CHARACTER
The Crossoverby Kwame Alexander

Jordan 'JB' Bell

Jordan “JB” Bell

Quick Facts

  • Role: Identical twin, starting shooting guard with a lethal jumper; co-protagonist of The Crossover
  • First appearance: Opening chapters as Josh’s on-court partner and mirror
  • Key relationships: Twin brother Josh, first girlfriend Alexis, parents Chuck “Da Man” Bell and Dr. Crystal Bell
  • Signature look: Shaved head (vs. Josh’s dreadlocks), endless Air Jordans, Jordan-branded everything

Who He Is

Bold on the court and newly bold off it, Jordan “JB” Bell is the twin who refuses to be just “the other Bell.” As the mirror to Josh “Filthy McNasty” Bell, he’s both teammate and foil—more social, quicker to flirt, hungry to define himself beyond twinhood. His first romance with Alexis cracks the twins’ once seamless partnership and forces JB to choose, speak up, and stand alone. In doing so, he becomes a vivid portrait of Coming of Age: testing boundaries, making painful mistakes, and learning what kind of brother—and person—he wants to be. Even his shaved head functions as a lived symbol of individuation, a quiet signal that he won’t be mistaken for anyone else. JB embodies the friction and repair of Family and Brotherhood: you grow apart, and then you decide how to grow back together.

Personality & Traits

JB’s swagger is real, but it’s also a shield. He delights in spectacle—bets, boasts, big shots—yet when feelings get complicated, he can withdraw into silence and pride. The same intensity that fuels his step-back jumper fuels his crush on Alexis, his fury at Josh, and ultimately his loyalty to his family.

  • Competitive showman: Trash-talks and performs under pressure (the poem “Showoff” turns his game into theater), underscoring how attention fuels his confidence.
  • Risk-taker and bettor: Compulsive wagering drives the haircut “calamity,” proving that impulsive games can have lasting relational costs.
  • Lovesick and distracted: “His eyes get all spacey / whenever she’s around” captures how romance hijacks his focus, reshuffling his priorities away from Josh and even basketball.
  • Socially forward: Moves from crush to boyfriend quickly, revealing ease with people—and a desire to define himself outside the twin unit.
  • Wounded pride: After Josh’s on-court strike, he gives the silent treatment for weeks; the refusal to even look at Josh shows how hurt morphs into protective distance.
  • Loyal and forgiving: In crisis, he chooses family; by offering the championship ring, he reframes brotherhood as legacy, not competition.

Character Journey

JB begins as half of a high-functioning duo—two rhythms, one backcourt. The twins’ competitive harmony (“JB and I”) is his comfort zone, a place where identity feels shared and safe. Alexis is the tipping point: JB shifts attention from twinhood to romance, testing limits and staking out a new self. That independence costs him—Josh’s jealousy explodes in the nose-breaking game incident, and JB’s response is icy, sustained silence. Then their father’s collapse tears open a wider grief. Faced with the fragile line between love and loss, JB moves past scorekeeping. His turning point comes after the funeral: giving Josh their father’s ring, he declines vengeance and chooses kinship, transforming anger into memory, isolation into legacy. It’s a quiet, adult act—accepting what’s broken and deciding what to carry forward in the wake of Grief and Loss.

Key Relationships

  • Josh Bell: The twins’ relationship is the novel’s pulse—telepathic passes, shared swagger, and then a fracture that tests who they are without each other. Their slide into Conflict and Forgiveness shows JB insisting on boundaries and, later, redefining closeness as a choice rather than a given.

  • Alexis: JB’s first love catalyzes his independence. To Josh, she’s “the girl who stole my brother”; to JB, she’s proof he can be more than a mirror, marking a step toward Identity on his own terms—even when that step costs him.

  • Chuck “Da Man” Bell: JB idolizes his father’s legend and style, then associates the game they share with pain after Chuck’s collapse. His grief-stricken “I hate basketball” moment exposes how love and legacy entwine—and why passing down the ring later matters so much to Chuck “Da Man” Bell.

  • Dr. Crystal Bell: With Dr. Crystal Bell, JB is both son and supplicant; he seeks permission to bring Alexis into the family orbit, signaling respect for her authority and a desire to integrate his new life with the old one.

Defining Moments

As JB tests the edges of selfhood, certain choices and shocks force him to decide what kind of brother and son he’ll be.

  • The bet and the “calamity”: A won wager lets JB cut one of Josh’s dreads; five come off instead, leaving a “HUGE bald patch.” Why it matters: A playful risk becomes a public humiliation, showing how JB’s impulsiveness can wound—and planting the seed of resentment that eventually explodes.
  • The phone impersonation: Too nervous to call Alexis, JB drafts Josh to pretend to be him. Why it matters: He wants independence but still relies on the twin unit; the scene exposes how incomplete his individuation is.
  • The on-court strike: After being iced out emotionally, Josh fires a ball into JB’s face, breaking his nose. Why it matters: Their bond hits rock bottom, and JB’s refusal to accept “it was an accident” reframes the act as betrayal, justifying his silence.

    Tell him that I saw the look
    in his eyes, and it wasn’t a mistake,
    JB replies.

  • The ring and reconciliation: After the funeral, JB finds Josh at the line and offers their father’s championship ring.

    I guess you Da Man now, Filthy, JB says.
    Why it matters: He chooses legacy over rivalry, turning grief into a bridge and redefining brotherhood as something you build, not inherit.

Essential Quotes

He has one pair
of Air Jordan sneakers
for every month
of the year
including Air Jordan 1 Low
Barack Obama Limited Editions,
which he never wears.

This catalog of Jordans is more than fanboy flair—it’s identity-making. The excess and the untouchable “Limited Editions” mirror JB’s desire to perform status and myth, even as he learns to live beyond it.

His eyes get all spacey
whenever she’s around,
and sometimes when she’s not.

A compact portrait of first love’s drift. The line signals how thoroughly Alexis occupies JB’s headspace, explaining both his distance from Josh and the misreads that follow.

Tell him that I saw the look
in his eyes, and it wasn’t a mistake,
JB replies.

JB rejects the comfort of accident. Naming intention gives voice to his pain and justifies the boundary he sets—silence—until a larger loss reframes what matters.

I guess you Da Man now, Filthy.

The quietest abdication and the deepest embrace. JB honors their father, affirms Josh, and redefines “Da Man” as a role to be shared and carried, not hoarded.

I hate basketball.

Spoken in the shadow of Chuck’s collapse, this outburst shows grief’s misdirection—aimed at the game that bound father and sons. JB’s later actions don’t erase this feeling; they integrate it, turning the game into a vessel for memory rather than pain.