Players
Dontae Russo-Nance
Dontae Russo-Nance
2023 Averages
2.7
PPG
0.3
APG
0.0
RPG
80
FG%
Biography
The exciting 19-year-old guard elected to begin his professional career straight away rather than attend college and is doing that far away from home at the Perth Wildcats.
Having grown up in Auckland, the guard was an exciting prospect coming through the New Zealand basketball ranks and went on to impress in 2019 as a 14-year-old at the Junior NBA Global Championships in Orlando where he averaged 15.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
From there, he first played in the NZ NBL at the Auckland Huskies in 2021 just aged 16 and more than held his own delivering 11.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals.
He then was the league's Youth Player of the Year in 2022 having delivered 15.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists along with leading the NZ NBL in steals at 2.9 per match.
On the back of that, was named to the All-Star Five at the Basketball Without Borders Asia camp in Canberra in August 2022, and then attended Oak Hill Academy in Wilson, Virginia.
Had plenty of options, but joined the Wildcats as a development player for a first season in NBL24 before making seven appearances in the NZ NBL at the Otago Nuggets for 11.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists ahead of returning to Perth for a second season.