Kelly Olynyk was born into a basketball family. For the 34-year-old veteran, who just got traded to the San Antonio Spurs, basketball isn’t just a job, it’s a family thing, a legacy. It’s a story that starts not on an NBA court, but in a quiet home in Toronto, with a father who was a legendary coach, a mother who was a Raptors scorekeeper, and two sisters who were star athletes in their own right.

Olynyk has built an impressive 12-year career in the NBA, moving from Boston to Miami, Houston, Detroit, Utah, Toronto, and now, San Antonio. He’s a player everyone respects for his smarts on the court, his unique skills, and his tough, team-first attitude. But to really get who he is as a player today, you need to know about the incredible basketball family that made him.

Who are Kelly Olynyk’s parents?

Kelly Olynyk’s parents are Ken Olynyk and Arlene Olynyk, two people who have been deeply involved in Canadian basketball for decades.

Ken Olynyk, his father, is a coaching legend. He was the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Toronto for 13 seasons and also coached the Canadian Junior Men’s National Team from 1983 to 1996. He’s seen it all, and he’s not afraid to make tough calls. He’s famously the coach who once had to cut a young, not-yet-superstar Steve Nash from the national team. For the last twenty years, he’s been the athletic director at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia.

Arlene Olynyk, his mother, knows the game inside and out, too. She used to be a women’s basketball referee and, from 1995 to 2004, she worked for the Toronto Raptors as an official scorer. This gave a young Kelly a front-row seat to the best basketball out there. “My mom was a scorekeeper here. My dad was an associate coach here for a year,” Kelly once said about growing up around the Raptors. “Just being in the driveway pretending you’re a Raptor growing up.”

Jesse played rugby at the University of Victoria, while Maya played university-level basketball for the Saskatchewan Huskies. As their sister Maya once said, “There is nothing I could ever give my dad that could thank him for all of the things he’s done for all three of us.”

What ethnicity are Kelly Olynyk’s parents?

While Kelly Olynyk was born and raised in Canada, making him and his parents Canadian nationals, their family roots trace back to Europe. Both Ken and Arlene are of Ukrainian ethnicity. Kelly has always been proud of his Canadian heritage, representing his country in multiple international competitions, including the 2015 FIBA AmeriCup and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

He’s always carried that Canadian pride with him. During his run to the 2020 NBA Finals with the Miami Heat, he talked about what it meant to represent his country on the biggest stage. “I’m proud to be Canadian, to be from B.C., Kamloops,” he said. “Hopefully that inspires some kids back in B.C., whether it’s Kamloops or Vancouver or anything, watching it and know that this stuff is possible. If you put in the work and the effort and stay true to yourself, you can pave your own path.”

Kelly Olynyk’s relationship with his parents

The main reason for Kelly Olynyk’s success is how close he is to his parents. They’ve been his coaches, his guides, and his biggest cheerleaders every step of the way. His relationship with his father, Ken, is built on a shared love and deep understanding of the game. Ken coached Kelly on several youth teams and taught him to always put the team first from a young age.

“Your job is to get the ball to other people and make other people better,” Kelly remembered his father telling him when he was a young point guard. That idea has stuck with him throughout his career. When Kelly was struggling to get playing time at Gonzaga and thought about transferring, it was his father who helped him see things clearly. “Can you work without a guarantee?” Ken asked him, a lesson in toughness that Kelly has remembered ever since. “My dad has always been there to give me perspective and he has taught me everything I need to know,” he said.

His mother, Arlene, has been his rock, the one who has kept him grounded through all the good times and bad. When he was just seven years old and told his parents he wanted to be a professional basketball player, his mom gave him a dose of reality. “We told him he might want to have a secondary plan,” she once said. Kelly’s reply? He’d become a farmer if basketball didn’t work out. It’s that mix of big dreams and staying humble that his parents have taught him. Arlene is always at his games, a quiet, supportive presence in the stands.

It’s a really nice, full-circle story. The kid who grew up in a house obsessed with basketball, learning the game from his coach dad and his scorekeeper mom, has now built a long and successful career of his own. And as he joins a new team in San Antonio, he brings with him not just his unique skills, but the invaluable lessons from a family that has given their lives to the game he loves.

Now, as he joins the San Antonio Spurs, he’ll be expected to bring all those values with him. He’s not just a new player; he’s an experienced leader, a guy who can help guide the team’s young and incredibly talented core. For a rookie like Dylan Harper, having a respected veteran like Olynyk in the locker room will be super helpful. And for a generational superstar like Victor Wembanyama, Olynyk’s smart, floor-spacing game is the perfect match, a piece that could be key to helping the Spurs reach their championship goals.