BEFORE he would dream of becoming an NBA superstar and briefly look up to Drake as a father-figure, Amari Bailey was born on February 17th, 2004 in the city of Chicago, Illinois, to his parents Johanna Leia and Aaron Bailey. Not unlike his son, Aaron Bailey is a former professional athlete who cut his teeth playing for Louisville University before eventually going pro as a member of the Indianapolis Colts whom he played for across five seasons. Amari’s dad didn’t play all that much with the starting line-up and served more as a kick-returner on special teams, but there was this one time that he almost caught a game-winning pass at the end of the 95 AFC Championship game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. For the most part however, Amari was primarily raised by his mother Johanna alongside his sister, Savanna. Johanna is a former model and current brand ambassador-slash-entrepreneur who split from Aaron during Amari’s childhood and pursued entertainment opportunities for herself and her kids like the Lifetime series “Bringing Up Ballers”. This reality show aired back in 2017 and followed five Chicago-based families as they sacrificed and struggled to support their promising up-and-coming basketball playing sons. Think “Basketball Wives” meets “Dance Moms” and you’ve got a pretty good sense of what this show was like. It was an unusual level of exposure for a teenaged athlete, but it helped Amari share his basketball talents with the rest of the world and he appreciates everything his mother has done for him throughout his life, including offering shooting technique advice.