Get to Know NBA Champion and Birmingham Native Trey Jemison III

By Ameera Steward | For the Birmingham Times

To the world, Trey Jemison III, standing at 6’10 and 280 lbs., is a center for the New York Knicks, who just won their first NBA championship in 25 years. But to Birmingham he’s a friend, a student, a neighbor; to Birmingham he’s a part of our community.

“I do travel a lot, I live in New York, I have a house in Dallas, and I lived in LA, but I’m a Birmingham kid through and through,” Jemison exclaimed. “My faith, my hard work, my determination, and grit I’ve gotten from the city of Birmingham.”

Made For This

The 26-year-old grew up in Center Point, where his love for basketball started.

“I was always a tall kid…I was 6 ft in the fifth grade,” Jemison said. He would occasionally play with his mom, and his dad would coach him. So, with the natural talent and the support of his parents, Jemison thought, “I’m just going to keep playing.

From there, he played Amateur Athletic Union [AAU] basketball and church league basketball.

“I just loved playing,” he said.

Jemison attended several high schools during his high school career, including Ramsay High School and Homewood High School, but he graduated from Hoover High School in 2018.

After high school, he attended Clemson University until 2020, when he transferred to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where he found his faith.

After losing his grandparents, Eloise and Willie McNeely, 14 days apart, Jemison said he “kind of gave into the lifestyle of college — partying, drinking, being out all night.”

“With all of that, I found this emptiness,” Jemison said. “I was sad, I was lonely, I was depressed. I just didn’t know where to turn. And then I hit rock bottom, and the only thing at the bottom was Jesus.”

Although he still played during his college career, he said, “my last two years at UAB, I was going to stop playing basketball…I wasn’t in love with it [and] kind of over it.” He was interning at Brasfield & Gorrie in Birmingham, and they were offering him a job after his internship, so he was also considering that route.

“I had a ‘come to Jesus moment,’ prayed to God…[I said] ‘Hey God, what do you want from me…what’s the best thing for me?’ And God reminded me that he blessed me with being 6 ‘10, 280 pounds. He said, ‘I want you to go use it…I gave you those gifts for a reason.’ So, I locked in…and God opened pathways I never even imagined, and it’s been a blessing ever since,” Jemison said.

During his last season at UAB in 2023, Jemison realized he could make a career out of basketball after seeing just how good he was at the sport. Jemison didn’t get drafted. But that didn’t discourage him.

“I had a draft party on draft night, they called 58 names that night and none of them were my name,” Jemison said. So, after that, he ended up playing for the G League in Birmingham, “which was great for me, and I played…really well, and after so long I got an NBA call-up for the Washington Wizards,” which was the start of his NBA career in 2024.

“I had the longest streak of double-doubles in Squadron history and the night I lost the record…I was already mad, and I got my call-up,” he recalled. “I ended up crying on the side of the road…one of the best days of my life.”

Career Goals

After playing professionally for only three years, Jemison won the 2026 NBA Championship with the New York Knicks.

“That’s huge,” he said. “A lot of guys go 10 to 15 years without sniffing the NBA Championship…I was just in awe [when they won] because…this little kid from Birmingham, Alabama [moves to] New York City to win an NBA championship…that had to be God.”

But it hasn’t come without struggle; his biggest challenge has been the mental aspect of it all.

“Trying to focus on my own career, not trying to worry about what other people are saying or where other people’s careers are going; Just [trying to focus on] what God has for me,” Jemison expressed. “That’s been the biggest challenge.” But Jemison also counts the struggle as one of his biggest blessings.

“I’ve matured so much in that area,” he said.

Although winning the NBA Championship has been a big step in his career goals, one of his main goals is to “play 10+ years and provide for me and my family… and to stay healthy and make a lasting impact on, not just my family, but people around me…that’s the goal.”

He’s on his way to accomplishing that goal; in 2024, he began weekly Bible studies on his social media to impact the minds and hearts of his followers.

Jemison believes many people avoid discussions about spirituality because they don’t understand faith.

“So I try to make it as plain as possible, and hopefully that blesses somebody,” he said.

He also recently hosted in Hoover a free basketball camp for youth.

“My Biggest Blessing”

In addition to adding ways to make a lasting impact on the people around him, Jemison will also fulfill a personal goal this year.

In August 2026, Jemison will extend his family by marrying his fiancée Alex Glover, whom he calls “my biggest blessing.”

They met in 2024 when he came across her on social media, and while watching one of her segments, he thought to himself, “this girl…is gorgeous.”

He took his shot, slid into her DMs, and she responded a day later. It just so happened that he was in Vegas for summer league, and his layover on his return was in the same city Alex was living in at the time.

Jemison asked her to get lunch with him during his layover.

“We became really close…like best friends, and the moment I left I thought, ‘that’s a phenomenal woman,’” Jemison recalled.

A year later, Jemison decided to propose. “If God gives me a yes, I’m going to handle my business,” he said he thought to himself before popping the question. “I had so much peace with it, and it has been my biggest blessing ever since. I wouldn’t trade her for nobody in the world; I fall more and more in love with her every day.”

He added, “She’s someone who doesn’t care about me playing basketball, who couldn’t care less about me playing good or bad, she just likes seeing me happy and pushing me toward God.”

He also adopted Glover’s fur baby as his own — Bruno, a 6-year-old golden brown Irish Doodle making them a family of three.

With the championship and the proposal in the last two years, Jemison said he is feeling “phenomenal.”

“My life has completely changed,” Jemison expressed. “It feels like God came into my life and just multiplied everything…once I sat, obeyed, and locked in…everything changed.”