Nimari Burnett

Nimari Keith Burnett (born December 20, 2001) is an American basketball player. He played college basketball for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Alabama Crimson Tide, and Michigan Wolverines. He was an NCAA national champion with Michigan in 2026. Burnett signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Raptors in 2026.

Early life

Burnett played basketball for the eighth grade team at Beasley Elementary for three years and won a city championship. In his freshman season, he played for Morgan Park High School in Chicago and was teammates with junior Ayo Dosunmu. Burnett helped his team win the Class 3A state title, scoring 20 points in the championship. He earned MaxPreps Freshman All-American second team honors.

Entering his sophomore year, after initially enrolling at San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno, California, Burnett transferred to Prolific Prep, a national program based then in Napa, California and began attending Napa Christian Campus of Education. He missed five weeks of his sophomore season with a broken hand. On April 14, 2019, Burnett won a gold medal with Attack at the USA 3x3 Under-18 Championship with teammates Devin Askew, Dawson Garcia and Ethan Morton. As a senior, he averaged 25.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game for Prolific Prep. Burnett was named Finals MVP of the Grind Session World Championship after scoring 37 points in a win over Our Saviour Lutheran School in the title game. He was selected to play in the McDonald's All-American Game and the Jordan Brand Classic, but both games were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On November 12, 2019, Burnett committed to play college basketball for Texas Tech over offers from Alabama, Oregon and Michigan, among others. At number 19 by ESPN, he became the highest-ranked recruit in program history. Burnett explained, "I chose Texas Tech because of the winning culture of the program and the coaching staff. It felt like a big family."

College career Texas Tech 2020–21 In 2020, Burnett enrolled at Texas Tech University. On December 6, he recorded a freshman season-high 12 points and six steals in an 81–40 win over Grambling State. On January 7, 2021, he left Texas Tech for personal reasons. As a freshman, Burnett came off the bench, averaging 5.3 points and 1.8 rebounds through 12 games.

Alabama 2021–23 On April 8, 2021, Burnett transferred to the University of Alabama. On September 8, he was ruled out for the season after undergoing right knee surgery. In his second season at Alabama, Burnett played in 27 games and started 9 times. He averaged 5.6 points, 2.0 rebounds and shot 32 percent on three-point attempts in just under 15 minutes per game.

Michigan 2023–24 On March 30, 2023, Burnett transferred to the University of Michigan. With the 2023–24 Wolverines team, he set career highs in every major statistical category with the exception of free throw percentage, steals and blocks per game. He averaged 9.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists, while shooting 40 percent from the field and 35 percent from three-point territory. On November 13, Burnett scored a career-high 21 points against St. John’s, all in the first half.

2024–25 On April 30, 2024, Burnett announced he would be staying in Ann Arbor for his fifth collegiate season under new head coach Dusty May. Through 16 games for the 2024–25 Wolverines team, Burnett was deemed the top shooter in NCAA Division 1 basketball by Kenpom.com in “true shooting percentage,” which considers three-point shots, two-point shots and free throws. In that time, he averaged 10.9 points, shooting 57 percent from the field, 51 percent from three-point range and 81 percent from the free throw line.

On February 27, 2025 against Rutgers, Burnett scored a season-high 20 points and hit a deep three-point shot as time expired to win the game for the Wolverines. On March 16, one season after finishing in last place in the conference with Michigan, Burnett helped lead the Wolverines to a Big Ten championship in the 2025 Big Ten tournament.

2025–26 On April 21, 2025, Burnett announced he would return for his final season after being granted a sixth year of eligibility. On February 5, 2026, Burnett posted a career-high 31 points (including a career-high 7 three-point shots) in a 110–69 victory against Penn State, helping Michigan to a school record 21st win before a second loss. He was the first 30-point scorer for Michigan since Vlad Goldin (his freshman roommate at Texas Tech) on January 19, 2025 and the first Wolverine to tally at least seven three point shots at Crisler Center since Aubrey Dawkins on March 7, 2015. In the 2026 NCAA tournament, the team won the national championship and tied the Big Ten Conference record for single-season wins, 37. Burnett finished his career at Michigan starting a program-record 109 consecutive games.

Professional career After going unselected in the 2026 NBA draft, Burnett agreed to an Exhibit 10 contract with the Toronto Raptors with a chance to compete to earn a two-way or standard contract following the NBA Summer League.

National team career Burnett represented the United States national 3x3 team, winning the national team’s first gold medal at the 2019 FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He was teammates with Dawson Garcia, Devin Askew and Ethan Morton. Burnett scored 40 points, the fifth-most in the tournament. He also won a silver medal in the dunk contest.

Career statistics

College

Personal life Burnett's mother Nikki Burnett opened a dollar store and became a real estate broker by the age of 25. Nikki created basketball apparel clothing lines BasketballMom and HoopLegend Apparel. She also helped start the Lifetime reality show Bringing Up Ballers, which follows the lives of several Chicago-based entrepreneur mothers whose children are talented basketball players. Burnett is one of the players featured in the show.