Basketball is in J’Wan Roberts’ blood — just ask his parents, Elbe Brathwaite and Jeff Roberts. 

“He was actually born to play basketball if you ask me,” his father told WTJX in April 2025. But the Houston Cougars forward’s athleticism isn’t unique in his family. Like their son, Elbe and Jeff also played college basketball and decided to move him from the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he was born and raised, to Texas to increase his exposure for recruitment opportunities.

J’Wan and his younger sister, Jasonique Roberts, lived with his aunt until they graduated from high school. After receiving multiple scholarship offers, J’Wan chose to join the University of Houston in 2018, per The Houston Roundball Review.

So who are J’Wan Roberts’ parents? Here’s everything to know about Elbe Brathwaite and Jeff Roberts.

Elbe and Jeff raised J’Wan in the U.S. Virgin Islands 

Elbe and Jeff welcomed their son, J’Wan Andone Roberts, on Sept. 19, 2001, and raised him in St. Thomas, which is a part of the Virgin Islands. The collegiate basketball player told PaperCityin 2022 that he could see the beach from the porch of his childhood home. 

“I miss it,” J’Wan said. “Surrounded by water … It gets kind of hot down there. Real hot. That’s a good hot. You can go out to the beach and just swim for hours. You can swim all day. You can sleep on the beach … If I could go to the beach every day I would.”

They moved him to Texas to help his basketball career

The summer after he completed eighth grade, Jeff and Elbe sent J’Wan to Killeen, Texas, to live with Elbe’s sister so the aspiring athlete could further develop his basketball skills. He described the move to his aunt’s house as a “really big step” to The Virgin Island Daily News— one that really helped him grow as a player. 

“Back home, everybody who’s got big talent, you go out and hoop, you do your thing,” J’Wan told the outlet in 2021. “But when I moved [to Texas], there was a system I had to play into. It wasn’t just go out there and hoop, go out there and score 50 [points], it was about helping your team win and knowing your role on the team.” 

They’re both former basketball players

J’Wan isn’t the only collegiate athlete in his family. Elbe was a championship player for the University of the Virgin Islands’ Lady Buccaneers basketball squad.

Jeff, who told WTJX that he played the sport with his son from an early age, also played at the junior college level. Though an injury kept him from pursuing the game further, he said that he’s thrilled to watch his son’s success on the court.

“I’m excited for him, happy for him,” he said. “It’s part of the game. It’s what he signed up for. It’s about going out there and just playing ball, you know, leave everything else on the side.”

Jeff runs J’Wan’s youth basketball charity

When he’s not cheering his son on from the sidelines, Jeff is running J’Wan’s foundation. He’s served as the president of the J’Wan Roberts Foundation since it was founded in 2024. The organization supports the youth of St. Thomas through basketball mentorships.

They have multiple children

In addition to J’Wan, Elbe and Jeff also share a daughter together: Jasonique. She didn’t follow her family’s footsteps into college basketball and instead enrolled in the U.S. Navy after graduating from Robert M. Shoemaker High School in 2022. 

Jasonique was recognized as the Navy’s “Murph of the Week” in 2024. She told The St. Croix Sourcethat she joined to travel the world and “to become a better person and build a foundation for myself, to help my family in the long run and take care of those who took care of me.”

She continued, “My aunt has always wanted to be in the military and never had the chance to. She is one of the reasons that I’m here today.”

J’Wan also has two other siblings, Genique Smalls and Keith Nicholson, per his Houston Cougars bio. 

Read the original article on People