Elijah Bryant is breathing some rare air.
Jimmer Fredette and Danny Ainge have their rightful places in BYU basketball lore, but no one has ever done what Bryant is currently doing. The former Cougar star returns to the Turkish Basketball League in October seeking a fourth-straight championship along a most unprecedented journey.
“I give all the glory to God. It takes a little bit of luck, but I also think it requires being ready for your opportunity when it comes, allowing yourself the best chance to win.” — former BYU star Elijah Bryant
“I give all the glory to God. It takes a little bit of luck, but I also think it requires being ready for your opportunity when it comes, allowing yourself the best chance to win,” Bryant told the “Y’s Guys” podcast. “I’ve been able to be on some really good teams with some really good teammates and have some success.”
Bryant is on a run for the ages — something no former Cougar has ever done. In 2021, he won an NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks. In 2022, he led Andolu Efes (Istanbul) to the EuroLeague championship, and early this year, he won the Turkish League championship.
“I always knew I would be ready for my opportunity when it came,” he said in a mixed tone of humility and confidence. “I knew I would be successful in basketball, whether that’s in the NBA or overseas.”
Andolu Efes opens its title defense Oct. 5 against FC Barcelona, where Bryant will continue a journey that began in Gwinnett County, Georgia, and included a significant stopover at BYU.
Beating the Zags
Two nights after scoring a career-high 39 points against Portland, Bryant and the Cougars (20-10) rolled into Spokane, Washington, on Feb. 25, 2017, to challenge the unbeaten (29-0) and No. 1-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs.
“They came out and were destroying us,” Byrant said. “We were like, ‘Wow, we understand why they are so good!’”
With Gonzaga leading 18-2, BYU coach Dave Rose called a timeout.
“Rose just brought us all in and started laughing. It kind of threw us off, but it reset us, too,” Bryant said. “We were expecting to get cussed out, but he said, ‘Enjoy this moment. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.’”
The Cougars settled down and started to fight back. Bryant tied the score at 71 with two free throws with 1:53 to play. BYU finished the game on a 10-0 run to stun the Zags, 79-71.
“I didn’t have my best game (14 points),” he said. “But the guys kind of released and started playing well and we were able to get the win at the end.”
Leaving BYU
Bryant finished his junior year in 2018 as the No. 2 scorer in the West Coast Conference. The idea of him returning for a final season with Yolie Childs, TJ Haws and Zac Seljaas was tantalizing for BYU fans, but it wasn’t in the cards for Bryant and his wife Jenelle.
“My plan was always to play professional basketball. I thought I did everything I could at BYU to put myself in the best position considering the NBA looks at you as old at 22 or 23,” he said. “I thought, ‘I’m older and playing in a smaller conference. Are my chances going to be that much better if I stay next year?’ I looked at myself in the mirror and made the decision. I said, “I can live with my decision if it doesn’t work out, but I can’t live with someone else’s.”
It didn’t work out. At least initially. No one called Bryant’s name on NBA draft night. So, after a good cry, he took his basketball and his wife to Israel.
NBA debut
Late in the NBA’s 2021 season, and two years into his run with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bryant received the phone call of a lifetime. The Bucks wanted him, and they wanted him right away. After a whirlwind of negotiations, Bryant reported in time for the final game of the regular season against Chicago.
“They came into the locker room and said, ‘You are dressing,” Bryant said. “I went to the back to practice how to take my warm-ups off. The guys were dying laughing. I thought, ‘I’m not going to be out there and get embarrassed by not being able to get them off.’”
Five minutes into the game, the coach put him in.
“I was sitting on the bench wearing my COVID mask, which was a good thing because I could see my heart bouncing in my chest,” he said. “To calm the nerves, I told myself that as soon as I get in and touch the ball, I’m shooting. No matter where I’m at, if I’m open, I’m shooting.”
Bryant successfully escaped his warm-up threads, took off his mask, and fulfilled a dream by stepping onto an NBA floor. And sure enough, as soon as he touched the ball, he took a shot.
“I come down the middle of the court and I catch it and let it go — and it goes in!” He said. “I felt like, ‘OK, I’m here. This is basketball. I’ve been playing it my whole life.”
Bryant finished with 16 points in the only NBA regular-season game of his career (so far). But he and the Bucks were after something much bigger — a world championship.
NBA championship
Milwaukee eliminated Phoenix in six games to win its first NBA title in 50 years and Bryant, who played in 11 playoff games during the run, celebrated with his family right next to Bucks superstar and NBA Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“I remember the final buzzer going off and you pinch yourself — is this really happening?” Bryant said. “It’s super emotional to win a championship in the span of how everything played out. It was a big blessing. It still seems surreal looking back at it.”
Bryant has little time for those who scoff at the legitimacy of his championship ring even though he was with the Bucks for such a short period. A win is a win, and a ring is a ring.
“A lot of people like to look at it and say, ‘Oh you didn’t play, or you didn’t do this.’ I learned a lot of things from those guys,” he said. “I was so emotional because people don’t understand what it takes to get there — all the sacrifices my mom made, my tribe and my family.”
As the ups and downs of life go, Bryant was waived by the Bucks a few months later and signed with Andolu Efes, where he has since added the other two championship rings.
“I feel like my work is paying off, but I always feel like that little kid that no one ever believed in, that no one drafted,” he said. “I try to set new goals every year to keep me hungry. I’m just trying to be the best I can be and if that takes me back to the NBA, so be it, but it must be the right situation for my family.”
Big 12
Bryant averaged 15.6 points over his 57 games at BYU (2016-18). In addition to Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s, he went toe to toe against Power Five programs Alabama, Stanford and Utah. But the schedule was nothing compared to what’s coming for Mark Pope’s Cougars as new members of the Big 12.
“I’m excited for them. Those guys are grinding, from lifting, to basketball, to school, to camps. It’s a lot of work. I’m glad they are getting some (NIL) money now, to say the least,” Bryant said. “I think it’s exciting for them to go to the Big 12, not just for the aspect of basketball, but also for BYU’s brand to spread the bigger message of the Church.”
Nothing has ever come easy for Bryant, and he suspects nothing will come easy for the Cougars.
“It will probably take a few years, entering a bigger conference with better players who are more athletic,” he said. “But it’s going to be so cool to see the Marriott Center sold out for these big teams.”
Bryant’s legacy
Danny Ainge had his No. 22 jersey retired and hung in the rafters at the Marriott Center in 2003. It won’t be long before Jimmer Fredette’s No. 32 is placed next to it — both shined as the National Player of the Year at BYU.
Bryant may never have his number hoisted anywhere by anyone outside of Jenelle and their two boys (Blu and Rocco), but what he has accomplished over the last three years as a professional has him breathing in some rare air, and his faith has triggered some interesting dialogue.
“I have these conversations with my teammates all the time. They say, ‘Why are you giving 10% of your money away?’” he said. “I’m trying to explain this stuff to my teammates and help them understand that if I’m able to live and abide by the obligations/commandments that I’ve made, my life will be 10 times easier. I’ve seen it happen.”
