All About Houston Basketball Star J'Wan Roberts’ Parents, Elbe Brathwaite and Jeff Roberts

Basketball is in J'Wan Roberts’ blood — just ask his parents, Elbe Brathwaite and Jeff Roberts. 

“He was actually born to play basketball if you ask me,” his father told WTJX in April 2025. But the Houston Cougars forward’s athleticism isn’t unique in his family. Like their son, Elbe and Jeff also played college basketball and decided to move him from the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he was born and raised, to Texas to increase his exposure for recruitment opportunities.

J’Wan and his younger sister, Jasonique Roberts, lived with his aunt until they graduated from high school. After receiving multiple scholarship offers, J’Wan chose to join the University of Houston in 2018, per The Houston Roundball Review.

So who are J'Wan Roberts' parents? Here’s everything to know about Elbe Brathwaite and Jeff Roberts.

Elbe and Jeff raised J'Wan in the U.S. Virgin Islands 

Elbe and Jeff welcomed their son, J’Wan Andone Roberts, on Sept. 19, 2001, and raised him in St. Thomas, which is a part of the Virgin Islands. The collegiate basketball player told PaperCityin 2022 that he could see the beach from the porch of his childhood home. 

“I miss it,” J'Wan said. “Surrounded by water ... It gets kind of hot down there. Real hot. That’s a good hot. You can go out to the beach and just swim for hours. You can swim all day. You can sleep on the beach ... If I could go to the beach every day I would.”

They moved him to Texas to help his basketball career

The summer after he completed eighth grade, Jeff and Elbe sent J’Wan to Killeen, Texas, to live with Elbe’s sister so the aspiring athlete could further ...