It will be close to a full year between Joshua Braun's games for basketball teams.
Braun, who finished his Grand Canyon career as the 70-year-old program's No. 2 all-time scorer last March, will begin his professional basketball career this March in Australia.
Braun missed out on European opportunities because of health and agent issues and the bad luck of a coach firing just as he was closing a deal with his German club. The delay proved to be fortuitous when an opportunity in Australia's State Basketball League became available without an agent's help. Joshua Braun and his wife, Leigh
The Phoenix native grew up dreaming of playing for the Suns and now has signed to join the Kalamunda Eastern Suns in a suburb of Perth on the Western coast.
"God alone provided the opportunity when nobody really could," Braun said. "I had agents working to try to find me an opportunity and couldn't find it. We weren't sure what was going to happen. That's when God provided the opportunity amid all the adversity and the struggles that were going on. It's cool to see God come through and make a good opportunity happen with the right timing."
Braun, who married former GCU volleyball player Leigh Stonerook in July, is planning to leave later this month and play a season that runs from March to possibly September. The club provides a salary, home and car for the newlyweds.
The club was seeking a guard and found a sharpshooting one in Braun, who was Lopes head coach Dan Majerle's first recruit in 2013 and a cornerstone of the program's rise. Braun made 38 percent of his career 3-pointers to destroy the GCU record for 3s with 257 on his way to 1,714 career points. Braun is the third player from last season's Lopes team to go pro, following Keonta Vernon in France and Casey Benson in Slovenia.
"It feels great," Braun said. "It's really exciting. I'm really thankful for the opportunity. I praise God that I get to continue this dream. There's not many people that get to. I like to do the best I can with whatever I'm given. We'll see where this first start to my professional career takes me in the long run. Hopefully it's the first step of many."
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