month hiatus from playing amid injury struggles before his return to the Lions in 2024.
Maybe don’t bet on him returning to his reality show escapades. Last year, Love Island All Stars’ executive producer Mike Spencer let slip that he had wanted Soko on the show, only to be snubbed.
Despite the potentially glamorous trappings of social media fame, Soko aims to stay grounded with his Christian faith.
He told The Sun in 2021: ‘I ask my mum. I go to my dad. I’ve got a big brother who I lean on for advice, I’ve got a group of friends that I bounce ideas off of and friends who will let me know if they think I’ve got it wrong in certain situations. And I pray.
‘Sometimes we try to be too smart as humans, and we don’t have all the answers. Science doesn’t know everything. Technology isn’t 100 per cent perfect. I reach out to God, see what advice he can help me out with. I’m a Christian.
‘I like to, when I’m giving answers to people, put it in a way everyone can take something from. I appreciate everyone might not share the same beliefs as myself, however, there’s principles that can help everyone regardless of your beliefs.’
