Antawn Jamison has returned to the University of North Carolina. He’s now a visiting professor of the practice for sports communication. The ex-Tar Heels star and 16-year NBA veteran co-teaches MEJO 206: Sports Communication with associate professor Livis Freeman at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media.

The two-time NBA All-Star stood before 33 students in Carroll Hall on Tuesday. Tyler Hansbrough, the school’s all-time leading scorer, visited the class as a guest that day.

“First day I was a little nervous. ‘These kids don’t know who I am.’ They don’t want to hear me talk, but it’s been smooth,” said Jamison, according to WRAL. “I’m just going off my experiences. Things I’ve experienced. Just after class, having these students come in and ask questions to get as much information as possible.”

This marks a shift for someone who thought teaching was crazy during his college days. He now has five kids. He values education. He wants to help students with the connections he has built over the years.

Jamison played for the Tar Heels from 1995-98. He was the unanimous National Player of the Year in 1998 and became the first player in ACC history to earn first-team All-ACC honors as a freshman, sophomore, and junior. Across three seasons at Carolina, he scored 1,974 points and grabbed 1,027 rebounds.

He helped lead UNC to back-to-back ACC Tournament championships and Final Four appearances in 1997 and 1998. The program inducted him into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021. He is one of just eight players in men’s basketball history to have his jersey retired at the school.

After college, he played 16 seasons in the NBA, earning All-Star selections in 2005 and 2008 and scoring 20,042 career points. He worked as a television analyst covering the Los Angeles Lakers before moving into scouting and front-office roles with the Lakers and Washington Wizards.

Jamison also served on the search committee that hired new basketball coach Michael Malone this past spring. He played 25 games with Malone, then an assistant under Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown, when he joined the Cavaliers for the end of the 2009-10 season.

“Coach (Dean) Smith always said, ‘I don’t want you guys to donate any money or give back,'” said Jamison, according to the Charlotte Observer, “‘one thing I ask you to give back your time for the university, who was there for you. And anytime they need anything, please be there.'”