Christian Charles Burns (born September 4, 1985) is an American-Italian professional basketball player for Germani Brescia of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A, top league of Italia. He also represents the Italian national team.

Quick Facts No. 23 – Pallacanestro Brescia, Position ...

Christian Burns

Burns in 2011
No. 23 – Pallacanestro Brescia
Position	Power forward / center
League	Lega Basket Serie A
Personal information
Born	(1985-09-04) September 4, 1985 (age 38) Trenton, New Jersey
Nationality	American / Italian
Listed height	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)
Listed weight	110 kg (243 lb)
Career information
High school	Hamilton (Hamilton, New Jersey)
College	Quinnipiac (2003–2005) Philadelphia (2005–2007)
NBA draft	2007: undrafted
Playing career	2007–present
Career history
2007–2008	AZS Koszalin
2008–2009	FC Porto
2009–2010	ratiopharm Ulm
2010–2011	Ferro-ZNTU Zaporozhye
2011–2012	Elitzur Netanya
2012–2013	Sutor Montegranaro
2013–2014	Enisey Krasnoyarsk
2014–2015	ČEZ Nymburk
2015–2016	Al Wasl SC
2016–2017	Germani Basket Brescia
2017–2018	Red October Cantù
2018–2020	Olimpia Milano
2020–present	Germani Brescia
2022	→ Napoli Basket
Career highlights and awards
Italian Supercup champion (2018) Czech League champion (2015)
Stats  at Basketball-Reference.com

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Between his sophomore and senior year, Burns grew from 5'11" to 6’6“.^[1] After having played soccer and basketball, he focused on basketball his senior year, averaging 19.8 points, 15.3 rebounds and 3.2 blocks a game^[2] for Hamilton High School West in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, while taking home County Player of the Year and Third-Team All-State (by the Associated Press) honors.^[3]

He started his college career at Quinnipiac, where he spent his freshman and sophomore year. He made 48 appearances for the Bobcats, averaging 3.5 points and 2.9 boards a contest. Burns transferred to NCAA Division 2 school Philadelphia University for his junior year and made an impact right away, scoring 16.7 points, grabbing 9.8 rebounds and blocking 2.2 shots per game in 2005–06. He earned Daktronics NCAA Division II National Player of the Year, ECAC Division II Player of the Year, Herb Good Small College Player of the Year and CACC Player of the Year honors his senior season (2006–07) among many other accolades, when putting up averages of 21.7 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per contest.

Coming out of college in 2007, he tried to make the Philadelphia 76ers' summer league roster, but eventually was not picked to join the team.^[4] Burns then launched his overseas career, signing with AZS Koszalin from Poland. In the following years, he played for teams in a number of different countries including Portugal, Germany, Ukraine, Israel, Italy, Russia, Czech Republic and the United Arab Emirates.^[5] In the 2010–11 campaign, when playing for Ferro-ZNTU Zaporozhye, he was named the Eurobasket.com All-Ukrainian Superleague Player of the Year.^[6] He made the Eurobasket.com All-Italian SerieA 1st Team in 2013^[7] and won the 2015 Czech national championship with CEZ Nymburk.^[8]

Burns obtained Italian citizenship in 2016.^[9] In 2017, he represented the Italian men's national team at the European Championships.^[10]

On June 20, 2018, the president of Olimpia Milano, Livio Proli, said the club reached an agreement with Burns for 2018–19 season in the Italian LBA.^[11] On June 28, 2018, Burns officially signed a deal with Milano.^[12] In May 2019, he tested positive for the banned substance Clostebol Metabolita.^[13] In July 2019, he was cleared by Italy's national anti-doping tribunal.^[14]

On July 4, 2020, he returns to Basket Brescia Leonessa.^[15] That season Brescia missed the Serie A playoffs and Burns played the Serie A2 playoffs with Napoli Basket^[16] helping them to achieve the promotion to the Serie A.