Iowan Brittni Donaldson is a trailblazer in the NBA and WNBA
Sioux City native Brittni Donaldson has been rapidly rising through professional basketball working in the NBA and now the WNBA.
As the Toronto Raptors victory parade made its way to Nathan Phillips Square on June 17, 2019, Iowa native Brittni Donaldson was on the last bus, hanging out with star Marc Gasol. Gasol, who had just helped the Raptors to their first NBA championship, was living it up, dancing, celebrating and cheering with fans as they lined the street.
“He was having a lot of fun that day,” Donaldson said. “So I was just making sure he made it through the parade without falling off the bus.”
Donaldson and Gasol successfully navigated the madness without any issues. The moment remains one of the highlights of Donaldson’s career. There was Donaldson, who hails from Sioux City and had just finished the season working in the team’s front office, part of the organization’s biggest accomplishment.
“It was such a crazy experience,” said Donaldson, a Northern Iowa alum.
There have been tons of big moments in Donaldson’s career. Another one recently arrived. Donaldson, who worked in the NBA in the front office and as a coach, was hired in November to be an assistant coach and assistant general manager for the Portland Fire of the WNBA. Even bigger and better things could be in store for the rapidly rising Iowan.
“Brittni’s the type of person that she’s going to be able to accomplish whatever she puts her mind to,” said Peter Dinwiddie, a former Donaldson co-worker who works as the senior vice president of strategy and analytics for the Atlanta Hawks. “At the end of the day, whatever her ultimate goals are and whatever she perceives as her next step, she’ll be able to accomplish that.”
Donaldson falls in love with basketball and finds an unexpected job
Donaldson developed a deep love of basketball from her father Jeff Donaldson. Jeff, a longtime coach in Iowa, was enshrined in the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s Basketball Hall of Fame, shot hoops with Brittni in the driveway when she was as young as 2 years old. He coached Brittni early on and took her to games and practices.
The two made the two-hour drive from their home in Sioux City to Lincoln, Nebraska, so Brittni could attend three-hour practices with a club team twice a week. Jeff Donaldson also took his daughter to boys and girls high school games and men’s and women’s college games.
Local basketball stars became her mentors. Brittni grew up looking up to Erin Dohrmann, Jacqui Kalin and Brittany Carper and others. Donaldson watched, studied and marveled at how they played the game.
“These players were players that, when I was young, really inspired me,” Donaldson said.
Donaldson quickly began carving out her own path. She became a basketball star at Sioux City North High School and guided the team to a 2009 state title. Donaldson went on to play basketball at Northern Iowa. During her sophomore season, she earned a starting spot with the Panthers and averaged 6.1 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.
Donaldson set her sights on playing professional basketball. But injuries kept that from happening.
From high school to college, Donaldson underwent four operations on one knee. The final one was reconstructive surgery that required screws and a plate being placed in her leg. The injuries took a toll on Donaldson, who had always identified herself as a basketball player. She admits she went through an identity crisis.
“That was probably, I don’t want to say the toughest, but certainly one of the toughest things in all of our lives between her, her mother Carmen and myself,” Jeff Donaldson said.
While she sat on the bench and cheered on her UNI teammates, Donaldson paid attention. Her coaches let her sit in on meetings and break down film. She got a first-hand look at how the coaches prepared for games and how they scouted opponents.
“I just wanted to stay engaged as much as I could,” Donaldson said.
She was just as involved in class, as she finished her degree as a statistics and actuarial science major. She grew up loving math and was good with numbers. Because she’d be missing so much time with basketball, Donaldson thought the work would be something she could do on her own. She planned to work as an actuary after college. But when she learned more about the job, she went a different direction and looked for ways to combine her love of sports with her ability to work with numbers.
After graduating, Donaldson applied for as many jobs as she could find. She searched for jobs with the word “analyst” or “data” in them. She kept her options open.
She discovered a job at Stats LLC. The NBA had just implemented player-tracking technology and had partnered with Stats to put it in all 30 arenas. Donaldson got an entry-level job watching games through cameras at every arena to make sure all the information the company was getting on the players, the ball and even the officials was being accurately tagged. She worked overnight shifts and didn’t get paid much. Donaldson reported to Charlie Rohlf, who now works for the NBA as vice president of stats, products and development.
“Not only was she talented enough to handle a wide variety of things but confident enough to take them on and show that ability, but also at the same time was always listening, always learning,” Rohlf said. “She was humble and struck a great balance of those things that really allowed her to excel and stand out.”
Donaldson started doing more data analysis and began interacting with NBA teams. Donaldson compiled data-driven reports for front offices and coaches. The work led to her building connections with people throughout the league.
The Raptors were one of the teams impressed with her work. After two years at Stats, the team lured her away to work as a data analyst. Raptors coach Nick Nurse, from Carroll, Iowa, and also played at Northern Iowa, involved Donaldson in a variety of other roles. Another Iowa native, Nate Bjorkgren of Storm Lake, worked with Donaldson on Nurse’s staff. Bjorkgren is now an assistant coach with the Portland Trail Blazers.
“She’s very determined,” Bjorkgren said.
Donaldson became a big part of the team’s 2019 championship and was invited to ride along with players and coaches in the parade. Gasol, one of the team’s top stars, had grown close with Donaldson during their time together. As his celebration became a viral sensation that day, Donaldson kept close tabs on him while trying to soak in the moment.
“He’s a good friend of mine,” Donaldson said.
Donaldson gets her first shot at coaching … in the NBA
After the championship season, the Raptors coaching staff underwent some changes. The team needed someone else to join Nurse’s staff. Masai Ujiri, the team’s president and vice chairman at the time, asked Donaldson if she’d be interested in making the transition. Donaldson had been heavily involved with Nurse’s staff. Donaldson had zero coaching experience. But she jumped at the chance, becoming the 10th female assistant in the NBA and at age 26, the youngest.
“I knew going into that new role that I had a lot to learn,” Donaldson said. “I knew that it was going to be maybe a challenge at first.”
She used what she’d learned from her time at Northern Iowa watching practices and meetings. She focused on her strengths including building strong relationships, something she’d done while with Stats. Donaldson worked on Toronto’s day-to-day operations doing game planning, practice planning and player development on the court. She was also the analytics point-person for anything the coaches needed.
“She’s proven that she’s very versatile,” Bjorkgren said.
There were more cool experiences. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a limited number of coaches could go to the NBA’s bubble for the remainder of the 2020-21 season. Donaldson was sent to work with the team’s G-League affiliate, Raptors 905. The job allowed her to grow as a coach. After that, she landed an assistant coaching job with the Brampton Honey Badgers, a professional team in Canada. The team won a CEBL championship in her lone season.
Around that time, she co-founded Strata Athletics, a player development company designed to help youth. Donaldson did that for a year and then latched on with the Detroit Pistons as an assistant coach in 2022. During her season there, she participated in practice and in-game planning. After a season with the Pistons, Donaldson got a job working with the Atlanta Hawks as the team’s first female assistant coach. She kept rising. In 2025, Donaldson was promoted to director of basketball development, methodology and integration for the Hawks.
She oversaw all player development initiatives and made sure everything involving the team’s players was aligned with the coaches, front office and performance and analytics staff. Dinwiddie raved about the work she did, calling it “unbelievable.”
“Brittni is such a good person,” Dinwiddie said.
While working in the NBA had always been a dream for Donaldson, she was also interested in the WNBA. Throughout her time in the NBA, she crossed paths with Vanja Cernivec, the general manager of the Fire, and Alex Sarma, the team’s head coach. As the two were building up their front office, coaching staff and roster, they turned to Donaldson. Donaldson and her wide range of experience made her the perfect candidate to work on and off the court for the team. So the team brought her on board.
“Brittni’s rare blend of expertise, her unique skill set and forward-thinking approach make her one of the brightest minds in basketball,” Cernivec said in a statement. “More importantly, she is incredibly humble, open-minded and kind, and we’re confident she’ll have an immediate and lasting impact on our franchise.”
What’s next for Donaldson?
Donaldson’s rise may continue. She has experience in the front office and on the bench. She could one day become a head coach or run an organization.
“I think her potential is tremendous,” Rohlf said.
But for now her focus is on her current job with the Fire and helping build its foundation. Donaldson sees it as a chance to create something from the bottom up and leave her mark. She said she hopes her time in basketball lights the way for others.
“I do see the significance and recognize that perhaps my journey is significant, that I can help somebody else’s journey, maybe become more actualized or realized or maybe being visible and people seeing what I’m doing,” she said. “It matters if a young girl sees the kind of career path I took. Maybe she’ll get inspired.”
Donaldson’s goal isn’t to simply rise. She wants her work to be important, no matter what it is. That’s always been her goal and she says that’ll never change.
It’s hard for even her family to comprehend everything she’s been through.
“There are times I’ve got to pinch myself and remind myself how fortunate we are,” Jeff Donaldson said.
“I’m leaving all those doors open,” she said. “Really, my north star is doing really meaningful, interesting work with people that I enjoy.”
About Brittni DonaldsonName: Brittni DonaldsonAge: 32City of residence: Living in Atlanta, moving to Portland. She’s a Sioux City nativeOccupation: Assistant coach and assistant general manager for Portland FireCollege: Northern IowaFavorite pastime: Music and basketballInfluential Iowans
Welcome to the Des Moines Register’s series on Influential Iowans. Through the end of 2025 and the start of 2026, the Register is publishing profiles of people who have shaped our state and the country beyond. The people influence our politics, food, sports, communities, music, city development and arts, and health. They were chosen by Register staff ― and each is fascinating on their own. Together, they show the rich fabric of Iowa’s influence.
— Rachel E. Stassen-Berger, Des Moines Register executive editor
Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468.