Tamara Kim "Tammy" Sutton-Brown (born January 27, 1978) is a Canadian retired professional basketball player. Her primary position was center. Throughout her playing career, Sutton-Brown played for the Charlotte Sting and Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She had also played in Asia and Europe. Sutton-Brown has won a WNBA championship (2012) and is a two-time WNBA All-Star.

Tammy Sutton-Brown
Personal information
Born (1978-01-27) January 27, 1978 (age 46)
Markham, Ontario
NationalityCanadian
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight199 lb (90 kg)
Career information
High schoolMarkham District (Markham, Ontario)
CollegeRutgers (1997–2001)
WNBA draft2001: 2nd round, 18th overall pick
Selected by the Charlotte Sting
Playing career2001–2012
PositionCenter
Career history
2001–2006Charlotte Sting
2001–2002Kumho Life Falcons
2002–2003VBM-SGAU Samara
2003–2004Kumho Life Falcons
2004–2005USK Prague
2005VBM-SGAU Samara
2005Dynamo Moscow
2006–2011Fenerbahçe
2007–2012Indiana Fever
Career highlights and awards
Stats at WNBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

Early life

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Born in Markham, Ontario, Sutton-Brown is of Jamaican descent.[1] She was rated Canada's top female at Armadale public school basketball prospect by the Toronto Star.[2]

College years

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Sutton-Brown attended Rutgers University, where she majored in women's studies.[3] As a senior, she was nicknamed Simba from the Disney movie "The Lion King" due to her coming of age at Rutgers.[4] She owns a career field goal percentage of 57.6 which ranks third in the Rutgers career records.[5]

WNBA career

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Sutton-Brown was selected 18th overall in the second round of the 2001 WNBA draft by the Charlotte Sting. In her rookie season, Sutton-Brown experienced her first WNBA Finals appearance as the Sting advanced all the way to the WNBA Finals but were defeated in a 2-game sweep by the Los Angeles Sparks.

Sutton-Brown had a breakout year in her second season, averaging 11.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg and 1.1 bpg. Her season performance got her selected into the 2002 WNBA All-Star Game, becoming the first Canadian WNBA player to be voted as an all-star.[6][7]

Sutton-Brown finished the 2004 season ranked second in the WNBA in blocks (a career-high 2.0 bpg). She became the Sting's all-time leader in blocks in 2004 with 196 career blocked shots, and as of 2006 only the 10th player to achieve 200 blocks.[8][9]

After the 2006 season ended, the Sting ceased operations and most of the remaining players were entered in a dispersal draft that followed the Sting's demise. Since she was an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2006 season, she was exempt from entering the dispersal draft.[10] However, on March 22, 2007, she signed with the Indiana Fever.[11] She would play alongside superstar forward Tamika Catchings.

During the 2007 season with the Fever, Sutton-Brown was selected into the 2007 WNBA All-Star Game and had averaged a career-high in scoring with 12 ppg.

In the 2009 season, Sutton-Brown experienced her second WNBA Finals appearance as the Fever advanced all the way to the WNBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, but fell short to the Phoenix Mercury in five games.

During her final season in the WNBA, Sutton-Brown became the fifth player in league history to accumulate 3,000 points, 2,000 rebounds and 400 blocks in their career.[12] Later in the season, Sutton-Brown won her first WNBA championship with the Fever in 2012 when they defeated the Minnesota Lynx 3-1 in the finals.[13] Following the championship victory, Sutton-Brown became a free agent and eventually retired from the WNBA after 12 seasons. As of her retirement, Sutton-Brown ranked 22nd in career rebounds and 5th in career blocks.

WNBA career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader
Denotes seasons in which Sutton-Brown won a WNBA championship

Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2001 Charlotte 29 21 20.8 .394 .000 .722 4.4 0.4 0.7 1.3 1.3 6.8
2002 Charlotte 32 29 27.7 .531 .000 .713 6.0 0.5 0.9 1.1 1.5 11.9
2003 Charlotte 34 33 25.4 .421 .000 .687 5.9 0.4 0.5 1.4 1.7 8.4
2004 Charlotte 34 34 28.5 .473 .000 .698 6.2 0.4 0.9 2.0 2.0 9.6
2005 Charlotte 34 33 26.1 .509 .000 .681 5.3 0.4 0.8 1.0 2.0 9.4
2006 Charlotte 30 30 26.7 .488 .000 .639 5.9 0.7 0.8 1.8 2.3 11.2
2007 Indiana 34 33 25.3 .485 .000 .716 5.4 0.9 1.0 1.3 2.5 12.0
2008 Indiana 33 33 29.0 .495 .000 .673 6.3 0.5 0.6 1.7 2.0 11.8
2009 Indiana 27 25 25.2 .466 .000 .745 5.9 0.9 0.5 1.4 1.8 9.9
2010 Indiana 34 34 25.7 .450 .000 .707 5.1 0.9 0.9 1.6 1.6 8.1
2011 Indiana 34 26 19.0 .489 .000 .743 3.1 0.6 1.0 1.2 0.9 5.5
2012 Indiana 33 32 16.4 .422 .000 .800 2.8 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.6 3.9
Career 12 years, 2 teams 388 363 24.7 .479 .000 .700 5.2 0.6 0.8 1.4 1.7 9.0

Postseason

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2001 Charlotte 8 8 20.9 .543 .000 .714 3.3 0.5 0.1 1.3 1.0 7.5
2002 Charlotte 2 2 28.0 .500 .000 .167 6.0 0.0 0.5 0.5 3.5 7.5
2003 Charlotte 2 1 16.0 .286 .000 .000 3.0 0.0 0.0 1.5 1.0 2.0
2007 Indiana 6 6 20.5 .349 .000 .571 4.7 0.7 0.1 2.0 1.3 7.0
2008 Indiana 3 3 31.0 .387 .000 .952 5.3 0.3 0.3 1.3 2.0 14.7
2009 Indiana 10 10 31.1 .528 .000 .689 5.6 0.5 0.9 1.4 3.0 14.3
2010 Indiana 3 3 30.0 .476 .000 .818 4.3 0.3 1.3 0.6 2.6 9.7
2011 Indiana 6 6 28.7 .463 .000 .864 6.8 1.3 0.8 1.8 2.6 9.5
2012 Indiana 7 1 8.6 .571 .000 .444 2.0 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.4 3.4
Career 9 years, 2 teams 47 40 23.5 .477 .000 .696 4.5 0.6 0.5 1.3 1.9 8.9

Overseas career

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Sutton-Brown's first season overseas was in Korea where she played for the Kumho Life Falcons in 2001–02 off-season. In the 2002–03 off-season, Sutton-Brown played for VBM-SGAU Samara in Russia. In the 2003–04 off-season, Sutton-Brown returned to Korea to play for the Kumho Life Falcons and won a championship with the team. In the 2004–05 off-season, Sutton-Brown played for USK Prague in Czech Republic and spent the rest of the off-season playing for VBM-SGAU Samara and Dynamo Moscow. Sutton-Brown played for Fenerbahçe since the start of the 2006–07 off-season for 5 years where she won five championships.

International clubs

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International career

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Sutton-Brown played for the Canada women's national basketball team in the 2000 Summer Olympics.[14][15] She averaged 10.3 ppg and 7.3 rpg in 6 games with the team throughout the Olympics.[16]

Life after basketball

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Since her retirement from professional basketball, Sutton-Brown launched TSquared, a marketing company that partners up professional athletes with various brands. She also became an author and is working on a series of children’s books.[17] In October of 2021, Sutton-Brown was named the Associate of Basketball and Franchise Operations for Raptors 905, the G League affiliate of the Toronto Raptors. In July of 2023, it was announced that Sutton-Brown would be inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.


References

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  1. ^ "Andrews: Tammy Sutton-Brown brings the world to kids". ESPN.com. November 23, 2012.
  2. ^ "Tammy Sutton-Brown: The long-lasting impact of Canada's first WNBA All-Star selection". NBA.com Canada | The official site of the NBA. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  3. ^ Shanda, Deziel (17 September 2001). "People". Maclean's.
  4. ^ "Get to know Canadian-born Tammy Sutton-Brown, Cree, and Scooter". Canada Basketball. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  5. ^ "Rutgers Women's Basketball 2020-21 Media Guide" (PDF). scarletknights.com. p. 92. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  6. ^ "Frozen Hoops: Canadian Basketball: WNBA Canadians". Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  7. ^ "Sutton-Brown is the first Canadian selected to be a WNBA All-Star". NBA.com.
  8. ^ "STING: Season In Review: Tammy Sutton-Brown". www.wnba.com.
  9. ^ "More than the little things". August 24, 2011.
  10. ^ Charlotte Sting Dispersal Draft To Be Held on January 8
  11. ^ "Fever: Sutton-Brown Free Agent Signing Highlights Fever Roster Moves". www.wnba.com.
  12. ^ "About Tammy". Tammy Sutton-Brown. Archived from the original on April 2, 2019.
  13. ^ "Tammy Sutton-Brown and Indiana Fever Win WNBA Championship".
  14. ^ "Tamika Catching's All-Star Girls Basketball Clinic". Basketball World Toronto. December 4, 2015.
  15. ^ "Team Canada 2000 Games". Archived from the original on September 20, 2000.
  16. ^ "Tammy Sutton-Brown Olympic stats". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020.
  17. ^ "Markham native enjoying life after WNBA | Share News". Archived from the original on 2016-11-13. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
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