Xavier Allen trains students, NBA players through X Factor

When Knicks star Josh Hart wanted to sharpen his ball-handling skills before the season, he didn’t head to a Manhattan gym or a high-tech training facility.

He came to the North Fork to work with Xavier Allen, a 23-year-old Mattituck High School graduate who has built a basketball training program that attracts both NBA players and local sixth-graders.

Since launching X Factor in 2023, Mr. Allen has trained hundreds of players across Long Island — from middle-schoolers to NBA all-stars like Mr. Hart, Jimmy Butler and Kevin Love.

Mr. Allen credits the echelon he has reached in his coaching endeavors to networking, constant social media presence and “being a good person.” His social media posts garnered 1.4 million views in December 2025 alone. They include a variety of workouts and tips for basketball players of all skill levels alongside highlights of local players on his Instagram page, @xf_training.

Mr. Allen and longtime Stony Brook School basketball coach Ronald White pored over Mr. Hart’s game film to improve the Knicks guard’s handle and other aspects of his play. That dedication has helped Mr. Allen succeed in a field he believes is largely absent on Long Island: finding a trainer on the East End.

X Factor offers private, semi-private, group and team training, as well as position-specific development, strength and conditioning, and mindset and mentorship programs. The main takeaway? “Be great.”

“They want to be great in whatever they’re working on — whether it’s a workout, a game, the mental side of it, [or] if they want a mentor, the mentorship side of it,” Mr. Allen said. 

Trainings can cost anywhere from $30 to $380, depending on the package athletes select. Typically, Mr. Allen trains out of Sportime in Quogue but trains in other East End gyms as well.

From amateurs to professional NBA players, his mission remains the same: He wants open, coachable, serious players who are looking to become not only better basketball players but “better people for the community.”

In the summer months, Mr. Allen’s clinics attract as many as 75 players. He described the clinics as “fun, engaging” ways for him to give back to the community.  He’s also working on an online training program for athletes unable to make their way to the East End.

“I’m doing everything out of the love of the game of basketball,” he said. “I just want them to understand that my ‘Be great’ slogan isn’t just basketball, it’s everything you do — whatever you put your mind to.”

Family and friends who share Mr. Allen’s love of the game help him put together the clinics, just one more way for him to give back to his community. 

His older brother, Eugene Allen, a 2014 Mattituck alum, and his mom, Laverne Allen, have been Xavier’s biggest cheerleaders throughout his life. They instilled the message in him that no matter what path he chose, he was going to be “the best at whatever you do.”

Throughout his own athletic journey, Mr. Allen said he always had been “overlooked.” The 6-foot-3 guard put up 1,000 points with the Tuckers and earned a scholarship to SUNY/Oswego.

“Nothing was easy at all,” he said. “I was always overlooked; I had no handouts at all. And that made me the player I am today.” 

Mr. White, a longtime family friend, is another motivator for Mr. Allen.

“You don’t always have to be a player to give back to the game, and I never got that until now,” Mr. Allen said. “I still am a player, but you can still respect the game in different ways.”

Westhampton Beach High School varsity boys’ basketball coach Ryan Hernandez was another strong guiding voice for Mr. Allen and helped him “understand the training space.” He worked with Mr. Hernandez at his Hampton Bays-based training program, Airnandez Basketball, as far back as 2020.

“It’s obvious to say X has a great passion for the game,” Mr. Hernandez said. “And he also exemplifies a great work ethic, which is what is required to be successful in the player development space.”

Mr. Allen continues to hone his skills as a player, balancing staying “crisp” for training sessions with players he coaches with a personal dream to play professionally. Over the summer, he had a workout with a team in Thailand and will soon train with some super league teams in Canada. He sees himself as a combo guard who can handle, score at all three levels and defend multiple perimeter positions.

Overall, Mr. Allen’s mission for X Factor moving forward is to help build up players so they can pursue their own dreams.

“I want to kind of be a stepping stone,” he said. “I want kids who are just hungry, and I want to just help them pursue their dreams — whether it’s varsity, whether it’s making the JV team. I just want them to level up their game overall.”

One of his close friends, 2019 Center Moriches basketball alum Sean Braithwaite, has witnessed Mr. Allen grow his business over the past few years. Mr. Braithwaite’s sister joined X Factor over the summer and made the varsity team this year. 

“It’s bigger than basketball with him, but he’s also getting results,” Mr. Braithwaite told The Suffolk Times. “He leads a very fun, family atmosphere while also making it competitive and also making everyone around him better.”