After a canceled season, the Harlem Globetrotters are back on the road on their summer tour. 

On average, this year's team is the shortest ever — and that’s by design, as brothers Jahmani “Hot Shot” Swanson and Justin "X-Over" Tompkins have made history as the shortest players in the team's long history.

What You Need To Know

  • Jahmani "Hot Shot" Swanson and little brother Justin "X-Over" Tompkins are making history as the shortest Harlem Globetrotters in history

  • Both grew up loving basketball, and mom Sabrina Swanson always encouraged them to play

  • Jahmani's social media basketball videos caught the attention of the Globetrotters, and he joined in 2017. Justin joined two years later

  • After last season was canceled, the brothers are excited to be back on a summer tour with the team

"Basketball is just, it was my first love. You know, it wasn't no toys, it wasn't no bottle. It was always basketball," Swanson says.

"Just watching my brother play basketball motivated me to play basketball," Tompkins says.

Swanson made headlines in 2017 when he joined the Globetrotters. And then, following in his big brother's footsteps, Tompkins joined in 2019. Swanson is 4 feet, 5 inches tall. Tompkins is 4 feet, 6 inches tall.

With last season canceled, they’re overjoyed to be back.

"Now you have the two shortest Globetrotters in the world on the world-famous team," Swanson says. "It’s like The Avengers. It’s unstoppable."

We caught up with the brothers at the Frederick Douglass Court at 101st Street and Columbus Avenue, where they grew up playing. Their mom, Sabrina Swanson, is still here to cheer them on. All three are little people.

I asked mom if she always told the kids they could do anything.

"Yes. Anything," she says. "You're little, but you are giants."

Since 1926, the Globetrotters have been entertaining fans with their eye-popping ball-handling skills and humor. Sabrina took the kids to see the Globetrotters play when they were young. And Mom herself also has skills. She made some baskets while dribbling around with her sons.

Both credit her with their success.

"She's the George Steinbrenner, she's the Jay Z, and she's the queen," Swanson says. "We wouldn't be here, we wouldn't be where we are today if it wasn't for her. Seeing her handle herself, stand on her own two feet. Like the barrier got broken from home."

When they encountered teasing or bullying, mom always stood her ground.

"Especially coming from this neighborhood," Tompkins says. "The Douglass projects, it definitely was hard getting here. We had tough times. But having our mom be here for us, it’s a blessing."

After their summer tour, the team has some time off before they play in New York City in the winter. Until then, you might look for the brothers at the local courts, playing hard and, of course, doing tricks.

These two pros love to put smiles on fans' faces, and hope to inspire not just other little people, but anyone who has a dream — even one that seems far out of reach.