Profile Text
Jawai in 2012, photo by Pavel Shchegolev /Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Nathan Leon Jawai
Place of Birth: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Date of Birth: 10 October, 1986
Ethnicity: Torres Strait Islander
Nathan Jawai is an Australian professional basketball player. A power forward and center, he played with Cairns Marlins, Australian Institute of Sport, Cairns Taipans, the Toronto Raptors, the Idaho Stampede, the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA G League, Partizan Belgrade, UNICS Kazan, Barcelona, Galatasaray Liv Hospital, MoraBanc Andorra, Perth Wildcats, Levallois Metropolitans, and Darwin Salties. He is 6′10″.
Nathan is the son of Lynette and Ron Jawai. He is of Torres Strait Islands descent. The Torres Islands are a cluster of islands, located between the Cape York Peninsula, Australia, and New Guinea. He is a cousin of professional basketball player Patty Mills , and rugby league players Edrick Lee and Brenko Lee. His uncle is professional basketball player Danny Morseu. His great-uncle is Indigenous land rights activist Eddie Mabo (Edward Koiki Sambo).
He was raised mostly in the small town Bamaga, north of the Jardine River.
Nathan has stated:
There are two types of culture that qualify as indigenous. There’s aboriginal and then there’s Torres Strait. I’m from Torres Strait but we are all classed as one indigenous people.
There are two types of culture that qualify as indigenous. There’s aboriginal and then there’s Torres Strait. I’m from Torres Strait but we are all classed as one indigenous people.
He has two children.
Source: http://www.nba.com