Aaron Bruce

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Aaron Michael Bruce (born 19 December 1984) is a retired Australian basketball player who played as a guard. He grew up in Birchip and Horsham, Victoria, and attended Horsham College, where he played for the Horsham Hornets. Bruce spent 2002–2003 at the Australian Institute of Sport, then starred at Baylor University from 2004 to 2008.

As a Baylor freshman in 2004–05, he started all 28 games, led the team in minutes, and averaged 18.2 points per game, making him the top-scoring freshman in the nation and earning Freshman All-America honors and All-Big 12 recognition. In 2005–06, Baylor’s season was shortened, but Bruce still averaged 13.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists, earning All-Big 12 honorable mention and various academic honors. In 2006–07 he started 29 of 31 games, averaging 11.3 points and 3.4 assists, and he scored his 1,000th career Baylor point in February 2007. In his senior season (2007–08) he helped Baylor reach the NCAA tournament and finished with over 1,000 career points and 300 assists.

Bruce went undrafted in 2008 but played for the Seattle SuperSonics in the NBA Summer League and soon joined the Adelaide 36ers of Australia, where he was named the NBL Rookie of the Year in 2009. After a brief career break in 2009, he completed his Baylor degree in 2010 and returned to play for Adelaide in 2010–11. He then spent the 2011 season with the Eastern Mavericks.

In May 2011 Bruce signed with the Sydney Kings. His 2011–12 season was cut short by a tibia fracture, but he returned for 2012–13 before leaving the Kings due to a pay dispute and retiring from professional basketball.

Internationally, Bruce played for Australia’s junior national teams, winning gold at the 2003 FIBA U19 World Championship, captaining the U21 team in 2005, and competing with the Boomers at the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

He is the son of Steve and Julie Bruce; his motherSwam competitively, and his uncles Des and Stephen Ryan played in the Australian Football League. He has two younger brothers, Cameron and Shaun, who also play basketball.