Joshua Haakon Hawkinson (born June 23, 1995) is an American-born Japanese professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for Sun Rockers Shibuya of the

B.League The B.League is a men's professional basketball league in Japan. The league is operated by the Japan Professional Basketball League and was formed as a result of a merger between the National Basketball League that was operated by the FIBA-affi ...

. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Washington State Cougars The Washington State Cougars (known informally as the Cougs) are the sport, athletic teams that represent Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, WSU is a member of the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division I. The athletic pr ...

, where he finished his career as the school's all-time leader in rebounds and

double-doubles In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

. Hawkinson began his professional career in Japan in 2017, later becoming a Japanese citizen in 2023. He played for the Japanese national team at the

2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 25 August to 10 September 2023. The tournament was the second to feature 32 teams and was hosted by multipl ...

and at the

2024 Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Early life

Hawkinson was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington, to Nels and Nancy Hawkinson. He has one younger sister Carlyn, and his family lives in

Shoreline, Washington Shoreline is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is located between the city limits of Seattle and the Snohomish County border, approximately north of Downtown Seattle. As of the 2020 census, the population of Shoreline was ...

. Both of his parents played basketball collegiately; his dad at

Trinity Western University Trinity Western University (TWU) is a Private university, private Christian liberal arts university with campuses in both Langley, British Columbia (district municipality), Langley and Richmond, British Columbia, Richmond, British Columbia. The ...

and his mom at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. Hawkinson attended Shorewood High School in

Shoreline A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

. Over his junior and senior seasons, Hawkinson led his team to a 32–14 record and averaged 20 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks per game. Hawkinson was very lightly recruited out of high school with no Power 5 conference schools interested in him, besides Washington State.

College career

Hawkinson began his college career in 2013 for

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

and played limited minutes in a supporting role as a freshman. He served as a backup to upperclassmen D.J. Shelton and Jordan Railey and went on to average 1.2 points, and 1.6 rebounds in just 6 minutes per game. Following his freshman season, Washington States head coach

Ken Bone Ken Bone or Ken Bones may refer to: * Ken Bone (basketball) (born 1958), American basketball coach * Ken Bone (personality) (born 1982), American citizen and Internet meme * Ken Bones (born 1947), English actor {{hndis, Bone, Ken ...

was fired and replaced by new head coach

Ernie Kent Ernest Kent (born January 22, 1955)GoDucks.com ...

. Hawkinson thrived under Kent in his sophomore season at

. His minutes per game skyrocketed from 6 to 33, and he became the second-most improved scorer in the nation from 1.2 to 14.7

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player or team per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of poi ...

, and the most improved rebounder in the country from 1.6 to 10.8

rebounds per game 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

. Hawkinson would go on to lead the league in rebounding and his 334 total rebounds and 20

set single season Washington State records in both categories. He led the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

and NCAA in defensive rebounds per game at 8.7, and earned

Most Improved Player of the Year and All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention honors. As a junior, Hawkinson was given team captain responsibilities and once again led the league in rebounding and double-doubles. He improved both his points per game from 14.7 to 15.4, and rebounds per game from 10.8 to 11.1 and tied his own single-season Washington State record with another 20

. He earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention for the second straight season and was named a Finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the year award. In his senior campaign, Hawkinson retained his team captain status and led his team to a sweep of the Washington Huskies for the first time since the 2010–11 season. Hawkinson went on to average 15.5 points per game and 10.2 rebounds per game earning him All-Pac-12 Second Team honors. Hawkinson would also be selected to the Second Team All-District 20 team by the NABC and was named as a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the year award for the second straight year. For his outstanding achievements both on and off the court, Hawkinson became the first

player ever to be named a

Senior CLASS Award The Senior CLASS Award is awarded to the most outstanding senior student-athlete in 10 NCAA Division I sports. An acronym for "Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School," the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete ...

First Team All-American. and followed that up by winning the Tom Hansen Conference Medal given to the

's "most outstanding senior student-athlete based on the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership." Academically, Hawkinson completed his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

from

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

in just three years, receiving his degree in Management Operations in the summer of 2016 while being a three-time

All-Academic honoree. In his senior year, Hawkinson finished his

Master's of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ar ...

in Data Analytics, completing both his bachelor's and master's degrees in four years, and was named the 2017

Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Hawkinson concluded his career tenth in points scored with 1,414 and set school records in double-doubles with 56 and rebounds with 1,015. He became the first Washington State player ever to amass 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, and was the 13th player in Pac-12 history to reach those marks.

College statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;",

, 28, , 0, , 6.4, , .458, , 0.0, , .600, , 1.6, , 0.2, , 0.0, , 0.1, , 1.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31, , 29, , 32.7, , .500, , .200, , .853, , 10.8, , 1.0, , 0.4, , 1.1, , 14.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 29, , 28, , 33.3, , .543, , .385, , .778, , 11.1, , 1.5, , 0.7, , 1.1, , 15.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31, , 31, , 35.4, , .531, , .406, , .833, , 10.2, , 2.5, , 0.6, , 0.8, , 15.5 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 119, , 88, , 27.4, , .523, , .350, , .812, , 8.5, , 1.3, , 0.4, , 0.8, , 11.9

Professional career

On June 26, 2017, Hawkinson signed his first professional contract with the Toyotsu Fighting Eagles of the Japanese

. He played for the Fighting Eagles in the 2017–18, 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons. For the 2020–21 season, Hawkinson joined the

Shinshu Brave Warriors The Shinshu Brave Warriors is a professional basketball team that competes in the first division of the Japanese B.League. The team was formed in 2011 and as of the 2016–17 season played in the Central Division (Naka-chiku) of the B2 League. Th ...

. He continued with the Brave Warriors in the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons. On June 12, 2023, Hawkinson signed with Sun Rockers Shibuya.

National team career

In February 2023, Hawkinson became a naturalized Japanese citizen. He played for the Japanese national team at the

and at the

.Josh Hawkinson Leads Japan in Scoring in Final Olympics Loss
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References

External links

WSU Cougars profileESPN.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkinson, Josh 1995 births Living people 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup players 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century Japanese sportsmen American emigrants to Japan American expatriate basketball people in Japan American men's basketball players Basketball players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Basketball players from King County, Washington Fighting Eagles Nagoya players Japanese men's basketball players Naturalised basketball players Naturalized citizens of Japan Olympic basketball players for Japan People from Shoreline, Washington Power forwards Shinshu Brave Warriors players Sun Rockers Shibuya players Washington State Cougars men's basketball players