Iman Shumpert is a known popular professional American NBA basketball player for the Cleveland Houston Rockets. He dreamt of becoming a famous player and little did he know that his dream is going to get fulfilled.
Iman was also a very important player for the Cleveland Cavaliers when the team won the 2016 NBA Championship. This was a pretty big deal back in the day.
Early years
He was born as Iman Asante Shumpert on June 26, 1990, in a town of Oak Park in Illinois, United States. People usually assume he’s not American and creates assumptions about him all of the time.
Iman attended Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School in his home town and was already very enthusiastic about basketball. He always paid more attention to a sport than to school and this was a constant in his life.
He was spending most of his free time on the basketball court, especially with Evan Turner who was his teammate then. Today Evan is also playing in the NBA, for the Portland Trail Blazers.
After finishing middle school he enrolled the Oak Park and River Forest High School where he was selected as one of the top players of the school’s team. Due to his great play and the skills, he showed in basketball he was also elected into the Top 30 seniors in the USA.
During his work with the school’s team, his school managed to win three titles in their conference and he himself was selected as the MVP a lot of times. He has won the „most valuable player” rewards both as a senior and as a junior player in his team.
Scout.com named him into their top list of senior players in the US and placed him on the 15th place. This is a great honor and he was very happy to be featured.
In 2008, he was chosen to play at McDonald’s All-American. After finishing high school, Iman continued his education and basketball career at Georgia Tech where he was from 2008 until 2011.
Georgia Tech is a very respectable university which is known for its great success with their basketball team. His parents were very proud of him and they were happy to hear that their decision of choosing the right place to live paid off.
Georgia Institute of Technology has a basketball team named the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and his average score was around 10 points in his first season games.
Even as a freshman he was amongst better players in the team and after his first season he was on the 4th place as a team scorer which was a big thing for a rookie. This was a good sign that predicted the rest of his successful career and the fact that he will become an outstanding player.
In the season 2009/2010, he hurt himself during the game and damaged his meniscus which was very painful and needed a long recovery.
He had to pass six games with his team due to the fact that he had to go under surgery of his right knee what was very frustrating for him.
In 2010/2011 season he was the leading scorer, rebounder, and assistant and was named into the all-defensive conference team.
One of the most interesting records he made during his time at Georgia Tech is one of the highest numbers of steals on the court.
Iman is very active on his social media and has over 1,8 million followers on his Instagram account.
He likes to show off his lifestyle, his own personal style and the way he lives so he often posts photos on his account. He likes to be in the center of the attention and therefore causes controversy sometimes.
Career development
In 2011, he made himself available for the NBA draft, leaving his last year at college unfinished.
Iman was soon drafted by the New York Knicks but in 2012 he injured himself on the court and had to miss the season due to the fact that he tore his meniscus.
He wasn’t declared as the 2012 NBA Rookie of the Year but was on the 5th place. The reason is only that he was hurt and couldn’t give his 100% in the game.
At the beginning of 2013, he returned to team practices and continue playing for his team. His luck didn’t last long since he dislocated his shoulder at the end of 2014.
At the beginning of the 2015 season, he was traded and became a player for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He debuted for the team against Charlotte Hornets.
Although Cleveland Cavaliers made it to the NBA Finals they last their fight against Golden State Warriors. Cleveland Cavaliers were satisfied with his play so they signed a contract worth $40 millions with him, on a period of 4 years.
After suffering several injuries (of his left knee and right wrist) he helped his team to win the 2016 NBA Finals against Golden State Warriors.
Their win became a huge surprise since the team was losing against Warriors 3-1. After that, they made a series of winning games and ultimately won the Championship.
This was something that is not happening in NBA very often, that a team which such loses returns so fast into the game, and in the end, wins the whole finals.
The team players received great bonuses and gained a lot of publicity. Their fans gave them a huge welcoming party.
Tyronn Lue, the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers has put Shumpert into the position of backup guard in his next season.
His score improved rapidly and was very important in the game against the Detroit Pistons. The Cavaliers reached the NBA Finals again but lost the finals in favor of Golden State Warriors.
In 2017 he injured his knee and was out of the game for 2 months. It was a very stressful period for him and his team since they have missed him in every game.
At the beginning of 2018, he became the player of the Sacramento Kings where he also had a good season. At the beginning of 2019, he became the player of the Sacramento Kings.
He has a very big income and it became even higher after he received bog endorsement deals with Nike and Adidas.
Personal life
He was raised by his mother L’Tanya, who is a professor of art at Columbia College, and his father Odis who works as an insurance broker.
Iman spent a lot of his free time making music. In 2012 he released his mixtape „Th3 #Pot90s” and a song „Dear Kendrick” which was pointed to Kendrick Lamar.
He has already released a song named “Chirac” which was followed by a music video and which gained huge interest. This was a pretty unexpected thing and it caused a bit of controversy in the world of music.
He was in relationship with Elle Warner, a very popular R&B singer and they dated until 2014 when Iman got involved with his wife Teyana. This was a pretty famous period of the player’s life because he spent a bunch of time clubbing and having fun outside. He enjoyed that life but had to settle a bit later, because he met his wife.
Iman Shumpert is married to Teyana Taylor which was followed by a music video of two of them and which gained huge interest.
Iman Shumpert is married to Teyana Taylor, a singer, and a model and she gave birth to Iman Tayla Shumpert, Jr who is their first daughter.
Shumpert’s wife experienced early labor at home and Iman delivered the baby himself which was a great thing for him.
The baby has her own Instagram account called babyjunie4 and has more than 400k followers.
Teyana Taylor is nicknamed Tey and was raised in Harlem. They started dating in 2014 and got engaged at the end of 2015.
They got married in October 2016, after the baby was already born. Iman delivered the baby himself, in their bathroom.
Iman has 3 brothers named Kasani, Ahrii and an older brother Odis Jr. He gets along with them very well and they are very proud of his achievements.
Iman was involved in a few controversies during his career. The latest is that he impregnated a porn star during a threesome with her and his wife. The porn star in question is Alby Rydes and she denied these rumors too over her social media account.
He was also involved in a scandal which involved a groupie named Sophie who gave birth to Drake’s child. It was rumored that he cheated his wife with the same groupie but it was another man that spent the night with her.
A successful series named „Empire“ (with Terrence Howard in the lead role) is using him as a model for one of the rappers in the series. He claims that they misrepresent his life but most people agree that it is quite genuine.
In 2018, Iman and his wife became the main characters of the VH1 reality TV series named “Iman & Teyana”.
He loves to drive great cars and his favorite is a Mercedes GLE.
It is not revealed whether Iman is a Muslim by religion or a Christian but is not sharing a lot about it to the public. He only stated that he hates buying presents for Christmas.
He is considered to have a great style and a sense of fashion. He has an interesting haircut which is looking like a 90’s retro haircut.
Quick summary
Full name: Iman Asante Shumpert
Date of birth: June 26, 1990
Birthplace: Oak Park, Illinois, United States
(Berlin, Ireland is his real birthplace)
Age: 29
Profession: NBA basketball player, rapper
Height: 196 cm
Weight: 98 kgs
Net Worth: $14 million