Kevin Lavelle Braswell (born January 23, 1979) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach and former player. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

before playing professionally in Europe and New Zealand. He currently serves as assistant coach of the

Akita Northern Happinets The Akita Northern Happinets are a Japanese professional basketball team based in Akita that competes in the Eastern Conference of the First Division of the B.League. The team was formed as an expansion team of the bj league in 2010 and found succ ...

in the Japanese B.League.

Early life

Braswell was born and raised in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, where he attended

Lake Clifton Eastern High School Lake Clifton Eastern High School (LCEHS) was a Public school (government funded), public High school#United States, high school closed in 2003, located in the Clifton Park, Baltimore, Clifton Park area of northeast Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland. ...

. He then had a prep season at

Maine Central Institute Maine Central Institute (MCI) is an independent high school in Pittsfield, Maine, United States that was established in 1866. The school enrolls approximately 430 students and is a nonsectarian institution. The school has both boarding and da ...

Pittsfield, Maine Pittsfield is a town in Somerset County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,908 at the 2020 census. Pittsfield is home to the Maine Central Institute, a semi-private boarding school, and the annual Central Maine Egg Festival. History ...

College career

Braswell played four years of

for the

Georgetown Hoyas The Georgetown Hoyas are the collegiate athletics teams that officially represent Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C. Georgetown's athletics department fields 23 men's and women's varsity level teams and competes at the National C ...

between 1998 and 2002. He finished his career at Georgetown ranking seventh all time in scoring (1,735). His 1,569 field goal attempts were more than all but two players in school history ( Eric Floyd and Reggie Williams). He set the all time record for 3-pointers (189), which was broken in December 2007 by

Jonathan Wallace Jonathan Lewis Wallace (born May 16, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Walter Tigers Tübingen of the Basketball Bundesliga. The 6'2" guard from Huntsville, Alabama played college basketball for Georget ...

. Braswell also first at Georgetown in career assists (695) and steals (349). He was named Third Team All-

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

as a senior and Second Team as a junior, and was named to the Big East All-Rookie Team as a freshman. He started in all 128 of his games for the Hoyas, averaging 13.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 2.7 steals per game.

Professional career

Braswell began his professional career splitting the 2002–03 season in Belgium with Tournai Estaimpuis and in Poland with Spójnia Stargard Szczeciński. For the 2003–04 season, he moved to Italy to play for Cimberio Aironi Novara. In 2004–05, Braswell split the

NBDL The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

season with the

Florida Flame The Florida Flame was an NBA Development League team based in Fort Myers, Florida. The Flame announced they would temporarily shut down operations during 2006–07, due to not having a home arena in which to play. The team maintained its league m ...

and

Columbus Riverdragons Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

. He finished the season in Turkey with

Pınar Karşıyaka Pınar is a common feminine Turkish given name. In Turkish, "Pınar" means "Spring" (of water), and/or "Fountain". Notable people called Pınar include: Given name * Pinar Heggernes (born 1969), Turkish-born Norwegian computer scientist * Pına ...

. In July 2005, Braswell played for the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

in the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

. He later signed with the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...

on October 3, 2005, but was waived on October 12 after appearing in one preseason game. He subsequently returned to Europe and played seven games for Greek team Kolossos Rodou before leaving in December 2005. In September 2006, Braswell helped

Metros de Santiago Metros de Santiago is a professional basketball team based in Santiago de los Caballeros, Santiago, Dominican Republic. The team currently plays in the Dominican top division Liga Nacional de Baloncesto. Championships Liga Nacional de Baloncesto ...

win the LNB championship. For the 2006–07 season, Braswell moved to Russia to play for Standart Samara reg. Toliatti. For the 2007–08 season, he returned to Turkey to play for Selçuk Üniversitesi. Braswell began the 2008–09 season in Bosnia with

HKK Široki Hrvatski košarkaški klub Široki (), commonly referred to as HKK Široki or simply Široki, is a men's professional basketball Sports club, club based in Široki Brijeg, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The team currently competes in the Basketball Champ ...

before playing out the season in France after joining

Cholet Basket Cholet Basket is a professional basketball club that is based in Cholet, France. The club plays in the French League. Their home arena is La Meilleraie. Established in 1975, Cholet won its first French championship in the 2009–10 season. In 1 ...

in December 2008. In the 2009–10 season, Braswell began with playing eight games in Israel with

Barak Netanya Elitzur Ironi Netanya ( he, אליצור עירוני קוסמוס נדל"ן נתניה) is a professional basketball club based in Netanya, Israel. The team plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, since its promotion in 2021. History E ...

between October 25 and December 14. On January 12, 2010, he signed with the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Sky Sport Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at ...

for the last seven games of the 2009–10 NBL season. Following the conclusion of the Breakers' season, Braswell returned to Europe and joined French team

Limoges CSP Limoges Cercle Saint-Pierre, commonly referred to as Limoges CSP or CSP, is a French professional basketball club based in the city of Limoges. History The club was founded in 1929, but its peak was during the 1980s and 1990s, when they became t ...

. After initially signing with Turkish team Aliağa Belediyesi SK for the 2010–11 season, Braswell instead returned to New Zealand and joined the Breakers for the NBL season. In April 2011, he helped the Breakers win the NBL championship. He was subsequently named the

NBL Best Sixth Man The National Basketball League Best Sixth Man is an annual National Basketball League (NBL) award given since the 1996 NBL season The 1996 NBL season was the 18th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of 14 teams co ...

. In May 2011, Braswell joined the

Southland Sharks The Southland Sharks are a New Zealand basketball team based in Invercargill. The Sharks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Stadium Southland. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the SBS Bank So ...

for the 2011 New Zealand NBL season. However, just six games into the season, he suffered a season-ending

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's ''Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, k ...

injury which required surgery. He had never previously experienced a serious injury in his basketball career. With Braswell still on the comeback trail from injury, the Breakers decided to move in a different direction for the 2011–12 season. He received interest from several other Australian NBL clubs, but a contract failed to materialise, which saw him sign with the Sharks for the 2012 season. On August 16, 2012, Braswell signed with the

Melbourne Tigers Melbourne United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. United compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at John Cain Arena. The team made their debut in the NBL in 1984 as ...

for the

2012–13 NBL season The 2012–13 NBL season was the 35th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of eight teams contested the league. The regular season was played between 5 October 2012 and 24 March 2013, followed by a post-season which invo ...

. However, on November 5, 2012, he was released by the Tigers after playing hurt over the first five games. Braswell returned to the Southland Sharks for the

2013 New Zealand NBL season The 2013 NBL season was the 32nd season of the National Basketball League. The 2013 season saw the withdrawal of the Auckland Pirates and Harbour Heat, but saw the return of the Waikato Pistons after a one-year hiatus as well as the Super City ...

and helped lead them to the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

. He returned to the Sharks in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and had a 45-point effort in his 50th game. Returning to Southland for a fifth season in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, Braswell helped the Sharks win their second title in three years. He retired from professional basketball following the 2015 season, with the Sharks retiring his No. 12 jersey. In 78 career games for the Sharks, he averaged 19.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.2 steals per game.

Coaching career

On August 3, 2015, Braswell was appointed head coach of the

Wellington Saints The Wellington Saints are a New Zealand basketball team based in Wellington. The Saints compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at TSB Bank Arena. Team history The Wellington Saints were founded in 1981. In 1 ...

for the

2016 New Zealand NBL season The 2016 NBL season was the 35th season of the National Basketball League. The league's team total dropped to an all-time low for the 2016 season, with the departure of the Manawatu Jets leaving the competition with seven teams. The 2016 pre-se ...

. On April 15, 2016, he came out of retirement for a one-game stint, helping his depleted Saints in a 97–72 loss to the

Canterbury Rams The Canterbury Rams are a New Zealand basketball team based in Christchurch. The Rams compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Cowles Stadium. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as The Wheeler Motor Can ...

. He went on to guide the Saints to the

in his first season as coach. In

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, Braswell guided the Saints to back-to-back titles behind an undefeated 20–0 campaign and New Zealand NBL Coach of the Year honours. He returned to Wellington for a third and final season in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, leading the Saints to a third straight grand final where they lost to the

. On April 16, 2018, Braswell was appointed head coach of the

on a three-year deal. However, he was released from his contract in June 2019 after completing just one season. In May 2020, Braswell was appointed head coach of the

Auckland Huskies The Auckland Tuatara are a semi-professional basketball team based in Auckland, New Zealand. The Tuatara compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Eventfinda Stadium. Founded in Tasmania in 2019 as the Southe ...

of the New Zealand NBL. He parted ways with the Huskies following the 2020 season. On June 25, 2021, Braswell was appointed assistant coach of the

in the Japanese B.League.

Personal

Braswell's immediate family includes his mother, Millicent Boone, and his younger brother, James Boone.

References

External links

Early life

College career

Professional career

Coaching career

Personal

See also

References

External links