Tommy Bruner should not be confused with Tommy Brunner.
| Tommy Bruner | |
| Position: | Point guard |
| Height Ft: | 6 |
| Height In: | 1 |
| Weight Lbs: | 185 |
| Team: | Free agent |
| Birth Date: | 22 April 2001 |
| Birth Place: | Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. |
| High School: | Gray Collegiate Academy (Columbia, South Carolina) |
| College: |
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| Draft Year: | 2024 |
| Career Start: | 2024 |
| Years1: | 2024 |
| Team1: | Santa Cruz Warriors |
| Highlights: |
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Tommy Bruner (born April 22, 2001) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Denver Pioneers, the USC Upstate Spartans and the Jacksonville Dolphins.
Bruner attended Gray Collegiate Academy in Columbia, South Carolina.[1] He led Gray to back-to-back South Carolina Class AA state championships.[2] As a senior, he averaged 16.2 points per game and was named the Class AA Player of the Year.[2]
Bruner committed to play college basketball at the University of South Carolina Upstate (USC Upstate).[3] As a freshman in 2019–20 he averaged 14 points per game, good for second-best on the team, and was named a freshman All-American.[4] He was the Big South Conference's player of the week twice and later selected to the Big South All-Freshman Team.[2] In 2020–21, Bruner's sophomore season, he led USC Upstate in points per game (13.6) and total assists (85).[2] At the end of the season he was named as an honorable mention to the All-Big South Team.[2]
Bruner transferred to Jacksonville prior to the start of his redshirt sophomore season.[5] He appeared in just 13 games before suffering a season-ending foot injury.[6] He averaged 8.8 points per game.[5]
After spending just one season at Jacksonville, Bruner looked to transfer. He felt an instant connection with Denver; he said "It was such a family vibe. That’s when I really knew I was in the right place."[7] During his redshirt junior year of 2022–23, Bruner averaged then-career highs of 15.9 points, 4.2 assists, and 2.8 rebounds per game.[8] He helped the Pioneers start the season with an 8–1 record, which is a program record through the first nine games.[8] While the team success was not sustained over the course of the season, Bruner's personal production was, and he was voted to the Summit League's All-Newcomer team.[8] He received an honorable mention nod on the All-Summit League Team.[8] Bruner also surpassed the career 1,000-point milestone on December 7, 2022 against Sacramento State.[2]
In 2023–24, Bruner was named to the All-Summit League First Team on March 7, 2024.[9]
After going undrafted in the 2024 NBA draft, Bruner joined the Rip City Remix on October 28, 2024,[10] but was waived on November 5.[11] Six days later, he signed with the Santa Cruz Warriors[12] and was later waived on November 25.
|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2019–20| style="text-align:left;"| USC Upstate| 33 || 32 || 29.7 || .413 || .337 || .802 || 2.1 || 2.3 || .9 || .0 || 14.0|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2020–21| style="text-align:left;"| USC Upstate| 21 || 17 || 32.5 || .405 || .327 || .810 || 2.8 || 4.0 || 1.0 || .0 || 13.6|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2021–22| style="text-align:left;"| Jacksonville| 13 || 1 || 20.1 || .426 || .340 || .867 || 1.8 || 1.8 || 1.2 || .1 || 8.8|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2022–23| style="text-align:left;"| Denver| 32 || 32 || 34.6 || .402 || .333 || .844 || 2.8 || 4.2 || 1.1 || .0 || 15.9|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2023–24| style="text-align:left;"| Denver| 34 || 34 || 33.8 || .435 || .353 || .808 || 2.8 || 4.2 || 1.3 || .1 || 24.0|- class="sortbottom"| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career| 133 || 116 || 31.4 || .418 || .341 || .818 || 2.5 || 3.5 || 1.1 || .1 || 16.4
Bruner's sister Ashley played basketball at South Carolina and is retired from playing professionally overseas.[13] His older brother Jordan plays professional basketball.[14]
Bruner is also the founder and CEO of a nonprofit organization he named "Be Different."[7] The name is an homage to a slogan he once used on t-shirts in high school to encourage kids to stand out.[7] Bruner said that his long-term plan for Be Different will focus on funding preschools to establish an encouraging base for kids.[7]