Brittni Donaldson
| Atlanta Hawks | |
|---|---|
| Position | Assistant Coach |
| League | NBA |
| Personal information | |
| Born | April 7, 1993 Sioux City, Iowa |
| Career information | |
| High school | Sioux City North High School |
| College | Northern Iowa (2011–2015) |
| Position | Point Guard / Shooting Guard |
| Coaching career | 2019–present |
| Career history | |
| As a coach: | |
| 2019–2021 | Toronto Raptors (assistant) |
| 2021 | Raptors 905 (assistant) |
| 2022 | Hamilton Honey Badgers (assistant) |
| 2022–2023 | Detroit Pistons (assistant) |
| 2023–present | Atlanta Hawks (assistant) |
| Career highlights | |
| |
Brittni Donaldson (born April 7, 1993, in Sioux City, Iowa) is an Assistant Coach for the Atlanta Hawks[1] of the National Basketball Association. She previously served as an Assistant Coach and Director of Coaching Analytics for the Detroit Pistons during the 2022–23 season,[2] and as an Assistant Coach for the Toronto Raptors from 2019 to 2021.[3] Donaldson was the first female coaching hire in franchise history for all three organizations.
Donaldson played college basketball for the Northern Iowa Panthers and graduated in 2015 with a degree in Statistics and Actuarial Sciences. Though she aspired to play professionally after college, a series of several knee operations left her sidelined for much of her time as an athlete and ultimately ended her playing career. Following that setback, she pivoted to data analytics as a way to merge her passion for sports with her academic foundation in statistics. She began working at STATS LLC as a SportVU data analyst, working extensively with basketball player tracking data. In 2017, she joined the Toronto Raptors’ front office as a data analyst.
After the Raptors won the 2019 NBA Finals, team president Masai Ujiri promoted Donaldson to the coaching staff, making her the 10th active female assistant coach in the NBA under head coach Nick Nurse.[3] At age 26, she was also the youngest active assistant coach in the league at the time.[4]
During the shortened 2020–21 NBA G League season, Donaldson joined the Raptors 905 as a front-of-the-bench Assistant Coach under head coach Patrick Mutombo, helping guide the team to a league-best 12–3 record and a semifinal appearance.
In 2021, Donaldson co-founded Strata Athletics, a player development startup focused on delivering data-informed, learning-based training to youth athletes. During the summer of 2022, she joined the Hamilton Honey Badgers of the Canadian Elite Basketball League as an Assistant Coach and Director of Coaching Development. Alongside head coach Ryan Schmidt, she helped guide the team to its first CEBL championship.
Shortly afterward, Donaldson returned to the NBA with the Detroit Pistons as an Assistant Coach and Director of Coaching Analytics under head coach Dwane Casey. In 2023, she was hired by the Atlanta Hawks as an Assistant Coach under Quin Snyder.
Donaldson is known for working at the intersection of coaching, basketball analytics, and player development. She has spoken at several prominent conferences and participated in global events and clinics such as the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, FC Barcelona’s Sports Tomorrow Congress, Giants of Africa, and Basketball Without Borders.
University of Northern Iowa statistics
[edit]| Year | Team | GP | Points | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-12 | University of Northern Iowa | 30 | 133 | 34.8% | 29.1% | 52.2% | 1.5 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 4.4 |
| 2012-13 | University of Northern Iowa | 34 | 209 | 32.8% | 32.2% | 74.0% | 1.9 | 0.9 | 0.4 | - | 6.1 |
| 2013-14 | University of Northern Iowa | 30 | 221 | 36.8% | 34.8% | 87.2% | 1.8 | 2.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 7.4 |
| 2014-15 | University of Northern Iowa | 22 | 65 | 36.8% | 33.3% | 80.0% | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.0 | - | 3.0 |
| Career | 116 | 628 | 34.9% | 32.6% | 75.4% | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 5.4 |
Personal life
[edit]Donaldson is the daughter of Jeff and Carmen Donaldson. Jeff is a former basketball star at Briar Cliff College and a member of the Iowa High School Athletic Association Basketball Hall of Fame.[3] Carmen played softball and volleyball. Both parents grew up in Iowa.
References
[edit]- ^ Knapp, Corey (2023-07-24). "How Brittni Donaldson wants to make her mark in Atlanta as first female assistant coach in Hawks history". NBA.com.
- ^ Schindler, Mark (2023-03-21). "How Brittni Donaldson Became One Of The Pistons' Most Trusted Assistants". UPROXX. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
- ^ a b c Lowe, Zach (2019-09-09). "The unusual path of new Raptors assistant coach Brittni Donaldson". ESPN. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
- ^ Calvin, Aaron (2019-09-18). "How Brittni Donaldson became the NBA's youngest assistant coach". USA Today. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
 | This biographical article relating to a United States basketball player, coach, or other figure born in the 1990s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |