Dontae Jordan Bruner (born December 31, 1997) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Tachikawa Dice of the

B.League The B.League is a men's professional basketball league in Japan. The league is operated by the Japan Professional Basketball League and was formed as a result of a merger between the National Basketball League that was operated by the FIBA-affi ...

. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the Na ...

and the

Yale Bulldogs The Yale Bulldogs are the college sports teams that represent Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The school sponsors 35 varsity sports. The school has won two National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA national championships ...

Early life and high school career

Bruner was born in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

but moved to South Carolina at the age of 11. He attended Spring Valley High School, where he was coached by Perry Dozier. As a sophomore, he averaged 12 points per game. Bruner missed most of his junior season with injuries. As a senior, he averaged 16 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks per game. Bruner was a three-time All-State performer. He was regarded as a three-star prospect, ranked the second-best South Carolina player in his class by 247 Sports. Bruner committed to

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

in November 2015 over an offer from Clemson.

College career

Bruner missed the first four games of his freshman season with a knee injury and wore a brace for the rest of the year. On January 2, 2017, he scored a career-high 25 points in an 88–72 win over

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

. He averaged 8.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, finishing second in the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

in blocks with 55. On November 4, 2017, Bruner tore his meniscus during a scrimmage against

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, forcing him to miss his sophomore season. Bruner averaged 10.4 points and 8.3 rebounds per game as a junior. He helped Yale finish with a 22–8 record and reach the NCAA Tournament, where they fell to

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

79–74. Coming into his senior season, he was the only returning starter. Bruner posted 17 points and 15 rebounds against

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

on December 30, 2019. On February 21, 2020, he recorded the first

triple-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

in Yale history with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in an 81–80 double-overtime win against

Cornell Cornell University is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since ...

. As a senior, Bruner averaged 10.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game and had 48 blocked shots and 29 steals. He was named to the First Team All-Ivy League. Following the season, Bruner declared for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecticut, wi ...

while maintaining his college eligibility. He ultimately transferred to

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

for his final season of eligibility, choosing the Crimson Tide over Baylor and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. Bruner suffered a knee injury against

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

on January 13, 2021, missing a month. He averaged 5.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game in his only season at Alabama.

Professional career

On August 14, 2021, Bruner signed his first professional contract with

Imortal Basket Imortal Desportivo Clube ''(abbreviated as Imortal DC and colloquially known as Imortal de Albufeira)'' is a Portuguese sports club centered around a Association football, football club based in the city of Albufeira, in the Portuguese region of ...

of the

Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol The Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol (), also known as Liga Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's professional club basketball league in Portugal. History From the 2008–09 season onward, the competition has been again organised by ...

. He averaged 8.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game. On August 17, 2022, Bruner signed with

SK Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional association football, football football team, club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are ...

of the National Basketball League. In 20 games he averaged 9.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game. On February 1, 2023, Bruner signed with fellow Czech club

BK Děčín BK Děčín, for sponsorships reasons named BK Armex Děčín, is a Czech professional basketball club based in the city of Děčín. They play in the Czech National Basketball League – the highest competition in the Czech Republic. History I ...

. He joined Antranik of the

Lebanese Basketball League The Lebanese Basketball League is recognized as the top-tier professional men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Lebanon. It is organized annually as a national championship with playoffs and a national cup by the Lebanese Basketb ...

for the 2023-24 season. On July 11, 2024, Bruner signed with the Tachikawa Dice of the

. On February 21, 2025, his contract was terminated.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 25 , , 0 , , 22.4 , , .513 , , .300 , , .652 , , 5.6 , , 1.2 , , .4 , , 2.2 , , 8.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="11", Cruz Roja

Injured , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 30 , , 28.0 , , .511 , , .278 , , .734 , , 8.3 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.5 , , 10.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 28 , , 28 , , 32.4 , , .443 , , .323 , , .766 , , 9.2 , , 3.7 , , 1.0 , , 1.7 , , 10.9 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 24 , , 23 , , 18.1 , , .434 , , .328 , , .710 , , 3.9 , , 1.3 , , 1.2 , , .9 , , 5.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 107 , , 81 , , 25.6 , , .477 , , .309 , , .716 , , 6.9 , , 2.4 , , .9 , , 1.6 , , 9.0

Personal life

Bruner's sister Ashley played basketball at

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

and is retired from playing professionally overseas. His younger brother

Tommy Tommy may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tommy (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army * Tommy Giacomelli (born 1974), Brazilian fo ...

also plays professional basketball.

References

External links

Alabama Crimson Tide bioYale Bulldogs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruner, Jordan 1997 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball players American men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in the Czech Republic American expatriate basketball people in Japan American expatriate basketball people in Lebanon American expatriate basketball people in Portugal Basketball players from Oklahoma City Basketball players from South Carolina BK Děčín players Imortal D.C. players Power forwards Tachikawa Dice players Yale Bulldogs men's basketball players