Marcus James Brown (born April 3, 1974) is an American former 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 (appro ...

player. At tall, he played as a

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

. A three time All-EuroLeague selection, Brown has been mentioned as being one of the top U.S. players ever to play abroad. Brown ended his career as a

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

with Žalgiris Kaunas in 2011. Brown was the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

's career scoring leader since the year 2000, when he ended his career in October 2011. As far as United States players only are concerned, Brown remains one of league's higher scoring players in the competition since the year 2000, when the league's current organizer (

EuroLeague Basketball Euroleague Basketball, run by Euroleague Commercial Assets (ECA), is a private company that runs and operates men's professional basketball club competitions in Europe, the first-tier level EuroLeague, and the second-tier level EuroCup. It has ...

) took over the competition.

College career

Brown played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the Murray State Racers in the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in partnership with ...

. In his senior season, he averaged 26.4 points per game, on 50 percent shooting from the field, and 42 percent shooting from 3-point range. It was announced in October 2009, that Brown was named to the Murray State University Athletic Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame on February 6, 2010. That same night, his No. 5 jersey was retired by Murray State, and is hanging in the rafters at the

CFSB Center The CFSB Center is an 8,600-seat arena located in Murray, Kentucky, near the intersection of Ky. 121 and U.S. 641. The arena is the home of the Murray State Racers Basketball teams. It was previously known as the Regional Special Events Center, o ...

Professional career

Brown was selected with the 19 th pick of the 2nd round, in the

1996 NBA draft The 1996 NBA draft was the 50th NBA draft, draft in the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was held on June 26, 1996–97 NBA season, 1996, at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In this draft, NBA teams took turns s ...

, by the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

club the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (N ...

. He played the 1996–97 NBA season with the Trail Blazers, where he averaged 4 points per game, in 9 minutes per game, while shooting 41 percent from 3 point range, in his rookie season. He then signed with the

Vancouver Grizzlies The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. The Grizzlies competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Midwest Division (NBA), Midwest Division of the Western Conference ( ...

for the 1997–98 season, but he did not play in any regular season games for them. After being released by the Grizzlies, during the 1997–98 NBA season, he signed with the

French League The French League (: "French League for Purge, purging, mutual aid (politics), mutual aid and European integration, European collaboration") was a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, collaborationist French movement founded by Pier ...

club ÉB Pau-Orthez, for the remainder of the 1997–98 season. He averaged 20.5 points per game in the French League with Pau-Orthez, and led them to the 1998 French League championship. Unfortunately, Brown tore the ACL in his knee in the final game of the French playoffs. Brown took off the entire 1998–99 season to rehab his knee injury. He then played in the NBA again, with the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

, at the start of the 1999–00 season. The Pistons released him in 1999, after he played with the club in 6 regular season games. He then returned to the French League, where he signed with CSP Limoges for the remainder of the 1999–00 season. With Limoges, he won the French League championship, the French Cup title, and the

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA Europe between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the European professional club basketball system, third-tier level club competition in European basketball, a ...

championship. He was named the French League Foreign Player's MVP. After having a lot of success in the French League for 2 seasons, he then moved up to the higher level Italian League, where he signed with the Italian

club Benetton Treviso for the 2000–01 season. With Benetton he played in the EuroLeague for the first time, and he averaged 19.9 points per game that season in the EuroLeague. After that season, he signed with one of the biggest clubs in the EuroLeague, the

Turkish League Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

club

Efes Pilsen 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 Turkey, the United States, Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), E ...

. Over the next two seasons with Efes, Brown was very successful in Turkey, as he won the

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

, and 2

national championships. He was also named to the 2002–03 season's All-EuroLeague Second Team, after he averaged 19.6 points per game. Brown then moved to the

Russian Super League The Russian Superleague (, ''Russian Championship Superleague''), commonly abbreviated as RSL, was the highest division of the main professional ice hockey league in Russia. It was considered the second-best league in the world, after the Nation ...

powerhouse

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

, where he signed a contract that made him the highest paid American basketball player in Europe at that time. Over the next two seasons with CSKA, he was quite successful in Russia, as he won the Russian Cup, 2 Russian National Championships, and the Russian Super League A Player of the Year award in 2004. He was also named to the 2003–04 season's All-EuroLeague First Team and to the 2004–05 season's All-EuroLeague Second Team, while he was a member of CSKA. Brown then spent the next two seasons playing with Unicaja Málaga of the

Spanish ACB League The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

, where over those 2 years he would play alongside fellow ex-

players

Daniel Santiago Daniel Gregg Santiago (born June 24, 1976) is a Puerto Rican basketball coach at IMG Academy and former professional basketball player. A center, he had a collegiate career in the NCAA and NAIA. His professional career saw him play in the NBA ...

, Pepe Sánchez,

Jorge Garbajosa Jorge Garbajosa Chaparro (born 19 December 1977) is a Spanish former professional basketball player, the outgoing president of the Spanish Basketball Federation, and the current President of FIBA Europe. Standing at 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in ...

, and

Jiří Welsch Jiří Welsch () (born 27 January 1980) is a Czech former professional basketball player for BK Pardubice of the Czech Republic National Basketball League (Czech Republic), National Basketball League. He has also represented the senior Czech Rep ...

. He helped to lead Unicaja Málaga to its first ever Spanish League national championship, during the 2005–06 season. After spending two seasons with Málaga, Brown joined the Lithuanian League club Žalgiris Kaunas. With Zalgiris, in the 2007–08 season, Brown won the Lithuanian League national championship, the Lithuanian Cup title, and the

Baltic League The Baltic League (officially known as the Triobet Baltic League) was a Baltic men's football club tournament held four times between the top club sides from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Launched in 2007 inspired by the now defunct Scandinavi ...

championship, all in the same season. He was also named the MVP of the Lithuanian League playoff finals that season. On October 19, 2008, Brown was loaned from ( Žalgiris) and signed with the

club

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

of the Israeli League, for the 2008–09 season, and with them he won yet another national domestic championship, in May 2009. Brown rejoined ( Žalgiris) in 2009, and helped the team win the BBL Cup. In his final season, Brown helped Žalgiris win the triple crown in Lithuania, winning the LKF Cup, LKL championship and the BBL. On November 25, 2009, Brown became one of four players who had managed to make 300 or more three point shots in the EuroLeague at that time, counting only records since the year 2000.

Post-career honors

On October 17, 2011, his former team, Žalgiris Kaunas, held a ceremony to honor Brown during the halftime of the opening night of the 2011–12 season, in the club's new 15,552-seat arena in

Kaunas, Lithuania Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

. In January 2013, the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame announced that Brown would be honored as a member of the class of 2013 inductees which included Dallas Cowboy owner

Jerry Jones Jerral Wayne Jones Sr. (born October 13, 1942) is an American billionaire businessman who is the owner, president, and General manager (American football), general manager of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He bought t ...

Player profile

Brown, who during his playing career, was a

, scored more points than any other U.S. player in the

, counting only EuroLeague records since the 2000–01 season, with 2,739 career points scored. He was also the league's leading scorer overall, since the year 2000, at the time that he retired from the league, in 2011. A high-quality player, who was always able to make a big impact in top-level European teams, Brown played at the

EuroLeague Final Four The EuroLeague Final Four is the final four format championship of the European-wide top-tier level EuroLeague professional club basketball competition. The Euroleague Basketball Company used the final four format for the first time in 2002, fo ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, and

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. He also earned

All-EuroLeague Team The All-EuroLeague Team is an EuroLeague awards, award for European professional club basketball system, 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 s ...

selections in the 2002–03, 2003–04, and 2004–05 seasons. He was selected to the All-EuroLeague Second Team for the 2002–03 season, when he played for

, and he was selected to the All-EuroLeague First Team for the 2003–04 season, and to the Second Team for the 2004–05 season, when he played for

. He was nominated for the 2008

50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors The 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors (2008) of FIBA European Champions Cup and EuroLeague history were awarded and chosen on February 3, 2008, in Madrid, Spain. The occasion was the fiftieth anniversary since the founding of the inaugural s ...

list, although he was not selected to the final list. He also nominated for the EuroLeague 2000–10 All-Decade Team, however he was not selected to the final list.

Personal achievements and awards

* 1999–00 French League Foreign Player's MVP ( CSP Limoges) * 2001–02 EuroLeague Round 19 MVP (

) * 2002–03 All-EuroLeague Second Team (Efes Pilsen) * 2002–03 EuroLeague Round 17 MVP (Efes Pilsen) * 2003–04 All-EuroLeague First Team (

) * 2003–04 Russian Super League A Player of the Year * 2004–05 EuroLeague April MVP (CSKA Moscow) * 2004–05 All-EuroLeague Second Team (CSKA Moscow) * 2007–08 EuroLeague December MVP ( Žalgiris) * 2007–08 Lithuanian League Finals MVP (Žalgiris) * 2009–10

Finals MVP (Žalgiris)

Club titles won

* 1997–98

( ÉB Pau-Orthez) * 1999–00

( CSP Limoges) * 1999–00 French League (CSP Limoges) * 1999–00 French Cup (CSP Limoges) * 2001–02

(

) * 2001–02

(Efes Pilsen) * 2003–04 Russian League (

) * 2004–05 Russian League (CSKA Moscow) * 2004–05 Russian Cup (CSKA Moscow) * 2005–06 Spanish League (

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

) * 2007–08 Lithuanian Cup ( Žalgiris) * 2007–08

(Žalgiris) * 2007–08 Lithuanian League (Žalgiris) * 2008–09 Israeli League (

) * 2009–10 Baltic Cup ( Žalgiris) * 2009–10

(Žalgiris) * 2010–11 Lithuanian Cup ( Žalgiris) * 2010–11

(Žalgiris) * 2010–11 Lithuanian League (Žalgiris)

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2000–01 , style="text-align:left;", Benetton , 10 , , 8 , , 35.3 , , .496 , , .424 , , .875 , , 3.1 , , 2.8 , , 2.0 , , .0 , , 20.3 , , 21.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2001–02 , style="text-align:left;",

, 19 , , 17 , , 34.9 , , .453 , , .423 , , .880 , , 2.9 , , 3.4 , , 1.8 , , .1 , , 17.5 , , 18.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2002–03 , style="text-align:left;", Efes Pilsen , 19 , , 17 , , 35.4 , , .513 , , .442 , , .843 , , 2.6 , , 2.6 , , 1.3 , , .1 , , 19.6 , , 21.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2003–04 , style="text-align:left;", CSKA , 21 , , 21 , , 34.3 , , .510 , , .382 , , .880 , , 2.3 , , 4.2 , , 1.4 , , .1 , , 18.7 , , 21.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2004–05 , style="text-align:left;", CSKA , 24 , , 24 , , 32.4 , , .428 , , .330 , , .804 , , 2.9 , , 3.1 , , 1.3 , , .0 , , 16.0 , , 16.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2005–06 , style="text-align:left;", Unicaja , 20 , , 20 , , 31.9 , , .434 , , .368 , , .845 , , 2.7 , , 2.5 , , .7 , , .3 , , 15.3 , , 14.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006–07 , style="text-align:left;", Unicaja , 8 , , 2 , , 19.2 , , .354 , , .350 , , .938 , , 1.5 , , 1.3 , , .5 , , .0 , , 7.0 , , 4.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007–08 , style="text-align:left;", Žalgiris , 20 , , 20 , , 29.9 , , .474 , , .418 , , .906 , , 2.4 , , 1.4 , , .6 , , .2 , , 14.4 , , 12.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2008–09 , style="text-align:left;", Maccabi , 16 , , 15 , , 29.7 , , .478 , , .417 , , .782 , , 2.3 , , 2.2 , , .6 , , .0 , , 12.3 , , 12.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , style="text-align:left;", Žalgiris , 16 , , 16 , , 25.4 , , .393 , , .397 , , .936 , , 2.0 , , 1.7 , , .5 , , .1 , , 11.6 , , 10.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, style="text-align:left;", Žalgiris , 6 , , 3 , , 16.3 , , .235 , , .308 , , 1.000 , , 1.2 , , .8 , , .2 , , .2 , , 3.7 , , -.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 179 , , 163 , , 31.0 , , .458 , , .395 , , .857 , , 2.5 , , 2.6 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 15.3 , , 15.4

NBA

, - , align="left" , 1996–97 , align="left" ,

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, 21 , , 0 , , 8.8 , , .400 , , .406 , , .684 , , .7 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , .1 , , 3.9 , - , align="left" , 1999–00 , align="left" ,

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, 6 , , 0 , , 7.5 , , .286 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 1.2 , , .5 , , .0 , , .0 , , 1.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 27 , , 0 , , 8.5 , , .381 , , .333 , , .714 , , .8 , , .9 , , .3 , , .0 , , 3.4

References and notes

* * *

External links

*
EuroLeague Player Profile
@ Euroleague.net
Spanish League Player Profile
@ ACB.com
Article on Brown
@ Draftexpress.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Marcus 1974 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Lithuania American expatriate basketball people in Russia American expatriate basketball people in Spain American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players Anadolu Efes S.K. players Baloncesto Málaga players Basketball players from Arkansas BC Žalgiris players Detroit Pistons players Élan Béarnais players Liga ACB players Limoges CSP players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players Murray State Racers men's basketball players Pallacanestro Treviso players PBC CSKA Moscow players Sportspeople from West Memphis, Arkansas Point guards Portland Trail Blazers draft picks Portland Trail Blazers players Shooting guards