Georgetown Hoyas center Thomas Sorber is widely projected as a first-round selection in the 2025 NBA draft. Most mock drafts place the Michigan center somewhere between picks 19 and 30, with recent projections varying across different outlets.
Sorber is the youngest of three children, born to Tenneh and Peter Sr. on Dec. 25, 2005. His older brother and sister played collegiate basketball, though they were not as accomplished as their youngest sibling. Sorber was a four-star recruit out of high school, receiving offers from Miami, Mississippi State, Pittsburgh, Providence, St. Joe’s, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Maryland, and Villanova before committing to Georgetown.
The 2 Siblings of Thomas Sorber
Sorber’s parents were Liberian immigrants who fled the civil war in their African country in the late 1990s to pursue a better life in the United States. His father, Peter Sr., was a soccer player and stood 6 feet 5 inches tall. He died of colon cancer in 2013 when Thomas was just 6 years old. Keeping the family together, Sorber’s mother, Tenneh, endured significant hardship, often working 17 hours a day to support her three children.
The second oldest Sorber sibling, Peter, inherited his father’s height. Standing 6 feet 9 inches tall, the forward played basketball in high school and college. Peter played for Trenton Catholic Academy, where he developed his skills as a forward.
He wanted to join a historically black college or university, so he committed to Morgan State University. The second oldest Sorber sibling attended the university during his freshman and sophomore years before transferring to Lincoln University, where he continued his basketball career.
Peter is now in his senior year with the Lincoln Lions and won the Athletes of the Week award in early January. He considers Kevin Durant his role model in sports and enjoys video games and music when he’s not on the court.
The oldest Sorber sibling, Regina, is much older than her two younger brothers. Born in the late 1980s, she had been taller than her brothers for quite some time, standing 6 feet 3 inches. Now, Sorber is the tallest in the family at 6 feet 10 inches tall.
She was a forward for Trenton High School in 2006, when she stood 6 feet 2 inches tall. She played collegiate basketball for Alabama A&M University but did not turn professional after her college career ended.
Unlike his older siblings, Sorber had a different journey to basketball prominence. Although he played his high school freshman year for Trenton Catholic Academy, like his brother, he transferred to Archbishop Ryan High School in his sophomore year. During that same year, he led the Philadelphia Catholic League in rebounding.
Sorber also had an impressive freshman year with the Georgetown Hoyas before his season was cut short due to a foot injury that required surgery in February. He earned a place on the All-Big East Third Team and was unanimously selected to the Big East All-Freshman team. He averaged 14.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.5 steals, and 2.0 blocks per game in 24 appearances.
Unlike his older brother, who idolizes Durant, Sorber models his game after Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid. He wants to remove the misconception that big men are only good near the basket, which Jokic and Embiid have proved false.
“Most kids think that big men are just people who stand under the rim and get rebounds,” Sorber has said, “but knowing you can step outside and shoot a three, bring the ball up like Jokic or Embiid, it’s not just, ‘Oh, you’re just supposed to be [under the basket].’ You can be anywhere on the court.”
The 2025 NBA Draft is scheduled for June 25-26 in Brooklyn, with Sorber expected to hear his name called on the first night. His journey from a young boy grieving his father’s death to a projected first-round NBA pick represents a remarkable story of resilience and determination, supported by a family that has always believed in the power of basketball to change lives.
