Amar’e Stoudemire was born on November 16, 1982 in Lake Wales, Florida. During his early life his parent’s split and then after that his father died of a heart attack. After her husband’s death, Amar’e’s mother was in and out of jail. During his childhood he would often stay with his AAU coach.

 

Stoudemire was selected with the ninth overall pick in 2002 by the Phoenix Suns, and won the Rookie of the Year Award that season.Stoudemire quickly established himself as one of the most dominant forwards in the entire league, and even one of the best dunkers. He participated in the contest multiple times, and came up with some of the most creative dunks in the event’s history. 

He signed with the Knicks in the summer of 2010, where he became a NY legend and one of the biggest stars to ever sign with the team. Stoudemire led the Knicks to a few playoff runs but was never able to win an NBA Title. He retired from the NBA in 2016 as a six time all star. He did not retire from basketball though, he went overseas to play in the Israeli league where he was  Israeli Basketball Premier League Finals MVP in 2020 and an Israeli Cup winner in 2019.