5 NBA Players Who Are Jehovah’s Witnesses

There were millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world, including more than a million in more than 10,000 congregations in the United States. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that we are in the last days of a corrupt world and that when the Apocalypse comes, only true believers will be allowed eternal life.

Today, several NBA players are also members of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The world’s foremost basketball league is extremely diverse, with players of all ethnicities, races, religions, and even sexual orientations.

Jehovah’s Witnesses is a Christian sect founded in the 1870s. It will have more than 100,000 congregations by 2022, and many of its members will be world-renowned athletes.

Throughout its history, some members of the NBA have belonged to this denomination, and one player has even retired to focus on his health, but before meeting Danny Granger, Dewayne Dedmon, Darren Collison, Willie Wise and Dave Meyers , NBA players who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, let’s take a quick look.

What are Jehovah’s Witnesses?

In 1870, a man named Charles Taze Russell began leading Bible studies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Taze also formed the Bible Student movement, which led to the Jehovah’s Witness movement.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are a people of faith that many of us probably don’t know much about. We can remember them as the people who often come to our homes to evangelize.

According to Christianity, Jehovah’s Witnesses are dedicated to God the Father; his name is derived from the Tetragrammaton, written as YHWH or JHVH and articulated as Yahweh or Jehovah.

NBA players who are Jehovah’s Witnesses

Danny Granger

Danny Granger (born April 20, 1983) is a 39-year-old former professional basketball player who began his career in 2001 playing for the “Bradley Braves men’s basketball”, but his professional journey began in 2005; He was first drafted by the Indiana Pacers after a two-year college stint in New Mexico.

He is primarily a small forward but has also played power forward. He can also start the team’s offense and is considered capable of playing the Point Forward position.

Granger has played for ten seasons in the NBA. From 2005 to 2014, he played for the Indiana Pacers; after that, in 2014 he joined “Los Angeles Clippers”, and for “Los Angeles Clippers”, Danny played only half a year because on July 14, 2014 he joined “Miami Heat”.

Danny was raised in a devout Jehovah’s Witness family and has always maintained a high personal standard that has set him apart from the pack.

However, Granger was baptized in 2017.

Dewayne Dedmon

Dewayne Dedmon, who is 7 feet tall, is a prominent role player in the NBA. He is a hard-working player who understands his position on the court and does everything he can to help his team win.

He wouldn’t be in the NBA if it wasn’t for his mother. Dedmon grew up in a Jehovah’s Witness family and his mother, Gail Lewis, prevented him from playing basketball.

Dewayne’s journey is inspiring because he shows that anything is possible with hard work and dedication, but he is coming to the end of his career and has yet to receive a championship ring. Despite this, he has improved considerably in all the squads he has been in.

Darren Collison

Darren Collison has 10 years of experience in the NBA. Collison was drafted by the New Orleans Hornets in 2009 and has subsequently played for the Indiana Pacers, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings. The 35-year-old point guard averaged 12.5 points per game and 5.0 assists per game during his career. He spent three years with the Sacramento Kings and four years with the Indiana Pacers.

Collison retired in 2019 to devote her time to his faith. He made this decision at the age of 31 and after a season with the Pacers he averaged 11 points and 6 assists, but in December 2021, Darren returned to the NBA and signed a 10-day contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. He only appeared in three games before being released by the Lakers when his contract expired.

Willie Wise

Willie Wise (born March 3, 1947, age 75) is better known by his nickname “Wonderous Willie” in the basketball world; he began his basketball career playing Journey in 1965 playing for the “City College of San Francisco” team Willie played for them until 1967, and after that, he joined the “Drake Bulldogs men’s basketball”.

In 1969, Willie had the opportunity to be part of the team “Los Angeles | Utah Stars”, and after that, he joined the “Virginia Squires”, and thus Wise became one of the players who played nine full seasons for the American Basketball Association (ABA) because after the merger of the NBA and ABA in 1976 and after that, from 1976 to 1977 he played for the Denver Nuggets and Seattle SuperSonics and his playing career ended due to his knee injury.

In an interview with “apbr.org”, Willie said that “I was very pro-God at the time and read the Bible. I was talking to a reporter on the Final Four and I told him that if I got drafted I probably wouldn’t make the team and just become a Jehovah’s Witness minister. I thought we were talking off the record, but he wrote it on his paper and a lot of teams stayed away from me because of it.”

Dave Meyers

David William Meyers, also known as Dave Meyers (April 21, 1953 – October 9, 2015), was a legendary American basketball player who began his playing career in 1972 with UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), but His life changed in 1975 when Dave signed a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers for 1.6 million dollars more or less for five years and just after a week he was transferred to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Dave Meyers had become a well-known personality during his NBA playing career, but on April 30, 1980, Meyers made a shocking revelation that he was retiring from basketball to spend more time with his family and devote more attention to your beliefs as a Jehovah’s Witness.

Meyers was baptized in August 1977 and pioneered in 1978, “meaning he spent an average of 60 hours or more a month spreading the good news of God’s Kingdom,” and it was also during the 1977-78 season that he enjoyed of his best moment.

year in the NBA.

But he was beginning to resent the time basketball was taking away from my preaching! He still enjoyed basketball, but he grew to like his preaching activity more and more.