Bryant Kevin Dunston Jr. (; born May 28, 1986) is an American-born naturalized Armenian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who plays at the center position for

Anadolu Efes Anadolu Efes Biracılık ve Malt Sanayii A.Ş.''(lit. Anadolu Efes Brewery and Malt Industries)'' produces and markets beer and malt and non-alcoholic beverages in a wide geographical area comprising Turkey, Russia, the Commonwealth of Independ ...

of the

Turkish Basketball Super League Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities an ...

(BSL) and the EuroLeague. He also represents the senior Armenian national team internationally. Standing at a height of , he won the EuroLeague Best Defender award twice, and reached the EuroLeague Final in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, while playing with

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a numbe ...

. In 2011–12, he was the top rebounder in the Israel Basketball Premier League. Dunston earned an

All-EuroLeague Second Team The All-EuroLeague Team is an award for Europe's premier level league, the EuroLeague, that is given to the league's top ten basketball players for each season, since the 2000–01 season. During the FIBA era of the EuroLeague, players were honor ...

selection in 2017.

Early life

Dunston was born in southern

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, and grew up in

LeFrak City, Queens LeFrak City (originally spelled Lefrak and pronounced ) is a 4,605-apartment development in the southernmost region of Corona and the easternmost part of Elmhurst, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is located between Junc ...

. He is a graduate of St. John's Preparatory High School. He is the nephew of former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player Shawon Dunston, a former No. 1 pick in the MLB.

College career

Dunston attended

Fordham University Fordham University () is a private Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its original campus is located, Fordham is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit un ...

, where he played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

with the Fordham Rams. He finished his collegiate career by being named to the First Team All-Metropolitan, Second Team All- Atlantic 10 Conference, and Atlantic 10 Conference All-Defensive Team. In his college career, Dunston appeared in all 120 of Fordham's games, starting in 118 of them. He finished his college career in second place on Fordham's all-time scoring list, with 1,832 career

points Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Points ...

, in third place on Fordham's all-time

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

list, with 993 career rebounds, and as Fordham's career blocked shots leader, graduating with 294 career rejections.

Professional career

Dunston played with Mobis Phoebus in the Korean Basketball League. In 2010, he signed with the Greek League club Aris, but left the team in February 2011. After leaving Aris, he signed with the Israeli League club Bnei HaSharon. Following the 2010–11 season, Dunston joined the Israeli League club Hapoel Holon. In 2011–12, he was the top rebounder in the Israel Basketball Premier League. Reports said that Dunston was on the verge of signing a guaranteed contract with the NBA's

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The ...

in the summer 2012. However, he joined the

Italian League The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the T ...

club

Pallacanestro Varese Pallacanestro Varese, also called by its current sponsor's name, the Openjobmetis Varese, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Varese, Lombardy. Founded in 1945, the team plays in the Italian first division LBA. For past club s ...

instead.

Olympiacos

On July 9, 2013, Dunston signed a two-year contract with

. In his first EuroLeague season, he averaged 10.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.1 steals and league-leading 1.3 blocks over 29 games played. Olympiacos however finished the participation in the EuroLeague by losing 2–3 to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

in the

quarter-final A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

series. On May 6, he was voted the EuroLeague Best Defender of the season. On May 6, 2015, he was named the EuroLeague season's Best Defender for the second season in a row.

Anadolu Efes

On June 23, 2015, Dunston signed a two-year contract with the Turkish club

. On May 18, 2017, he signed a two-year contract extension with Anadolu Efes. On May 23, 2019, Dunston signed another two-year contract extension with the club. He signed a two-year extension on July 26, 2020, with an option for another year. On November 6, Dunston was ruled out for a month following an eye injury.

National team career

On June 16, 2015, he was included on the list of candidates of the senior

Slovenian national basketball team The Slovenia men's national basketball team ( sl, Slovenska košarkarska reprezentanca) represents Slovenia in international basketball competitions, and is managed by the Basketball Federation of Slovenia. Since the independence of Slovenia i ...

for the

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 ...

, by team selector

Jure Zdovc Jurij "Jure" Zdovc (born 13 December 1966) is a Slovenian former professional basketball player and coach Zdovc Returning to Helm of National Team.] As a player, he was a 1.98 m (6'6") tall point guard, who began his professional playing caree ...

. However, he didn't get a Slovenian passport in time, so he wouldn't represent Slovenia at the EuroBasket. In June 2016, Dunston arrived in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

, to represent the senior

Armenian national basketball team The Armenian national basketball team (, ''Hayastani basketboli azgayin havak'akan'') is the national basketball team representing Armenia. The national team is directed by the Basketball Federation of Armenia. Since 2006, the President of the ...

in the 2016 FIBA European Championship for Small Countries.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2,

, 29 , , 21 , , 24.7 , , .670 , , .000 , , .566 , , 5.3 , , 1.0 , , 1.1 , , style="background:#CFECEC;", 1.3 , , 10.3 , , 15.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , 29 , , 25 , , 19.4 , , .543 , , .000 , , .618 , , 4.4 , , .6 , , .8 , , 1.1 , , 7.1 , , 9.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=4,

, 24 , , 15 , , 21.0 , , .604 , , .000 , , .655 , , 5.0 , , .8 , , .5 , , 1.1 , , 7.9 , , 11.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , 35 , , 34 , , 28.9 , , .551 , , .000 , , .679 , , 6.2 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , 1.1 , , 10.7 , , 14.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , 30 , , 28 , , 28.0 , , .645 , , .333 , , .697 , , 5.4 , , 1.3 , , .7 , , style="background:#cfecec;", 1.7 , , 10.2 , , 15.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , 36 , , 32 , , 26.1 , , .640 , , .333 , , .701 , , 4.9 , , 1.3 , , .8 , , 1.2 , , 8.9 , , 13.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 183 , , 155 , , 25.0 , , .608 , , .250 , , .665 , , 5.2 , , 1.1 , , .8 , , 1.3 , , 9.3 , , 13.3

Awards and accomplishments

College

* Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Year: (2005) * Second Team All-Atlantic 10 Conference: (2005) * First Team All-Atlantic 10 Conference: (2006) * Second Team All-Atlantic 10 Conference: (2007) * First Team All-Metropolitan: (2008) * Second Team All-Atlantic 10 Conference: (2008) * Atlantic 10 Conference All Defensive Team: (2008)

Professional

* Israeli Super League Quintet: (2012) * FIBA Intercontinental Cup Champion: (2013) * 2× EuroLeague Best Defender: (2014, 2015) * Greek League Champion: (2015) * Greek League Best Defender: (2015) * Turkish President's Cup: Winner (2015) * Turkish BSL All-Star: (2017) *

: (2017) * Turkish Cup Winner: (

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

)