Kevin Burleson

Kevin Burleson (born September 4, 1979) is an American professional basketball coach, and a former professional basketball player. He is currently an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He played college basketball for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and began his professional career in the German basketball league. He played for the Charlotte Bobcats of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2005–06. During a 34-game stretch, Burleson played in 20 of those games and, during that period, missed 35 field-goal attempts in a row.

Early life Burleson was born in Seattle, Washington. He was born to a prolific sporting family: his father, Al Burleson, played defensive back in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the United States Football League (USFL). His older brother Alvin Jr. played college football for the University of Washington Huskies and the Western Illinois University Leathernecks. His younger brother Nate was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL), while younger brother Lyndale played college basketball for the University of Nevada Wolf Pack. Kevin and Nate Burleson are one of only two sets of siblings in which one played in the NBA and one in the NFL. Like his brothers he played several sports early on, but gave up baseball as he found it too slow, and gave up football for fear of an injury that would prevent him from playing basketball.

College career Burleson was offered a basketball scholarship to the University of Washington, but opted instead to attend the University of Minnesota for a chance to play in the Big Ten Conference. Burleson played for the Flyers for the season, then signed with the Turkish Basketball League team Mersin Büyükşehir Belediye for the 2007–2008 season. In January 2009 he signed with the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League the day after being traded from the Iowa Energy. Burleson finished his career with the Egyptian team Al-Ittihad Alexandria. Coaching career

He began his coaching career with the Houston Rockets. He mainly focused on player development.

On June 15, 2018, Burleson was hired as assistant coach/player development coach for the Memphis Grizzlies.

On June 27, 2019, Burleson was hired by the Minnesota Timberwolves as a player development coach.

After three seasons in Minnesota, where he was head coach of the team in the NBA Summer League, in September 2022, he took over as head coach of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the G League.

On July 12, 2024, Burleson was hired as assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons.