Christian Burns (basketball)

Christian Charles Burns (born September 4, 1985) is an American-Italian professional basketball player for Vanoli Cremona of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), top league of Italia. He also represents the Italian national team.

Christian Burns

Burns in 2011
No. 23 – Vanoli Cremona
Position	Power forward / center
League	LBA
Personal information
Born	(1985-09-04) September 4, 1985 (age 39) Trenton, New Jersey
Nationality	American / Italian
Listed height	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)
Listed weight	110 kg (243 lb)
Career information
High school	Hamilton (Hamilton, New Jersey)
College	Quinnipiac (2003–2005) Philadelphia (2005–2007)
NBA draft	2007: undrafted
Playing career	2007–present
Career history
2007–2008	AZS Koszalin
2008–2009	FC Porto
2009–2010	ratiopharm Ulm
2010–2011	Ferro-ZNTU Zaporozhye
2011–2012	Elitzur Netanya
2012–2013	Sutor Montegranaro
2013–2014	Enisey Krasnoyarsk
2014–2015	ČEZ Nymburk
2015–2016	Al Wasl SC
2016–2017	Germani Basket Brescia
2017–2018	Red October Cantù
2018–2020	Olimpia Milano
2020–2025	Germani Brescia
2022	→ Napoli Basket
2024–present	Vanoli Cremona
Career highlights
Italian Supercup champion (2018) Czech League champion (2015)
Stats at Basketball Reference

Early career

Between his sophomore and senior year, Burns grew from 5'11" to 6’7“.^[1] After having played soccer and basketball, he focused on basketball in his senior year, averaging 19.8 points, 15.3 rebounds and 3.2 blocks a game^[2] for Hamilton High School West in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, while taking home County Player of the Year and Third-Team All-State (by the Associated Press) honors.^[3]

College career

He started his college career at Quinnipiac, where he spent his freshman and sophomore year. He made 48 appearances for the Bobcats, averaging 3.5 points and 2.9 boards a contest. Burns transferred to NCAA Division 2 school Philadelphia University for his junior year and made an impact right away, scoring 16.7 points, grabbing 9.8 rebounds and blocking 2.2 shots per game in 2005–06. He earned Daktronics NCAA Division II National Player of the Year, ECAC Division II Player of the Year, Herb Good Small College Player of the Year and CACC Player of the Year honors his senior season (2006–07) among many other accolades, when putting up averages of 21.7 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per contest.

Professional career

Coming out of college in 2007, he joined the Philadelphia 76ers' summer league roster, but eventually did not make the fianl roster.^[4] Burns then launched his overseas career, signing with AZS Koszalin from Poland. In the following years, he played for teams in a number of different countries including Portugal, Germany, Ukraine, Israel, Italy, Russia, Czech Republic and the United Arab Emirates.^[5] In the 2010–11 campaign, when playing for Ferro-ZNTU Zaporozhye, he was named the Eurobasket.com All-Ukrainian Superleague Player of the Year.^[6] He made the Eurobasket.com All-Italian SerieA 1st Team in 2013.^[7] He then played NBA Summer League with Mephis Grizzlies and went on to win the 2015 Czech national championship with CEZ Nymburk.^[8]

Burns obtained Italian citizenship in 2016.^[9] In 2017, he represented the Italian men's national team at the European Championships.^[10]

On June 20, 2018, the president of Olimpia Milano, Livio Proli, said the club reached an agreement with Burns for 2018–19 season in the Italian LBA and also the EuroLeague.^[11] On June 28, 2018, Burns officially signed a deal with Milano where he won the Super Cup.^[12] In May 2019, he tested positive for the banned substance Clostebol Metabolita.^[13] In July 2019, he was cleared by Italy's national anti-doping tribunal.^[14]

On July 4, 2020, he returned to Basket Brescia Leonessa.^[15] That season Brescia missed the Serie A playoffs and Burns was bought on loan by Napoli Basket for the remainder of the playoffs where they won the Championship and achieved promotions to Serie A. Burns was named the final MVP.^[16][17]

Upon his return to Brescia the following season (2021-22), Brescia set the club record for most wins a row in Serie A.^[18] The following season, Burns won the Final 8 Trophy with Brescia.^[19]

In 2022, he signed a two-year extension with Germani Brescia of the Italian Serie A (LBA),^[20] where he went on to win the Coppa Italia in 2023. He later signed a two-year contract with Pallacanestro Cantù for the 2023–2025 seasons, before being bought out in 2025 by Vanoli Cremona, his current Serie A team.^[21][22]

The Basketball Tournament (TBT) (2016–present)

In the summers of 2016 and 2017, Burns played in The Basketball Tournament on ESPN for the Broad Street Brawlers. He competed for the $2 million prize, and for the Brawlers, he averaged 18 points per game in 2017. Burns helped the Brawlers reach the second round, but lost to Team Colorado 111–95.^[23]

Career statistics

Domestic Leagues

Year	Team	League	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2007–08	Koszalin	Polish Basketball League	30	19.0	51.2%	28.0%	68.4%	4.2	0.3	0.9	0.2	8.9
2008–09	Porto	Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol	34	32.6	46.2%	19.1%	71.9%	6.7	1.3	2.2	1.2	17.7
2009–10	ratiopharm Ulm	Basketball Bundesliga	34	27.7	46.0%	28.2%	65.6%	6.3	1.2	1.3	0.4	17.7
2010–11	Zaporizhya	Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague	57	30.6	51.9%	25.8%	71.3%	7.9	1.3	1.5	0.5	16.1
2011–12	Elitzur Netanya	Israeli Basketball Premier League	9	30.1	40.9%	33.3%	87.5%	7.4	2.4	1.4	0.4	14.3
2012–13	Sutor Montegranaro	Serie A	30	26.7	52.5%	40.7%	77.5%	7.0	0.7	1.2	0.2	14.9
2013–14	Enisey	VTB United League	20	28.2	48.7%	41.3%	73.7%	5.3	1.2	1.2	0.4	14.6
2014–15	Nymburk	National Basketball League	22	15.7	55.0%	18.2%	76.0%	4.1	0.9	2.2	0.4	9.5
		VTB United League	21	24.0	43.0%	30.8%	72.9%	5.6	0.8	0.8	0.5	10.6
2015–16	Al Wasl	United Arab Emirates	no data available
2016–17	Germani Basket Brescia	Serie A	25	23.1	45.2%	30.0%	66.2%	6.6	1.0	1.3	0.3	11.4
2017–18	Red October Cantù	Serie A	31	30.5	50.4%	27.6%	64.2%	10.0	1.3	1.3	0.2	14.2
2018–19	AX Armani Exchange Milano	Serie A	36	13.5	57.1%	26.3%	66.7%	3.4	0.3	0.7	0.3	4.7

European Competitions

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	PIR
2010–11 FIBA EuroChallenge	Zaporizhya	2	2	37.5	48.3%	25.0%	75.0%	7.0	1.5	2.0	0.5	16.0	n/a
2014–15 Eurocup Basketball	Nymburk	13	12	24.3	47.0%	30.8%	78.6%	4.7	1.1	1.3	0.5	11.8	11.2
2014–15 EuroChallenge	AX Armani Exchange Milano	14	0	3.1	40.0%	0.0%	100%	0.8	0.1	0.0	0.1	1.0	0.6

National team

Year	Tournament	National Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2017	EuroBasket	Italy	4	0	8.8	42.9%	50.0%	100%	1.5	0.8	0.5	0.3	2.3

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	PIR	Performance index rating
Bold	Career high