Matthew Osei Bryan-Amaning (born 9 May 1988) is a British-Ghanaian professional basketball player, who played for AS Douanes of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). He has represented the Great Britain national team in international competition.

Early life

Bryan-Amaning was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and tried rugby, swimming and football as a kid. He picked up basketball when he was 4 years old. Aged 16, he earned a scholarship at South Kent School in South Kent, Connecticut. There, he played alongside future NBA star Isaiah Thomas.

College career

Bryan-Amaning played four seasons for the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

Huskies, after joining in 2007 along with teammate Isaiah Thomas. During the 2010–11 season he averaged 16 points and 8 rebounds. Some of his best performances included 30 points against Arizona State on 22 January, 15 rebounds against Oregon State on 8 January and 4 steals and 7 blocks in a narrow 87–86 loss at

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

on 19 February. Such performances led to Bryan-Amaning being named Pac-10's most improved player and first-team All-Pac-10. At the 2011 Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball tournament Bryan-Amaning helped the Huskies to their third Pac-12 tournament championship.

Professional career

NBA Summer League

Following graduation, Bryan-Amaning was touted as a late second-round pick in the 2011 NBA draft, but went undrafted and decided to begin his career in Europe. In 2012, he was a member of the

New Orleans Hornets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

squad in the NBA Summer League, where he averaged 2.2 ppg and 2.2 rpg with a 75 FT%. In 2013, Bryan-Amaning was again asked to play in the NBA Summer League, this time with the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

. He averaged 3.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg and 1.6 bpg, including a 5-block outing against 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 ...

. In July 2014, he joined the

for the 2014 NBA Summer League.

Overseas

Bryan-Amaning began his professional career with Hacettepe Üniversitesi of the Turkish Basketball League after signing a one-year contract with the club in July 2011. He signed with the Serbian team Radnički Kragujevac for the 2012–13 season, where he averaged 8.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game in the

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, ...

. In October 2013 he signed a short-term deal with his hometown club London Lions of the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) was a men's professional basketball sports league, league in Great Britain. Since its establishment in 1987 the BBL represented the highest level of basketball competition within the United Kingdom. The orga ...

, after a deal with Korean side

Anyang KGC The Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters () is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League, based at Anyang Gymnasium in the city of Anyang. The club has won four KBL championship titles ( 2011–12, 2016–17, 2020–21, and 2 ...

fell through. On 29 October 2013 he signed with

Olympique Antibes Olympique Antibes, in full ''Olympique d'Antibes Juan-les-Pins'' and branded as Antibes Sharks, is a basketball club from the city of Antibes, France. Established in 1933, the club's men's senior team currently plays in LNB Pro B, the French seco ...

. He left them in April 2014, and moved to SO Maritime Boulogne of the

LNB Pro B The LNB Pro B, commonly known as Pro B, is the second-tier level men's professional basketball league in France. It is the second division of the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB), which has organized the league since the year 1987. The regular se ...

for the rest of the season. In September 2014 he signed a one-year deal with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg of Germany. On 28 October 2014 he left Ludwigsburg after playing five games in

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

and averaging 7.2 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. Three days later, he signed with Soles de Mexicali of the Mexican LNBP. On 20 May 2015 he signed with Soles de Santo Domingo of Dominican Republic for the 2015 LNB season. On 2 September 2015, he returned to Soles de Mexicali. In April 2016, he signed with

San Lorenzo de Almagro Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Boedo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football team, which plays in the Primera División, the first tier of the Argentine foot ...

of the Argentine

Liga Nacional de Básquet Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Amer ...

. He helped them to win the league title. In August 2016, Amaning signed with Japanese club Rizing Fukuoka for the 2016–17 season. In August 2017, he signed with

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

of Argentina for the 2017–18 season. However, he never appeared in an official game for Boca Juniors. On 17 January 2018 he signed with Defensor Sporting Club of the

Liga Uruguaya de Basketball Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Amer ...

. In March 2020, Bryan-Amaning signed with

Zamalek Zamalek ( , ''al zamalek'') is a ''qism'' (ward) within the West District (''hayy gharb'') in the Western Area of Cairo, Egypt. It is an affluent district on a man-made island which is geologically a part of the west bank of the Nile River, wit ...

in Egypt to play in the 2020 BAL season. The season was however delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, causing him to leave without playing a game. On 13 September 2020 he rejoined the London Lions. However, Bryan-Amaning parted ways with the team on 13 October. On 13 November 2020 Bryan-Amaning signed a short-term deal with the Worcester Wolves of the

(BBL), following his departure from the London Lions in pre-season. In February 2023, Bryan-Amaning joined AS Douanes from Senegal for the 2023 BAL season where he was eligible to play as an African import because of his Ghanaian heritage. With Douanes, he reached the 2023 BAL Final where the team lost to Al Ahly. He was the power forward of the team

British national team

Bryan-Amaning began his international career at Under-16 level with England in 2004, moving up to Under-18 level and then into the Under-20 ranks with Great Britain in 2008, where he was ranked fourth among all players in the European Championships in blocked shots with 1.6 per game, as well as 12th in scoring, including a 41-point haul against the Czech Republic. Bryan-Amaning made his senior debut for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

against Canada in 2010. His best performance for GB came at the 2011 London Invitational where he averaged 1.7ppg and 2.7rpg against strong international competition including Croatia, China and France.GB lose first basketball test event game to France
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Personal

Bryan-Amaning's parents live in Ghana. He is close friends with

Luol Deng Luol Ajou Deng (born 16 April 1985) is a South Sudanese–British former professional basketball player. He was a two-time NBA All-Star and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2012. Born in South Sudan that was then part of Republ ...

References

External links