Jaden Newman is an American athlete, born on 23 June 2004, in Orlando, Florida USA. Currently she’s 16 years old and rose to prominence due to her incredible talent at playing basketball.
Family & Childhood
Jaden is the second child of Vivian and Jamie Newman (neé Gonzalez), of Puerto Rican origin. Jaden has a three years older brother named Julian, who has been named one of the most sought-after basketball prodigies of his generation.
Both Jamie and Vivian were avid basketball players during their youth. However, they took different career paths later in life, as Vivian enlisted in the US Navy and Julian studied history and became a high school teacher.
Though Julian has already matriculated from high school, Jaden is currently in her Junior year at Downey Christian School, attended by both her and her brother since primary school. Jaden is set to matriculate in 2023.
Career
First Steps
Jaden Newman started her career very early in life, when she was still attending primary school. At eight years old, Jaden started playing in her school’s varsity division, an incredible accomplishment at her age.
In 2014 Jaden Newman was contacted by Derrick Gibbs – assistant coach of the basketball program of the University of Miami – who informed her and her family of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) interest in recruiting her as part of its prestigious but demanding Division I, based in Florida.
Besides including a generous scholarship for Jaden, the University’s offer consisted of Jaden assisting summer programs at their facilities, which were visited by Jaden soon after receiving the recruitment letter: ‘I thought I was in a dream or something, but it was real, and then we went on the campus and we took a tour and stuff, and we saw the gym. It was fun’.
Thrilled about Jaden becoming one of the youngest athletes to ever be recruited by a University’s basketball program, her family welcomed the news. However, Jaden didn’t accept the program’s offer, as her dream is to attend the University of Connecticut and be part of its basketball team the UConn Huskies.
The interest in Jaden – who at the time averaged 14.8 points per game – was caused by her talent. Her incredible abilities were showcased by the media in light of her own brother’s fame, who took the attention of the sport media at an early age as well.
Following Years
When it comes to basketball, Jaden’s teens were as successful for her as it was her childhood. Her father Jamie, – who is also her and her brother’s coach – has been very focused on training his children, and has been in charge of helping them to develop their inherent abilities.
Due to this, Jaden Newman’s basketball numbers improved with the pass of time. In her last year of primary school, she averaged 30 points per game and by eighth grade she scored 45 points. In preparatory she also became the youngest school basketball player to accumulate 1,000 points in her career, a record set by her own brother shortly before her.
At 14 years old, Jaden set another record by scoring 70 points in a game, showing her prowess at 3-point shootings.
Regarding this milestone in her still-young career, Jaden told ESPN about feeling ‘in the zone’ since the start of the game: ‘Right off the bat, to start the game, I made a 3. That was the first play of the game. That built my confidence’.
Plans for the Future
In the 2019 interview with High Posts Hoops, Jaden Newman revealed she has been receiving several recruitment offers from University programs. However, her dreams fo playing at Connecticut are still alive and strong.
Beside this, Jaden wants to enjoy her time at high school as much as she can, despite the high expectations put on her: ‘Every year, the competition gets more and more competitive. It’s just fun for me. I love playing high school basketball.’
She also talked about the media attention on her, which has put pressure on her over the years due to the fact she’s often recognized by fans in her everyday life: ‘Now, mostly people know who I am, sometimes I wish that no one knew who I was. But I like it most of the time.’
Jaden and her brother are close to each other, as both siblings always show their fraternal love for each other through their social media accounts. However, when it comes to the basketball court, their competitive side always comes to play, and it’s not clear who is the best player out of them: ‘he wins some, I win some. I’d say (it’s) even’.
Media Appearances
Jaden Newman’s talent at playing basketball has not only attracted the attention of sport’s fans, but also from the media, and she’s appeared several times on TV.
When she was only nine years old, she made a brief appearance in “The Queen Latifah Show”, where she outplayed host Queen Latifah and surprised the program’s audience with her outstanding talent.
Then in 2015 she recorded a TV commercial for Foot Locker, along with Stephen Curry from the State Warriors. In the video ad she easily defeats the professional basketball player in a 3-point shooting competition.
Other types of media such as papers and online channels have cast their eyes on Jaden as well. In 2016 she was showcased by the YouTube channel Peacock Kids – in the video shared by the online outlet, Jaden showed her training routine: ‘I trained about 5 to 6 hours a day. I would wake up at 5:30 in the morning and I work-out dribbling and shooting,’ she continued, saying she’s had this routine everyday for years.
In 2019 Jaden and her brother Julian appeared on the online series “No Days Off”, produced by Whistle. Also that year, Jaden and her family started appearing in their own TV series “Hello Newmans”, produced by Overtime.
Personal Life
Information about Jaden Newman’s personal life and romantic partners is unknown, as she decides to keep these details out of the spotlight.
Net Worth
Jaden Newman has an estimated net worth of close to $100,000 as of late 2020. This is a result of her media appearances, as she still hasn’t signed any professional basketball contract.
Physical Appearance
Jaden Newman is a young woman of mixed ethnicity. She has gorgeous facial features and is athletically built. Her weight is unknown, and although she’s only 5ft 4ins (1.65m) tall, this has not affected her ability at playing basketball.
Interesting Facts
Allegedly her parents control her social media accounts – her mother Vivian is her manager.
Although her average points at basketball are impressive, she wants people to focus on other aspects of her play, such as defense and passing.
Her family has a clothing brand name Prodigy, which has helped them to afford a comfortable lifestyle and serves as a retribution for the money media have allegedly profited out of the family, as Jamie Newman told Bleacher Report: ‘If we had 10 cents for every dollar people have made off Julian and Jaden we’d be rich’.
Unfortunately, Jaden receives many wrongly intended messages and requests on her Instagram account: ‘I like having a lot of followers, but the downside is guys who say weird or gross stuff. I mostly try to ignore it’.