Josh Green

Joshua Benjamin Green (born 16 November 2000) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats. Green was part of the Australian basketball team that won bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Early life Green was born in Sydney to Australian mother Cahla and American-born father Delmas. His parents met while both were playing semi-professional basketball in Australia. The couple decided to raise a family in the north-west Sydney suburb of Castle Hill where Josh began playing basketball at the age of five when his mother started coaching him. Along with playing local basketball for the Hills Hornets as a child, Green tried an array of sports as a junior and excelled in Australian rules football, athletics, basketball, rugby, soccer and swimming. By the age of 10, he had been selected to represent his home state of New South Wales in nine separate sports. In fifth grade, Green traveled more than 12 hours by car to the outback town of Broken Hill in an attempt to gain selection for the under-12 state basketball team and was told he was good enough to be on the team but would have to wait a year or two so the older boys could play. Twelve months later, he captained the under-12 NSW Metro state team to a national title. Green switched to play club basketball for Penrith in 2013 and the decision paid off when he was selected to represent the under-14 and under-16 New South Wales state teams in successive years as a bottom-ager. Green was also a prodigious Australian rules footballer in his younger years while playing locally for the Westbrook Bulldogs and would regularly attend Sydney Swans home games with his father. Green claims to have "loved" playing Australian rules football and has "always been a big Swans fan", naming Adam Goodes and Lance Franklin as his favourite players growing up. Such was his talent in Australian rules football, the Swans and fellow professional football club Greater Western Sydney Giants offered him a place in their junior developmental academies. At the age of 13, Green accepted an offer to join the Giants' academy. However, in November 2014 the family relocated to Phoenix, Arizona for the father's work commitments and Green was subsequently forced to quit Australian rules football.