Justin Brownlee

Justin Donta Brownlee (born April 23, 1988) is an American-Filipino professional basketball player who last played for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Brownlee played college basketball at St. John's University from 2009 to 2011.

After going undrafted in the 2011 NBA draft, Brownlee played in the NBA Development League for the Maine Red Claws and Erie BayHawks.

In the 2011 Big East Tournament, Brownlee was involved in a controversial situation at the end of the quarterfinal between St. John's and Rutgers: With Rutgers trailing 63–65 in the final seconds, Rutgers inbounded the ball past the half-court line, where Brownlee intercepted the pass, before dribbling past midcourt and stepping out of bounds while travelling with 1.7 seconds remaining, then threw the ball high in the air in celebration.

This should have allowed Rutgers an opportunity to inbound from half-court with a chance to tie or win the game, or possibly even free-throws for a technical foul; instead, the game clock continued to run and expired, the game ended without any of the possible violations being assessed.

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.

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.

In 2016, he began his first of four stints at Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

With Barangay Ginebra, he won six conference titles: four PBA Governors' Cups and two PBA Commissioner's Cups.

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, and in 2017.

He also played for San Miguel Alab Pilipinas in the ASEAN Basketball League, winning the 2017–18 championship.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Brownlee also played for Al Riyadi Club Beirut in 2019, winning the Lebanese Basketball League championship that year.

The other countries he has played in are Mexico, Italy, France, and the United Arab Emirates.

In January 2023, Brownlee became a naturalized Filipino citizen, allowing him to play for the Philippines national basketball team.

He made his debut one month later.

He won a gold medal in the 2023 Southeast Asian Games and in the 2022 Asian Games.

Brownlee was tapped to help lead the Mighty Sports-Philippines basketball team in the 30th Dubai International Basketball Tournament this February 1–9, 2019.

He played alongside fellow imports, former NBA player Lamar Odom and Chinese Basketball Association veteran Randolph Morris to reinforce the team.

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.

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.

The next game, Brownlee recorded 27 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 blocks in a 110–95 victory over the Meralco Bolts.