Antawn Jamison

Antawn Cortez Jamison (born June 12, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player who played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He serves as director of pro personnel for the Washington Wizards.

In his junior year, he was awarded both the Naismith and Wooden Awards as the most outstanding men's college basketball player for the 1997–98 season.

They also made the playoffs for the first time since 1997 and advanced to the second round for the first time since 1982.

Jamison played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels, being named national player of the year in 1998.

He was selected by the Toronto Raptors as the fourth overall pick of the 1998 NBA draft before being traded to the Golden State Warriors for former Tar Heel teammate Vince Carter.

Jamison decided to forgo his senior year of eligibility and enter the NBA draft in 1998.

Jamison was selected with the fourth pick of the 1998 NBA draft by the Toronto Raptors, who then dealt his rights to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for former North Carolina teammate and best friend Vince Carter.

Jamison spent the first five years of his NBA career with the Warriors.

He scored a career-high 51 points on two occasions, back-to-back against Seattle and the Lakers (the Warriors won that game).

He subsequently returned and earned a B.A. in Afro-American and African studies, graduating in August 1999.

On March 1, 2000, Jamison's #33 was retired at the Dean E. Smith Center, the seventh Tar Heel so honored.

He averaged a career-high 24.9 points per game in 2000–01, his third season in the league.

In 2003, Jamison was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in a nine-player deal that sent him, forwards Danny Fortson and Chris Mills, and guard Jiří Welsch to the Mavs and guard Nick Van Exel, center Evan Eschmeyer, guard Avery Johnson, and forwards Popeye Jones and Antoine Rigaudeau to the Warriors.

With Dallas, Jamison experienced his first winning season in 2003–04 as the Mavericks finished 52–30 and made the playoffs, which also marked the first time in his career that Jamison had experienced post-season play.

Jamison was named as the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year for his efforts.

The Mavericks suffered a setback in the first round, falling in five games to the Sacramento Kings.

At season's end Jamison was traded again, this time to the Wizards, in exchange for former Tar Heel Jerry Stackhouse, Christian Laettner, and a first-round draft pick (which turned out to be University of Wisconsin–Madison point guard, Devin Harris).

The trade reunited Jamison with former Golden State teammates Gilbert Arenas and Larry Hughes.

Named to the NBA All-Rookie Team with the Warriors, Jamison was a two-time All-Star and won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2004.

In the 2004–05 season with the Wizards, he was named to the NBA All-Star team for the first time in his career and the Wizards enjoyed a solid 45–37 win–loss season, their finest effort in 26 years.

He was a member of the United States national team in 2006.

In 2006, Jamison played for the US national team in the 2006 FIBA World Championship, winning a bronze medal.

Jamison led the Wizards against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the 2007 playoffs.

Jamison averaged 32 points and 10 rebounds per game during the series.

During the 2007–08 season, Jamison was named to his second NBA Eastern All-Star team.

On June 30, 2008, Jamison signed a four-year, $50 million contract with the Wizards.

On February 17, 2010, Jamison was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers as part of a three-team, six-player trade that sent Al Thornton from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Washington Wizards, Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, a 2010 first-round pick and the rights to Emir Preldžič from Cleveland to Washington, Drew Gooden from Washington to Los Angeles and Sebastian Telfair from Los Angeles to Cleveland.

In his first game with the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Charlotte Bobcats, Jamison scored only two points from two free throws as he went 0 for 12 from the field.

In his second game with the Cavaliers, Jamison scored 19 points against the Orlando Magic.

The Cleveland Cavaliers made the NBA playoffs as the team with the best record.

The Cavaliers defeated Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls in five games, but fell to the Boston Celtics in 6 games.

Weeks after the series, Jamison's teammate LeBron James left the Cavaliers, to join the Miami Heat alongside Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Upon his retirement from the NBA, he worked as an analyst for Time Warner Cable SportsNet and as a scout for the Los Angeles Lakers before being hired by the Washington Wizards as their director of pro personnel in 2019.

Jamison was born in Shreveport, Louisiana.

His parents named him "Antwan", but the hospital misspelled it "Antawn" on his birth certificate.

The error was never corrected, but the pronunciation (as "Antoine") did not change.

Jamison played basketball and football (as a quarterback) at Quail Hollow Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina.

He went on to play high school basketball at Charlotte's Providence High School, where he was named a McDonald's All-American after his senior season, during which he averaged 27 points, 13 rebounds and 4.5 blocks per game.

Jamison played three seasons of college basketball for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, averaging 19.0 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.