Full Circle Moment: Lexie and Dee Brown Reunite at Athletes Unlimited

“I was kind of in shock when he expressed interest,” Lexie said. “He came to me and said he wanted to be part of AU, and I brought it to the PEC (Player Executive Committee). We had a vacancy at that position, and it literally was like an opening just for him.”

The vacancy couldn’t have come at a better time. After watching AU grow from the sidelines for four years while Lexie helped build the league as PEC Chairperson, Dee wanted to contribute his three decades of professional basketball experience to the next generation.

“I’ve seen the growth the last four years, and I wanted to be a part of the fifth year,” Dee said. “Rarely do I have time to be able to do something like this for a six-week period, but I made sure we started having this conversation in August and September last year.”

The decision carried personal significance beyond basketball. Lexie has been navigating a Crohn’s disease diagnosis, and Dee wanted to be present for this chapter of her career.

“Me and Lexie don’t get a lot of time spent together for six weeks,” he said. “I’ve been traveling, I’ve been coaching, she’s been playing. So to be able to have six weeks with your daughter and watch her grow through this whole process, going through Crohn’s and bouncing back and looking like herself again, I wanted to be a part of that right now.”

For Lexie, having her father in this space feels natural, even after all these years. The last time Dee officially coached her was with the Orlando Edge, an AAU program he built from the ground up when Lexie was 10.

“I remember those workouts being very foundational,” Lexie said. “He built my game. I wasn’t the fanciest, I wasn’t the quickest, I wasn’t the tallest, but I’ve always had a really good foundation.”

That foundation proved transformative. In just four years, Lexie went from an unranked player to a McDonald’s All-American. The Edge produced Division I scholarship recipients and college head coaches who trained under Dee.

“Lexie was my original guinea pig,” Dee said. “She was my best-selling product, because people saw her work ethic, how she grew, how she could bring people in the gym and want to play with her.”

But Dee knew when to step back. After coaching Lexie’s AAU team to a state championship and a fourth-place finish at nationals, he made a deliberate choice.

“After middle school, I knew it was time for me to step back and let somebody else coach her,” he said. “I wanted to enjoy it and be a dad. I wanted to be her biggest fan.”

Now, inside the game of basketball, their relationship has evolved into something different. Lexie is 31, a WNBA champion, and one of AU’s most decorated veterans. Dee’s coaching approach in AU reflects that maturity.

“Training 31-year-old Lexie is very different than training 10-year-old Lexie when she was kicking basketballs across the gym, crying,” Lexie said with a laugh. “Now it’s more like bonding time, more than anything.”

For AU players, Dee’s presence has brought a new dimension to their development. His philosophy centers on self-awareness and ownership of one’s own games.

“This is about self-awareness,” Dee tells the players. “You’ve got to tell me what you can get better at. I’m not going to tell you.”

The approach fits perfectly with AU’s player-driven model, something that drew Dee to the league in the first place.

“The best part about AU is that it’s player-driven,” he said. “To me, taking responsibility of your game is the first part of getting better.”

Lexie has watched her teammates embrace her father’s coaching style with enthusiasm. Players stay after their workouts to watch others train, arrive early to rebound, and support each other through every drill.

“All the girls here are like sponges,” Lexie said. “It’s always nice walking into the locker room, walking into the arena, and it’s a big happy family every time you walk into the gym.”

For Dee, being part of AU has given him a front-row seat to witness what Lexie has built beyond her on-court accomplishments. As PEC Chairperson for the past four years, she’s helped shape the league’s culture and create opportunities for the next generation of players.

“I want to be her biggest fan,” Dee said. “That’s the most important thing. That’s what I’m here for. She knows that; all my kids know that.”

Watching Lexie’s leadership development has been just as rewarding as her basketball growth. Dee sees her impact extend far beyond statistics and championship rings.

“My social media is not about me, it’s more about my kids than me,” he said. “That’s my legacy. My legacy is not Dee Brown. My legacy is my kids and what they do and how they grow, and how they impact other people, and how they are servant leaders.”

That servant leadership is evident in how Lexie approaches her role at AU. She’s protective of the culture she’s helped create, passionate about making the league better for younger players, and committed to treating people with value and respect.

“Humility has always come first for us,” Lexie said. “Treating people with respect, making people feel valued, that costs nothing. It’s one of the easiest things to do–show love, just be a good person.”

Those values trace directly back to how she was raised. Dee credits not just himself, but Lexie’s mother, Tammy, for instilling those principles.

“Hopefully I’ve done a great job as a dad, and my wife, Tammy, has done a great job of showing that as a woman, how to be that type of positive force for other people,” Dee said.

The result is a shift in how people recognize the Browns. Where Dee once introduced his daughter, Lexie now stands on her own.

“Her name comes first before mine, and that’s what makes me proud as a dad,” Dee said. “People see her before they see me, then they find out that I’m a dad. ‘Oh, wow, I see where all this comes from.’ No, no, two people, just on her own.”

For now, the Browns are savoring this rare opportunity to share the same basketball space. After 20 years of separate professional journeys, they’ve come full circle at Athletes Unlimited, where Lexie’s impact as both a player and leader continues to grow.

“AU is just my family now,” Lexie said. “And having my actual family here makes it even more special.”