Jordan Farmar

Later, he was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 26th pick in the NBA draft, which was acquired along with Brian Grant, Caron Butler and Lamar Odom in a trade that sent Shaquille O’Neal to the Miami Heat.

His mother is named Melinda, known as "Mindy", and his father is Damon Farmar, a former minor league baseball outfielder who was a second round pick in both the 1981 January draft and the 1982 June draft secondary phase.

His father is African-American.

His maternal grandfather, Dr. Howard Baker, attended UCLA and worked at the UCLA Medical Center as a neurologist.

Farmar has a half-sister, Shoshana Kolani.

Farmar's parents divorced when he was two years old, and he went to live with his mother.

She soon met and married her current husband (Farmar's stepfather), Israeli Yehuda Kolani from Tel Aviv.

Farmar is Jewish, as are his mother and stepfather.

He attended Hebrew school and had his bar mitzvah at Temple Judea in Tarzana, California.

Farmar started playing basketball at age 4.

He credits his stepfather Yehuda Kolani with instilling discipline, mental strength, persistence, and a sense of obligation.

Farmar inherited his competitive drive from his father and mentor, Damon Farmar, who played football and baseball at University High and baseball in the minor leagues.

The younger Farmar spent hours in his father's clubhouses, with his father's teammates, and watching his father play.

Farmar's godfather is former major league baseball player Eric Davis.

Farmar attended Portola Middle School and Temple Judea in Tarzana and Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, before transferring his second year to Taft High School in Woodland Hills, a suburban community of the San Fernando Valley within Los Angeles.

At Taft High School, Farmar scored a record 54 points in a single game.

As a junior, he averaged 28.5 points per game, 8.0 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 4.5 steals.

As a senior, he averaged 27.5 points and 6.5 assists, and led Taft to the school's first Los Angeles City title.

He had over 2,000 points in two seasons at Taft.

Farmar was named the Los Angeles Times Player of the Year, LA City Co-Player of the Year, and California Interscholastic Federation Los Angeles City Section High School Player of the Year.

He earned USA Today Super 25 selection, second-team Parade All-American, Slam Magazine Honorable Mention All-American, CalHi Sports All-State honors, and the Southern California Jewish Athlete of the Year.

He was a teammate with former New York Giants wide receiver Steve Smith.

Additionally, he was selected to play in the McDonald's High School All American game, where he scored 6 points and had 3 assists and 7 steals in 19 minutes of playing time.

Considered one of the elite point guards in the nation at UCLA, Farmar was named to the All-Pac-10 First Team and the all Pac-10 Tournament team.

Jordan Robert Farmar (born November 30, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

In high school, he was named the Los Angeles Times High School Player of the Year in 2003–04.

Playing college basketball for the UCLA Bruins, he was the Rivals.com National Freshman of the Year in 2004–05.

As a freshman in 2004–05, Farmar was the Rivals.com National Freshman of the Year, and Pac-10 Freshman of the Year.

He led the team in assists (5.28 average) and free throw percentage (.801), and was # 2 in minutes (34.3) and points (13.2 points; # 1 among freshman guards), while topping all Pac-10 freshmen in scoring, assists, free throw percentage, and minutes played, as he was second in steals.

He was named All-Pac-10 First Team the next season.

Farmar was selected 26th overall in the first round of the 2006 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.

In the 2006 NCAA Tournament, Farmar led the UCLA Bruins to the National Championship game against the Florida Gators, which they lost by a score of 73–57.

Farmar led all scorers with 18 points, and finished with 2 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.

Farmar made a notable steal and assist at the end of UCLA's Sweet Sixteen matchup with the Gonzaga Bulldogs, giving his team the lead for good after an impressive comeback effort.

On April 20, 2006, he declared for the NBA draft.

Farmar impressed NBA scouts at the pre-draft combine with a 42 in vertical leap, the highest of any player there.

On July 8, 2006, he made his debut at the Summer Pro League, which was held at the Walter Pyramid.

His final game totals were 17 points and 3 assists in 31 minutes of play.

With the Lakers, he won two NBA championships in 2009 and 2010.

Farmar was born in Los Angeles.