Justin Donta Brownlee (born April 23, 1988)[1] is an American professional basketball player for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
![]() Brownlee with the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in 2021 | |
No. 32 – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel | |
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Position | Small forward / Power forward |
League | PBA |
Personal information | |
Born | (1988-04-23) April 23, 1988 (age 34) Tifton, Georgia, U.S. |
Listed height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) |
Listed weight | 220 lb (100 kg) |
Career information | |
High school | Choctawhatchee High School (Fort Walton Beach, Florida) |
College |
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NBA draft | 2011 / Undrafted |
Playing career | 2011–present |
Career history | |
2011–2012 | Maine Red Claws |
2013–2014 | Erie Bayhawks |
2014–2015 | Basket Brescia Leonessa |
2015–2016 | Élan Chalon |
2016–2018 | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel |
2018 | San Miguel Alab Pilipinas |
2018 | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel |
2019 | Al Riyadi |
2019–2020 | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel |
2020–2021 | Al Sharjah |
2021–present | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel |
Career highlights and awards | |
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Brownlee played college basketball at St. John's University from 2009 to 2011.[2]
After Brownlee went undrafted in the 2011 NBA Draft, he began his professional basketball career with Maine Red Claws team of the NBA Development League.
In the summer of 2012, Brownlee joined the New York Knicks for the 2012 NBA Summer League. He trained for the team during the 2013 Training Camp; but also played in the 2013 NBA Summer League. On September 30, 2013, he was signed a contract to the team prior to the start of the 2013–14 season, but was waived on October 2, 2013 becoming a free agent two days later on October 4, 2013.[3]
On November 1, 2013, he was allocated by the Knicks to the Erie Bayhawks team of the NBA Development League, Brownlee averaged 13.85 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.5 blocks and 1.4 steals throughout the regular season. Brownlee also received an NBA D-League Showcase Honorable Mention Team award on January 10, 2014. He was deactivated in the roster for 2 games on February 19, 2014 during their match against the Texas Legends but was activated again during their match against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants on February 28, 2014.
In his first game with Ginebra, Brownlee recorded a double-double of 31 points and 13 rebounds but in a losing effort to the Alaska Aces.[4]
Brownlee helped Ginebra win the PBA Governors' Cup both in 2016, where he made the title clinching three-pointer at the buzzer in game 6 of the finals,[5][6] and in 2017.[7][8][9] On May 21, 2018. Ginebra coach Tim Cone confirmed the move to replace Charles García with Brownlee after player agent Sheryl Reyes made the announcement on social media.[10]
Brownlee returned to the Philippines for the third time, this time playing for ASEAN Basketball League side San Miguel Alab Pilipinas, where he, along with Renaldo Balkman, would replace Reggie Okosa and Ivan Johnson as the team's imports. With the help of Brownlee and Balkman, the Philippine squad was hailed as the 2017–18 ABL season champion by beating Mono Vampire Basketball Club of Thailand in 3 out 5 games in the championship series.[11][12]
After playing in the Asean Basketball League, Brownlee returned with the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel who were down 1–3 in the 2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup.[13] Brownlee helped the Ginebra to secure the fifth seed for the upcoming playoffs. During the 2018 Commissioner Cup's playoffs, Brownlee averaged 27.4 points per Game, 12 rebounds per game, 6.6 assists per game and 2.2 blocks per game to lead Ginebra to a 3–1 record in the playoffs to enter the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals.
In Game 1 of the 2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals against the San Miguel Beermen, Brownlee led the Ginebra to a 1–0 series lead with 42 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 blocks. He eventually won his first Best Import Award and helped the team capture the Commissioner's Cup title winning the series, 4–2.[14]
Brownlee was tapped to help lead the Mighty Sports-Philippines basketball team in the 30th Dubai International Basketball Tournament this February 1–9, 2019.[15] He will be playing alongside fellow imports, former NBA player Lamar Odom and Chinese Basketball Association veteran Randolph Morris to reinforce the team.[16][17][18][19]
Before returning to Barangay Ginebra San Miguel for the 2019 PBA Commissioner's Cup, Brownlee signed with Al Riyadi of the Lebanese Basketball League. He joined the team mid-season.[20]
Ginebra taps Brownlee again for the 2019 PBA Commissioner's Cup. He debut for the Ginebra against the Blackwater Elite on May 24, 2019. He scored a game-high 44 points to go along with 10 rebounds and 7 assists but his team was defeated by the Elite in OT.[21] The next game, Brownlee recorded 27 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 blocks in a 110–95 victory over the Meralco Bolts.[22] It was Ginebra's first win of the conference. On June 16, Brownlee scored a season-high 39 points to go along with 15 rebounds and 5 assists in a 110–107 win over the San Miguel Beermen.[23] On July 7, in a game against the Magnolia Hotshots, Brownlee scored a professional career-high 49 points as he led the Barangay Ginebra in a win over the Hotshots. He also recorded 20 rebounds and 7 assists in the game.[24] In the last game of the 2019 PBA Commissioners' Cup elimination, Justin Brownlee broke again his career-high with 50 points in a 127–123 overtime win over the Columbian Dyip.[25]
During the 2019 Commissioners' Cup playoffs, Brownlee led Ginebra towards a series sweep against the Magnolia Hotshots after averaging 25 points per game and 12.5 rebounds per game while shooting 52.5 percent from the field in the series.[26] In the semifinals round, Brownlee and the Ginebra San Miguel were up against the top-seeded TNT Katropa led by former NBA player Terrence Jones. They lose the series against TNT Katropa.
However, in the 2019 Governor's Cup, he led his team to another championship beating the Meralco Bolts in the Finals.
Brownlee suited up for Al Sharjah of the UAE National Basketball League.[27]
Brownlee suited up for Ginebra for the 2021 Governors' Cup. He recorded 38 points and 12 rebounds to extend the first-round series against the TNT Tropang Giga.[28] And also, his 38 points elevated him to seventh place in the PBA All-time import scoring list, passing former import Larry McNeil. He led his team to eight semi-finals appearance in eight tries and later to fifth finals appearance with him on the roster. On April 13, 2022, he won his second Best Import Award and became the tenth import to win such award multiple times. On April 17, 2022, Brownlee became the first import to register 400 three pointers in PBA's history. On April 22, 2022, he surpassed Billy Ray Bates in the scoring list for imports and at that time, in fifth place with 4,539 points. As of April 2022, he is behind Norman Black with 11,329, Bobby Parks Sr. with 8,955, Sean Chambers with 8,225, and Laurence Massey with 5,386. He is ahead of Bates with 4,523, Francois Wise with 4,332, McNeil with 4,169, Donny Ray Koonce with 4,103 and Billy Robinson with 4,024 points.
Brownlee won his fifth championship at the end of 2021 Governors' Cup campaign and remains undefeated in the PBA Finals series.
Legend | |||||
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GP | Games played | MPG | Minutes per game | FG% | Field goal percentage |
3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage | RPG | Rebounds per game |
APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game |
PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high | Led the league |
Year | Team | League | GP | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | Toros de Nuevo Laredo | LNBP | 10 | 26.9 | .500 | .300 | .739 | 6.0 | 1.8 | 1.2 | .5 | 13.6 |
2011–12 | Maine Red Claws | NBA D-League | 50 | 23.5 | .447 | .296 | .796 | 4.9 | 1.4 | .8 | .5 | 8.0 |
2013–14 | Erie Bayhawks | NBA D-League | 46 | 26.8 | .508 | .375 | .718 | 5.7 | 2.4 | 1.4 | .5 | 13.9 |
2014–15 | Germani Basket Brescia | Serie A2 | 35 | 31.1 | .498 | .394 | .674 | 7.9 | 1.9 | .9 | .7 | 16.3 |
2015–16 | Élan Chalon | LNB Pro A | 36 | 21.2 | .476 | .272 | .817 | 5.5 | 1.4 | .7 | .4 | 9.3 |
2015–16 | Élan Chalon | Leaders Cup | 3 | 14.7 | .538 | .333 | 1.000 | 1.0 | .0 | .0 | .0 | 6.0 |
2015–16 | Élan Chalon | EuroCup | 19 | 20.7 | .522 | .442 | .838 | 4.0 | 1.8 | .4 | .1 | 8.8 |
2018 | San Miguel Alab Pilipinas | ABL | 25 | 35.4 | .460 | .356 | .750 | 10.3 | 6.3 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 21.8 |
2019 | Al Riyadi Beirut Club | FBL League | 15 | 27.9 | .533 | .370 | .844 | 4.8 | 2.0 | .9 | .7 | 16.1 |
Legend | |||||
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GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
As of the end of 2021 season[30]
Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
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2015–16 | Barangay Ginebra | 22 | 40.5 | .504 | .360 | .663 | 11.3 | 3.8 | 1.7 | .9 | 28.6 |
2016–17 | Barangay Ginebra | 39 | 40.6 | .493 | .365 | .707 | 11.5 | 4.8 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 25.9 |
2017–18 | Barangay Ginebra | 35 | 41.8 | .516 | .358 | .819 | 12.3 | 6.7 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 30.4 |
2019 | Barangay Ginebra | 38 | 44.3 | .506 | .348 | .771 | 12.9 | 6.3 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 30.2 |
2021 | Barangay Ginebra | 23 | 44.1 | .538 | .387 | .812 | 11.7 | 5.7 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 29.9 |
Career | 157 | 42.2 | .509 | .362 | .764 | 12.0 | 5.6 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 28.9 |
In August 2018, Brownlee expressed his desire to stay in the Philippines and be a naturalized citizen. On August 15, 2018, a bill has been filed at the House of Representatives to grant Filipino citizenship to Brownlee.[31]
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel current roster | |
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