For a man so imposing in size, the retired Nate Jawai does not joke about how he had little time to grow up.

Jawai's teenage years were almost like a blur, living in the rural outpost of Bamaga in north Queensland before discovering basketball.

The cult hero not only Australia, but briefly the US and later in Europe, recently reflected on his meteoric rise towards becoming an invaluable commodity in the 2008 NBA Draft.

"I didn't even start playing until I was 17, and then everything just went kind of haywire for me," Jawai said.

"I didn't have time to grow up, to be honest – it was tough."

But the 209-centimetre Torres Strait Islander always looked born to play, which also contributed Jawai to maturing early in life.

That started from his own culture, turning from a boy into a man over a week of a traditional Saibailgaw custom.

The initiation was holding off shaving for his first time until the Elders decide "it's time to come of age" after learning about the ways in their Zenedth Kes world.

"We get taught how to hunt for turtles and things like that to provide for your family," Jawai said.

"We then go through a big ceremony with dancing where you have all your uncles around you, giving advice about what to watch out for in life."

Raised in a largely Indigenous town of little more than 1000 residents on the northern tip of Cape York – amid a stopover in Cairns to finish school and make his NBL debut – Jawai's parents were insistent their son leave Bamaga to realise his potential.

There was hesitancy at first, however Jawai says he walked into the distance having no regrets.

"It's so hard to take a kid out of a community like that," Jawai said.

"I think that's what I struggled with the most: being away from home and family.

"Family means everything for me, my mum and dad, my cousins, and when I'm away, and it all felt foreign to me.

"The start of my career was one of the toughest changes because I had to learn a lot of aspects of my life, I guess, leaving a small Community life to a bigger and scarier life."

In spite of the game taking Jawai to the bright lights of New York on NBA draft night before the Raptors selected him as the 41st overall pick off to Toronto, the 38-year-old is slowly drawing lessons from his time away.

It wasn't until Jawai returned to Australia permanently in 2019 until he began realising he was a genuine Indigenous role model.

"The older I got and the more basketball I played has showed me what I wanted to do," he said.

"It's been sinking in a little bit more now, and that's why I am so happy to where I am today and what I have accomplished.

"For my next chapter, I just want to give back to the community and to our younger generation.

"Basketball has really given me a lot – I can't stress that enough.

"You see a basketball and it's this little orange ball, but it's taken me from a little Community to all around the world."

Jawai looks to his distant-cousin, Patty Mills, and the work the 2012 San Antonio champion has done off the court in establishing Indigenous Basketball Australia.

The gentle giant wants to work with aspiring basketballers – particularly kids in the communities – to introduce more Indigenous youngsters to the sport which filled his soul with joy.

While some talent could be set for the NBL and beyond, Jawai is looking for the benefits outside of making a professional career his focus.

"I think it's time to give back to community, to all my mob and the other Indigenous communities with my new journey," Jawai said.

"I've decided I want to open up a foundation, especially around being healthy."

Before that all tips-off, he plans to call one of his Saibailgaw uncles, and according to their tribal protocols, check with Elders before using use their cultural name to identity the foundation.

By his own admission, the fearsome-looking 130-kilogram former centre has dubbed himself a "community boy" at heart, but encourages kids out of living the "community syndrome" and to open their own perspective to gain greater life skills to enrich their lives.

"My advice would be not to take (the sport) for granted," Jawai said.

"I started playing basketball like it was yesterday – it all happens real quick.

"I'm content where I am now and what I was doing back then made me happy.

"I am happy how everything panned out.

"So don't take it for granted, embrace it; get to know your own identity: your family, your mobs, your Country.

"It is powerful, and it can change your life."