Jordan Farmar

Jordan Robert Farmar (born November 30, 1986) is an American-Israeli former professional basketball player who played primarily as a point guard. After a standout college career at UCLA, where he was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, Farmar was selected in the first round of the 2006 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. With the Lakers, he contributed as a reserve guard to their back-to-back NBA championships in 2009 and 2010. Farmar appeared in 407 NBA games across seven seasons with teams including the New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Clippers, and Sacramento Kings, averaging 7.7 points and 2.9 assists per game. Later in his career, he transitioned to European basketball, signing with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2011 and earning accolades such as EuroLeague Round MVP honors during his stints there. Farmar retired from professional play after the 2016–17 season.

His parents, Damon Farmar and Melinda (Mindy) Kolani, divorced when he was three years old, after which he lived primarily with his mother. Damon's background included a career as a minor league baseball outfielder, selected in the second round of both the 1981 and 1982 MLB drafts by the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles, respectively. Melinda, of Jewish heritage, later married an Israeli man who was Orthodox Jewish and helped raise Farmar, influencing his exposure to Judaism.

Farmar has one sister, Shawn Kolani. Although his biological father is African American and from a Christian family, Farmar was raised in a Jewish household by his mother and stepfather, including undergoing a bar mitzvah. He grew up in the Los Angeles area, where his early environment included connections to sports through his father's baseball history.

Farmar was born on November 30, 1986, in Los Angeles, California, to father Damon Farmar, a former minor league baseball outfielder drafted in the second round by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1981, and mother Melinda (Mindy) Farmar. His parents divorced when he was three years old, after which he resided primarily with his mother, who subsequently remarried Israeli national Yehuda Kolani, originally from Tel Aviv. Farmar, the only child from his mother's first marriage, has a younger half-sister, Shawn Kolani, from his mother's second marriage; she later became a high school basketball coach in the Los Angeles area. He identifies as Jewish, consistent with his mother's heritage and stepfather's Israeli Jewish background.