Many athletes have gone viral by posting their highlights online. It’s commonplace these days, and it often leads to college offers and potential endorsement deals. Many of them don’t pan out, and their YouTube reel is the extent of their success. One great example of that phenomenon is basketball player Julian Newman, who essentially made his name more online than on the court.
Newman, who seemingly came out of the womb dribbling a basketball, began being noticed nationally around age 10. He and his father started posting videos of Julian showing off his amazing ball-handling skills. He also showed the ability to hit long-range three-pointers. And although he was still small, he was already competing against older players.
By the time Newman reached the seventh grade, he was starting varsity — for his HIGH SCHOOL team. That’s how much of a prodigy he was. At 12 years of age, he was going up against juniors and seniors, and he was schooling them. And all the while, his progress was being documented online. So basically, he was Baby Gronk before there was ever a Baby Gronk.
A Child Star Who Gained National Attention
Julian Newman not only caught the eye of basketball fans online but also drew some attention from Hollywood. As a fresh-faced kid, he made for good TV, so he would make the rounds on the talk circuit. Newman appeared on The Steve Harvey Show, Good Morning America, Ellen, and several other programs. The world would watch in wonder as an 11-year-old youngster showed off his skills, dribbling the ball as if he were already in the NBA.
But at some point, Newman stopped growing, which made his dream of making it to the pros all but impossible. When it was all said and done, he only ended up being 5’6″. And the older he got, the more arrogant he became. He also suffered from ‘overbearing dad syndrome’—something akin to Lavar Ball. The father, Jamie Newman, was a former player himself, and he eventually ended up becoming Julian’s coach.
Amongst all the hoopla, Julian Newman and his family featured themselves in two separate online reality shows. He began getting into fights on the court. And despite averaging 30 points a game in high school, most scouts considered him more hype than hoops. The flash and dash look good on a camera on Instagram, but they didn’t translate to being a true competitor at the next level.
After graduating high school, the basketball wunderkind received no serious Division I schools. So, he did the natural thing: He declared himself for the NBA Draft.
Needless to say, he wasn’t selected. Nor was he invited to play in the G League. In addition, he was not invited to play in China, which was another option he and his father explored.
For Julian Newman, who was once called “The Best Sixth Grade Basketball Player You’ve Ever Seen” by The Huffington Post, his basketball career was over by the age of 20.
Where is Julian Newman Today?
Today, Julian Newman seems to have abandoned his hoop dreams and has moved on to other projects. As a social influencer, he’s got a large following, and he’s been able to profit from that. He endorses products in much the same way he would if he had a full-fledged Nike contract.
So, financially, he should be okay. But as far as basketball is concerned, he hasn’t played in an official game in a couple of years now, and his prospects were never good for having a long-term, sustained career. At the end of the day, he sold himself better than he played.
It’s a tragic tale of a young athlete who had the world in the palm of their hand and somehow squandered it away with arrogance and overexposure. While Julian Newman likely never would have made it to the NBA due to his size, he could have been a decent junior college player. But for him and his father? That was beneath them.
He still gets talked about today in basketball circles, but mostly as a punchline or a cautionary tale.
Strangely, there’s also a lesson that aspiring athletes can take away from it all: Just because you’re popular doesn’t mean you’re great. Julian Newman learned that lesson the hard way.
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Ryan K Boman is the author of the 2023 book, Pop Music & Peanut Butter: A Collection of Essays about Embracing Life with Laughter & Love. His previous work has appeared at The Miami Herald, SB Nation, Bounding into Sports, and Yardbarker. Follow him on social media @RyanKBoman.
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