After a successful career and 16 seasons played in the NBA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alum Antawn Jamison is passing the torch to his son Antawn Jamison “AJ” Jr.. The high school senior forged a love for the sport through his father but says he never put pressure on him nor his brother.

“It’s a privilege being able to do the special things, like go to Carolina games, and see how people know who your dad is,” AJ told The Charlotte Observer. “It’s really fun. To me, it was kind of normal.”

AJ started playing basketball at Charlotte Christian School in North Carolina. Two seasons in, he transferred to Myers Park High School. AJ said pressure to succeed came from his peers comparing him to his father.

“I wasn’t where I thought I should be, and I was comparing myself to my peers. All my peers had Division-I offers or they had Division-I looks. Although (Dad) never put pressure on me, I put pressure on myself. I felt like if I didn’t have a certain status, I had failed because I didn’t get to where he got to,” AJ said. “There was a time where I kind of resented him for it because it was so hard for me to get where I wanted to go, and I’m like, ‘Why is this happening to me?’”

His parents scheduled him to see a counselor in order to prioritize their son’s mental health.

“Mental health is real,” Jamison Sr. told the news outlet. “You think because you don’t have to worry about anything financially, and you can get anything you want and you’re smart in school, that you’re safe. But among his peers, guys he played with and guys he played against, he put so much pressure on himself.”

AJ points to his mother’s support for helping him see himself as “more than a basketball player.” His father emphasized the importance of pursuing an education outside of sports.

“That’s the one thing I put my foot down on,” Jamison Sr. noted. “I know that (he) loves the game of basketball, but you have to have a backup plan. For him to be the student he is and be the athlete, I’m more proud of that than anything.”

AJ was accepted into several universities, including Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, Miami and Mississippi, according to his father. Still, he is waiting for a letter from UNC, where his father carved part of his legacy.

“I want to be a business major,” AJ said. “I’ve taken a liking to real estate, so I want to do that. And if I get into Carolina, potentially I will (try to) walk on. My dad doesn’t tell me much, but he says he’s working on it.”

This season at Myers Park he is averaging 6.7 points per game, 3.8 assists and 1.7 steals. 

“AJ is a phenomenal leader for us,” Myers Park coach Andrew Glover told The Charlotte Observer. “He’s a dominant force. He hits the boards extremely hard. He’s a great defender and he leads our team in assists and charges (taken). He does a lot of things that not everybody wants to do.”

AJ hopes to carve his legacy in basketball but also simply in life.

“I’d like to be remembered as AJ Jamison, not necessarily Antawn Jamison,” he said. “I feel like I’m AJ, and not necessarily Antawn. I’m my own person. I’m my own basketball player. I’m my own student. So that’s how I want to be remembered.”

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