Aaron Turner takes a lot of pride in the fact that all but four of Verus Management Team's 19 professional basketball clients weren't drafted.

Turner, a former hoops player at Orange High School in Pepper Pike, is a grinder who is such a proponent of player development that he wanted to be a coach or general manager after he graduated from Indiana University.

The first basketball player Turner represented as an agent was JaKarr Sampson in 2014. The Cleveland native wasn't drafted after two productive seasons at St. John's University, but he's gone on to appear in 173 games for four teams during a five-year NBA career.

A year later, another Northeast Ohio native, Terry Rozier, became the first Verus client to be selected in the first round when the Boston Celtics took the former University of Louisville standout 16th overall.

Turner, now 33, had developed a relationship with Rozier when the guard was playing for Shaker Heights High School.

"That's how we built this," Turner said of Verus, which is based in Mayfield Heights. "The first guy was JaKarr. Terry was under the radar, really. We find guys. We do an unbelievable job of finding value in players that other guys might not see the value of."

In each of the past two years, though, Verus — whose basketball division was co-founded by Turner and Gregg Levy, a Cleveland attorney and entrepreneur — has landed a pair of high draft picks.

The first was Kevin Knox, a Kentucky product who was selected ninth overall by the New York Knicks in 2018. And in April, Verus teamed up with Victor Oladipo, a two-time All-Star who was the second pick of the 2013 draft.

"Signing Oladipo was surreal," Turner said. "It changes everything."

What it doesn't change is Verus' focus on forging relationships with players who are highly unlikely to join Oladipo and Knox as lottery picks, and giving them the advice and resources to have a successful pro career.

When Turner and Levy, a principal with McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co. LPA, spoke with Crain's on June 6, they were hosting almost a dozen of their clients in Miami. There, they provided training, coaching, housing and gym time for a collection of players that ranged from G League prospects to Rozier, who, as a potential restricted free agent with the Celtics, has entered a critical offseason.

"These guys are not just our players or clients," Levy said. "They're our partners. We invest in them. The economics of the NBA, we make our money (via commission) on second contracts. You sign with us, we invest in you, and we continue to invest in you."

Oladipo, who has flourished since being traded by the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Indiana Pacers in 2017, is the first Verus client to be at that stage of his career. The 27-year-old guard is entering the third season of a four-year, $84 million deal that was negotiated by Creative Artists Agency.

The Indiana connection shared by Oladipo, Turner and Levy (who also earned his bachelor's degree as a Hoosier), combined with Turner's brother attending the university during the same time as Oladipo, helped Verus land its most notable client yet.

Oladipo, who signed a deal with William Morris Endeavor Entertainment for representation beyond basketball in 2018, has off-the-court interests that "run like a machine," Turner said.

The agent's primary duties for a guard who suffered a season-ending knee injury last January center on development.

"It's more prepping him for the next phase of his career," Turner said. "What's your strategy to improve? He liked the ideas we have for that."