The way Desmond Bane has broken into the league has to be studied. His employers, the Memphis Grizzlies, sit 2nd in the West with a huge chance of winning their first ever championship. And you can bet that young Bane has had a huge helping hand in that.

A shooting guard for Tennessee’s finest, his early life and upbringing are not as orthodox as most other players. It’s been brought into the spotlight multiple times, and that’s exactly what we’re going to delve into right now.

Where is Desmond Bane from? What is the Grizzlies star’s nationality?

Bane was born in Richmond, Indiana on June 25, 1998. But he never actually had a place that he stayed at long enough to be called ‘home’. He moved around a lot with his little sister Anna Wright and his mother Marissa, eventually ending up at his great-grandparents’ house in Richmond where he grew up.

“She was only 18, 19 at the time, so she was still inexperienced as a mother. So I was moving around from house to house. And I guess when I was 2, my (great) grandma and (great) grandpa said, ‘That’s enough. You’re not moving anymore. He’s going to stay with us, and that’s it,’” said Desmond about his upbringing.

What gives his upbringing the ‘unorthodox’ touch is his relationship with his dad. Desmond’s dad, Etieno Ekiko, is a businessman in Nigeria. He left Desmond’s mother when she was just 19 years old, leaving her alone to raise 1-year-old Desmond all by herself. And it doesn’t end there; he discovered Etieno’s residence at the ripe age of 13. But when it comes to his upbringing, he ‘wouldn’t have it any other way’, which is fair to say, considering he’s one of the Association’s finest youngsters now.

His mother’s American and father’s Nigerian backgrounds give him his African-American ethnicity.

It was his grandfather who eventually got him into basketball. Despite growing up playing baseball, soccer, and football, it was his great-grandpa’s initiative that shifted his interest and changed the course of his life.

What is Desmond Bane’s religion? Is he a Christian?

When Desmond and his family moved into his grandfather Bob’s house, he’d just come off retirement. But he had the ‘you live under my roof, you live by my rules’ kind of attitude that ended up paying dividends for young Bane.

It was he and his wife, Fabbie, who set the tone from early on. It was their decision to put him in the Seton Catholic school system despite Desmond’s interests, which turned him into the devout Catholic he is today. But Bob knows a thing or two about raising a basketball prodigy—his son Robbie Willis, Desmond’s grandfather, was an Indiana All-Star in 1977.

He ended up leaving the team due to behavioural reasons, but it didn’t stop Desmond from taking inspiration from it. He said, “He was a great player, if he wouldn’t have messed up, he probably would have had a chance to make some money playing this game and I want to do it for him. I want to do it for my grandma and grandpa who have raised me, all they’ve done for me, and obviously for myself.”

Despite the difficulties, his upbringing and nationality have been nothing but perfect for his career trajectory. The absence of a father didn’t leave the hole of a father-figure missing in his life, as his great-grandparents and mother Marissa did a fantastic job under the hardships. He joins a long list of African-Americans in the Association making a name for themselves.