Trinidad & Tobago Basketballer Johnny Hamilton Signed By NBA
Trinidad and Tobago basketballer Johnny Hamilton has Trinidad * Tobago basketballer Johnny Hamilton been signed by NBA team Atlanta Hawks.
Reports said that Hamilton, 27, has agreed to a one-year deal with the Hawks.
Hamilton, who is seven feet tall, last played for Euro League club Fenerbahce and Adriatic Basketball Association club KK Mornar Bar during the 2020-2021 season.
Hamilton was born in the rural town of Rio Claro, Trinidad & Tobago to Princess and Tony Hamilton. He has six siblings, named Joshua, Jesse, Jason, Anthony, Liz and Tia. His father played for a basketball club in Trinidad and Tobago.
Hamilton played soccer in his childhood but switched to basketball at age 16 after growing too tall for the former sport. He has stated that he transferred his footwork skills from soccer to help him in basketball.
While growing up, Hamilton also played cricket with his friends and swam in a river for fun. He began his basketball career with his local team, the Warriors, before joining the NBS Ambassadors in the Mayaro Basketball League.
Hamilton was encouraged to play college basketball in the United States by a pastor from Jacksonville, Texas who visited Trinidad and Tobago annually. As a result, he spent his freshman and sophomore seasons of college at Jacksonville college in the pastor’s hometown.
In 26 games in his second year, he averaged 9 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 4.3 blocks per game, shooting .617 from the field and ranking among the top shot-blockers in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
On April 22, 2015, Hamilton signed a letter of intent to play for Virginia Tech in the NCAA Division I. In December 2015, he was suspended by head coach Buzz Williams due to poor academic performance. Hamilton finished his junior season having played 17 games, averaging 1.8 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks per game.
Three games into his senior campaign for Virginia Tech, he suffered a season-ending thumb injury, after a tendon rupture was discovered in his left thumb. He was averaging 3.7 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 0.3 blocks per game.
Despite graduating from Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in criminology, Hamilton chose to attend the University of Texas at Arlington for graduate school, with the goal of becoming a police commissioner in Trinidad and Tobago.
In his final year of college basketball eligibility, he played for the UT Arlington Mavericks, being drawn to the program by associate head coach Greg Young, who had helped recruit him to Jacksonville College. Hamilton averaged 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks, starting in 31 of 34 games. He recorded a double-double of 23 points and 14 rebounds in a championship game loss at the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Tournament, earning all-tournament team honors.
Photo: Trinidad & Tobago basketballer Johnny Hamilton