Amar'e Carsares Stoudemire (born November 16, 1982), also known as Yehoshophat ben Avraham, is an American-Israeli professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as a player development assistant for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2025 and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2026.
He won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 2003 with the Phoenix Suns, who selected him with the ninth overall pick of the 2002 NBA draft. He made six appearances in the NBA All-Star Game and was named to the All-NBA Team five times, including one first-team selection in 2007. Stoudemire was inducted into the Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor on March 2, 2024.
Stoudemire played high school basketball for three schools, ultimately graduating from Cypress Creek High School in Orlando, Florida, and declaring for the NBA draft as a prep-to-pro player. He won several prep honors, including being selected as Florida's Mr. Basketball. Stoudemire had chronic knee problems during his career and underwent microfracture surgery on both knees. He played for the Suns, the New York Knicks, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Miami Heat before retiring from the NBA in 2016.
Stoudemire won a bronze medal with the United States national team at the 2004 Olympic Games. His off-court ventures include a record label, a clothing line, acting and a series of children's books for Scholastic Press. In addition, Stoudemire owns a significant share of Hapoel Jerusalem, the team he won a championship with in 2017. He won the championship with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2020 and was named the Israeli Basketball Premier League Finals MVP.
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Early life
Stoudemire was born in Lake Wales, Florida, a small city, an hour away from Orlando, Florida. Stoudemire's parents, Hazell and Carrie (née Palmorn), divorced when he was young. Together they had two sons and a daughter: Hazell Jr., Ladesha, and Amar'e. Stoudemire's mother did agricultural work, picking oranges in Florida and migrating north to upstate New York to pick apples during the fall. Upon divorcing Hazell, she met Artis Wilmore, with whom she had a son, Marwan, Stoudemire's half-brother. His father died of a heart attack when Stoudemire was 12, and his mother was in and out of prison for crimes such as petty theft and forgery during that time. Stoudemire lived in Newburgh, New York "for about five months" in 1994 before relocating to Port Jervis, New York where he lived until 1998. In his parents' absence, Stoudemire had other outside influences to help guide him, including a policeman, Burney Hayes, he occasionally stayed with; he also lived with his Fastbreak USA, AAU squad's coach, Travis King, as well as a minister, Rev. Bill Williams.
High school career
Stoudemire did not start playing organized basketball until he was 14. As a result of moving in-and-out with his mother and her problems with the law, Stoudemire transferred between five high schools in two states six different times. He first attended Lake Wales High School in Lake Wales, Florida, where his freshman season was cut short due to academic ineligibility. He transferred to Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham, North Carolina, to play for coach Joel Hopkins. Midway through the year, Hopkins founded Emmanuel Christian Academy in a Durham office building basement and took the Mount Zion basketball team to serve as his student body; the school folded before they played a game. Stoudemire returned to Florida where he attended summer school at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando. He briefly reenrolled at Mount Zion Academy and then sat out a year at West Orange High School in Winter Garden, Florida, due to academic ineligibility that stemmed from his transcripts from Mount Zion. His final move was to Cypress Creek High School in Orlando, Florida, where he graduated in 2002. Due to all the transfers, he missed his entire junior year of basketball and only played two full seasons.
Apart from basketball, Stoudemire excelled in football. He was coached by his father in Pop Warner football and imagined himself a star receiver for the University of Miami, University of Florida or Florida State University. Growing up he rooted for Shaquille O'Neal, center for the hometown Orlando Magic of the NBA.
In his senior year, Stoudemire averaged 29.1 points, 15 rebounds, 6.1 blocked shots, and 2.1 steals per game. Among Stoudemire's high school honors was being selected to play in the 2002 McDonald's All-American Game at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where he played with two future New York Knicks teammates, Carmelo Anthony and Raymond Felton. He was also named Florida's Mr. Basketball, the Orlando Sentinel's Florida High School Player of the Year, and to USA Today's All-USA Basketball First Team.
Considered a five-star recruit by Scout.com, Stoudemire was listed as the No. 1 player in the nation in 2002. With his biggest goal in high school being making it to the NBA, Stoudemire committed to the University of Memphis. However, he later de-committed and declared for the NBA draft, being taken with the ninth pick in the 2002 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns. He was the only high school player taken that year in the first round.
Professional career
Phoenix Suns (2002–2010)
In his rookie season, Stoudemire averaged 13.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, with a season high of 38 points against the Minnesota Timberwolves on December 30, 2002, the highest score by a prep-to-pro player until broken a year later by LeBron James. Stoudemire was selected to the Rookie squad in the Rookie Challenge. In the game, Stoudemire recorded 18 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals. Stoudemire won the NBA's Rookie of the Year award, beating out Yao Ming and Caron Butler and becoming the first player drafted out of high school to win the award. Stoudemire also was selected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. The Suns, led by Stoudemire, Stephon Marbury, Shawn Marion, Penny Hardaway and Joe Johnson, made it to the playoffs but were defeated in six games by the eventual champions, the San Antonio Spurs.
During the following season, Stoudemire improved statistically, but his team stumbled to a 29–53 record, and point guard Marbury was traded to the New York Knicks. During the season Stoudemire had a 10-block game against the Utah Jazz; he recorded six blocks in the first quarter alone (both team records). During the summer of 2004, Stoudemire was selected to play for the eventual bronze medal-winning 2004 U.S. national team in the Summer Olympics. However, head coach Larry Brown declined to give him significant playing time (6.9 minutes per game).
During the 2004–05 season, Stoudemire teamed up with point guard Steve Nash whom the Suns signed as a free agent, to lead the Suns to a 62–20 record. Averaging 26 points per game that year and achieving a new career high of 50 points against the Portland Trail Blazers, he was selected to his first NBA All-Star Game as a reserve forward. Stoudemire and Nash ran a pick-and-roll some have compared to Hall of Famers John Stockton and Karl Malone. In the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, Stoudemire averaged 37 points per game, but the Suns still lost in five games.
On October 4, 2005, Stoudemire signed a five-year, $73 million with a player option in the final season. During the 2005–06 NBA preseason, knee cartilage damage was discovered and Stoudemire underwent microfracture surgery on October 18, 2005. Initially, the Suns thought he would return by mid-February, but his rehab took longer than expected. Stoudemire, however, scored 20 points in his return against the Portland Trail Blazers, but went scoreless his third game against the New Jersey Nets on March 27, 2006. On March 28 it was announced that he would likely miss the rest of the regular season due to ongoing stiffness in both knees. Stoudemire's rehabilitation, which was led by Suns trainer Aaron Nelson and Dr. Micheal Clark, the president and CEO of the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), went well as he stated during the rehab that he was explosive and he gradually gained his strength back.
New York Knicks (2010–2015)
On June 30, 2010, Stoudemire opted out of his contract with the Phoenix Suns, which made him an unrestricted free agent. On July 5, 2010, Stoudemire and the New York Knicks agreed in principle to a contract estimated to be worth around $99.7 million over five years. On the first day that free agents were allowed to officially sign, the Knicks formally introduced Stoudemire at Madison Square Garden. There Stoudemire proclaimed "the Knicks are back!" referring to the team's lack of success the past few years. With the Knicks, Stoudemire was reunited with head coach Mike D'Antoni, who had coached him with the Suns. On December 15, 2010, in a loss against the Boston Celtics, Stoudemire set a franchise record with his ninth straight 30-point game. On December 17, 2010, Stoudemire set a franchise record with his ninth straight game shooting 50 percent or better from the field. On January 27, 2011, Stoudemire was named a starter on the Eastern Conference All-Star Team alongside LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, and Dwight Howard. He became the first Knicks player to start in the game since Patrick Ewing. In the game Stoudemire scored 29 points, which tied him with LeBron James for most on the Eastern Conference team. On February 22, 2011, the Knicks made a three-team trade with the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves that sent Nuggets superstar Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks along with the Nuggets' starting point guard Chauncey Billups. In 2011, the Knicks made the playoffs for the first time since 2004. Stoudemire was injured during the playoffs. In game 3, Stoudemire attempted a Willis Reed-like comeback by playing in the game despite a bad back. In the first round of the playoffs, the Knicks were swept by the Boston Celtics. Stoudemire ended up having one of the best seasons in his career, averaging 25.3 points, 9.1 rebounds, a career-high 2.6 assists and 2 blocks per game. Stoudemire developed a mid-range game and shot a career-high 43% from three-point range. Stoudemire was named to the All-NBA Second Team.
During the 2011 NBA lockout, Stoudemire served as a player representative for the Knicks. Stoudemire represented the Knicks along with teammates Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Toney Douglas, and Roger Mason Jr., who was Vice President of the Players Union. Stoudemire considered playing overseas for Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. due to his possible Hebrew heritage, but instead opted to stay with the players union. In October 2011, Stoudemire appeared on ESPN First Take, where he promoted his new sneaker line, the Nike Air Max Sweep Thru. During the lockout, Stoudemire trained and took history seminars at Florida International University. He also dabbled in acting, appearing in the second-last episode ("Second to Last") of Entourage.
Dallas Mavericks (2015)
On February 18, 2015, Stoudemire signed with the Dallas Mavericks. Four days later, he made his debut for the Mavericks against the Charlotte Hornets and recorded 14 points in just 11 minutes off the bench. Stoudemire went on to play in 23 games for the Mavericks and averaged 10.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
Miami Heat (2015–2016)
On July 10, 2015, Stoudemire signed with the Miami Heat. He played in just one of the Heat's first 10 games of the 2015–16 season, largely due to knee soreness. He played eight minutes of first half action against the Sacramento Kings on November 19, scoring 10 points off the bench to spark the Heat early, as the team went on to win the game 116–109. On January 31, 2016, he recorded season highs of 13 points and 12 rebounds against the Atlanta Hawks, starting in place of the injured Hassan Whiteside. Two days later, he set a new season high with 14 points in a loss to the Houston Rockets, starting at center for the Heat in his sixth straight game. Stoudemire's final NBA game was played in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Toronto Raptors on May 11, 2016. The Heat lost the game 99–91, with Stoudemire only playing 3 minutes as the Heat's starting center, recording one rebound and one steal. The Heat would go on to lose the series in seven games.
On July 26, 2016, Stoudemire signed a contract with the New York Knicks to retire as a Knick, as he announced his retirement from the NBA later that day after 14 seasons in the league.
Hapoel Jerusalem (2016–2019)
Though he retired from the NBA, Stoudemire did not retire from playing basketball, and on August 1, 2016, he signed a two-year deal with Hapoel Jerusalem, a team he co-owns in the Israeli Basketball Premier League. On October 1, 2016, he helped Hapoel Jerusalem win the Israeli Basketball League Cup. He went on to earn All-EuroCup Second Team honors for the 2016–17 season, as well as Israeli Basketball Premier League All-Star honors. In June 2017, he helped Hapoel Jerusalem win the 2016–17 Israeli Basketball Super League.
On September 1, 2017, Stoudemire announced his retirement from basketball.
In February 2018, Stoudemire joined BIG3 team Tri State as co-captain. Three months later, Stoudemire announced that he was contemplating a return to playing professional basketball in the NBA.
On September 24, Stoudemire came out of retirement to sign with Hapoel Jerusalem for the 2018–19 season. On October 31, Stoudemire recorded a season-high 24 points, shooting 10-of-16 from the field, along with seven rebounds in a 105–75 win over Montakit Fuenlabrada, and was named to the Champions League's Team of the Week. On May 2, 2019, Stoudemire was named Israeli Premier League Player of the Month after averaging 16.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in four games played in April.
Fujian Sturgeons (2019)
On October 30, 2019, Stoudemire signed with the Fujian Sturgeons of the Chinese Basketball Association. He appeared in 11 games for the Sturgeons, averaging 19.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. In mid-December 2019, Stoudemire had left the team to return to the United States.
Maccabi Tel Aviv (2020)
On January 22, 2020, Stoudemire returned to Israel for a third stint, signing with Maccabi Tel Aviv for the rest of the season. In July 2020, he helped Maccabi Tel Aviv win the championship while earning Israeli Basketball Premier League Finals MVP honors.
Coaching career
On October 30, 2020, Stoudemire was hired by the Brooklyn Nets as a player development assistant. On May 12, 2022, he announced he would not be returning to the Nets for the 2022–23 season.
Personal life
Relationships
Stoudemire has four children with his ex-wife, Alexis Welch. Having dated since 2002, the two were engaged in May 2012 and later married on December 12, 2012, atop their Greenwich Village apartment rooftop. Stoudemire filed for divorce from his wife in October 2018 but the case was dismissed in July 2019 after he failed to submit the required documents to follow through. Two years later Alexis filed for divorce, which was finalized in 2021.
Stoudemire's first name had previously been listed in the Phoenix Suns media guide as Amaré or Amare, but it was changed to Amar'e in October 2008. Stoudemire told NBA.com that his name had always been spelled Amar'e, but the media had been spelling it incorrectly since he joined the NBA.
Stoudemire was raised Baptist. Through his mother, he associated with the Black Hebrew Israelites. In a 2010 interview, he said, "I have been aware since my youth that I am a Hebrew through my mother, and that is something that has played a subtle but important role in my development." Asked if there was a chance he was Jewish, he said "I think through history, I think we all are." He visited Israel that year, saying he intended "to get a better understanding of [his] heritage." He returned for the 2013 Maccabiah Games as assistant coach of the Canadian basketball team; while there he met with Israeli president Shimon Peres, who urged him to join the Israel national basketball team. In April 2018, he reportedly began converting to Judaism. In January 2019, he was granted residency in Israel. In March 2019, he received Israeli citizenship, and adopted the name Yahoshafat Ben Avraham. He formally converted to Judaism with a Rabbinical court on August 26, 2020.
In the early morning hours of February 6, 2012, Stoudemire's older brother, Hazell, was killed in a car accident in Polk County, Florida. He was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.
In December 2014, Stoudemire purchased a 185-acre (75 ha) farm in Hyde Park, New York, which includes a 2,066-square-foot (190 m2) log home. Stoudemire said that he intended to use the property as a place where his family can get together on weekends and in the off-season.
Conversion to Judaism
After his retirement from the NBA, while playing for Hapoel Jerusalem in 2018, Stoudemire started studying Judaism in Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem with the purpose of converting. He formally completed his conversion in August 2020, taking on the Hebrew name Yehoshophat ben Avraham, from his legal name "Jehoshaphat" and the common family name given to converts "ben Avraham".
At his 2026 induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Stoudemire said that he had studied Torah privately for 20 years and that this long-running study influenced his decision to play in Israel and deepen his Jewish learning.
Off the court
Philanthropy
Stoudemire started the Each One, Teach One foundation in 2003. Stoudemire also funded his very own AAU team, named Team STAT. Stoudemire played Wheel of Fortune during its NBA week and donated all his winnings to the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Greater Phoenix area. In November 2008, Stoudemire received the NBA's Community Assist Award, for his work with his Each 1, Teach 1 Foundation, and its efforts to provide safe drinking water in Sierra Leone by funding the building of water wells in impoverished villages. Stoudemire visited the country in summer 2008, making visits to water well sites and meeting with President Ernest Bai Koroma and the rest of the cabinet. In 2010 Stoudemire hosted the first Amar'e Stoudemire Basketball Academy in Mali. That same year, he posed shirtless on behalf of PETA's Ink Not Mink campaign, protesting the wearing of animal fur.
Film and television
After guest appearances on Law & Order: SVU, Entourage and Sesame Street in 2011, Amar'e appeared on TV Land's The Exes opposite Kristen Johnston in a January episode. Stoudemire also appeared on Fox's comedy series, The Mindy Project, where Mindy Kaling's character went on an outing with her co-workers to a nightclub, and wound up hanging in the VIP section with the New York big man. Stoudemire's acting roles have not been limited to television. He had a role in the film MacGruber and appeared in the blockbuster romance New Year's Eve. He also appeared as himself in the comedy film Trainwreck, as one of the patients of sports surgeon Dr. Aaron Conners (played by Bill Hader).
Other ventures
In 2011, Stoudemire started his own clothing line, which launched at Macy's in late 2011. It was designed with the help of Rachel Roy. Stoudemire described the line as "courtside apparel for the fashion-forward female". Stoudemire has his own record label named Hypocalypto and has signed rappers from Phoenix to Atlanta.
In August 2011, Stoudemire signed a deal with Scholastic Press to write a series of middle-grade chapter books called STAT: Standing Tall And Talented. The first book in the series, STAT: Home Court, which Stoudemire described as biographical, was published in August 2012.
In the summer of 2013, Stoudemire became a major shareholder of Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. together with sports agent Arn Tellem and Ori Allon. Later that year, he also became an assistant coach for the Canadian men's national basketball team for the 2013 Maccabiah Games.
In February 2018, Stoudemire launched a kosher, Israeli wine label, called Stoudemire Cellars. The label launched with three wines, all of which are produced at Tulip Winery in Kfar Tikvah. Stoudemire is also an art collector.
Awards and honors
Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inducted in August 2026
Israeli Basketball Premier League champion: 2017, 2020
Israeli Basketball Premier League Finals MVP: 2020
Israeli Cup winner: 2019
Israeli League Cup winner: 2016
NBA Rookie of the Year: 2003
NBA All-Star: 2005, 2007–2011
All-NBA First Team: 2007
All-NBA Second Team: 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011
NBA All-Rookie First Team: 2003
Rising Stars Challenge MVP 2004
Orlando Sentinel Florida High School Player of the Year: 2002
Florida Mr. Basketball: 2002
USA Today All-USA Basketball First Team: 2002
Prep Stars Recruiter's Handbook No. 1 High School Player in the United States: 2002
