Kalani Brown

Personal: Brown graduated from Baylor with a degree in communications. She is the daughter of Dee and P.J. Brown. Her mother played basketball at Louisiana Tech from 1990-93. Her father spent 15 years playing in the NBA with six different franchises, averaging 9.1 points and 7.7 rebounds over 1,089 regular season games. Her father also won the 2008 NBA title with Boston Celtics. She is one of four children in her family. She had her jersey number retired at Salmen High School in 2018 after setting school career records in scoring (2,392), rebounding (1,471) and blocked shots (605). She also led her high school team to a pair of state titles and four appearances in Louisiana Class 4A Championship Game.

2022 Season: Brown was a starter in all 15 games. She averaged 26.8 minutes per outing and finished fifth on the inaugural season leaderboard with 5,192 points. She had four games with 500 or more leaderboard points, including a season-high 536 points against Team Cloud on February 25. She was the eighth-leading scorer in the league with a 16.3 average. She scored 10 or more points in 12-of-15 games, including five games with 20+ points. She was one of eight players in the league to post 12 or more double-digit scoring performances. She led Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball with 17 blocks during the inaugural season. She tallied at least one rejection in five of last six games, including two outings with four blocks. She paced the league with a .714 field goal percentage. Brown converted 100-of-140 field goals, including two games with 10 or more made field goals. She tied for third in the league with eight game MVP awards. She also finished second in the loop with four MVP 1 honors. She ranked sixth in the league by grabbing 7.1 rebounds per contest, fourth in the circuit with 33 offensive rebounds, and sixth with 74 defensive caroms. She made 42-of-48 free throws in 15 games. She tied for seventh in the circuit with .875 free throw percentage. She poured in a season-high 32 points on 14-of-16 shooting from the field on January 28 against Team Mitchell. She also sank 4-of-6 free throws and added seven rebounds in 28 minutes. Brown registered her first double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds against Team Harrison during Week Two. She posted a pair of 20-point performances during Week Five. She netted 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the floor along with making all four foul shots in season finale against Team Harrison. She also had 22 points in Week Five opener against Team Hawkins after making 9-of-13 field goal attempts. Brown grabbed a season-high 16 rebounds in penultimate game of the season on February 25 against Team Cloud. She also scored 13 points to earn third double-double of the year.

Other Professional Experience: Brown is a four-year WNBA veteran who has spent time with Los Angeles, Atlanta and Dallas. She was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks with No. 7 overall selection in 2019 WNBA Draft. She owns a 6.0 career scoring average in 71 games while also collecting 3.6 rebounds per appearance. She enjoyed her best season with Dallas in 2023, netting 7.8 points per contest while seeing action in 32 contests. She also grabbed a career-high 4.5 rebounds per contest, including a career-high 15 caroms against Phoenix on June 7, 2023. Brown also notched 14 rebounds against Atlanta on June 20, 2023. She played in 28 games for the Sparks in 2019 before joining Atlanta for 2020 campaign. She averaged 5.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per outing with Los Angeles. She appeared in 11 games for Atlanta in two seasons, scoring 2.9 points per contest. She has also played overseas in China, Turkey and Israel.

College Experience: Brown was a three-time WBCA All-America selection at Baylor who ranks sixth on program’s career scoring list (2,209 points). She stands fourth in program history with 147 games played, 236 blocked shots and 1,129 career rebounds. She also ranks sixth with 844 career made field goals and fifth on Baylor’s career ledger with 441 career made free throws. She owns the Baylor career record with .639 field goal percentage. She secured 40 career double-doubles, good for sixth all-time at Baylor. She is one of three players in program history to post 1.000 free throw percentage in a game with at least 10 attempts, accomplishing the feat at Kansas on January 6, 2018. Brown holds three of the top five single-season field goal percentage marks in Baylor history, including program-record .679 success rate during 2016-17 campaign. She is one of nine players in school history to grab 20 or more rebounds in a game. She collected 23 rebounds at Oklahoma State on February 13, 2018, tying for the second-highest total in school history. She also fashioned 21 rebounds against Lamar on November 10, 2017. She was the Lady Bears’ leading scorer during each of her final three seasons. She also paced the squad in field goal percentage during all four years. She led the team in rebounding as a sophomore and junior. She was a three-time Associated Press All-America honoree, including pair of Second Team commendations (2018-19). She claimed Second-Team All-America notice by USBWA in 2018 and 2019, as well as First-Team All-America by Sports Illustrated in 2018. She led the Bears to three Big 12 Tournament titles. She was a member of the 2019 NCAA Champion Bears team who averaged 15.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. She was also a three-time unanimous All-Big 12 Conference First Team pick who was honored as Big 12 Player of the Year in 2018. She earned Big 12 All-Defensive Team honors three times and also received Most Outstanding Player plaudits at 2018 and 2019 Big 12 Championships. She was a two-time finalist for the Wooden Award and WBCA Lisa Leslie Award in addition to being a two-time semifinalist for Naismith Trophy. She was also a finalist for the 2019 Senior CLASS Award All-America Team. She was a two-time NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team selection who earned a spot on 2019 Final Four All-Tournament squad.