Branden Carlson

About

Branden Carlson (born June 14, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Utah Utes.

Carlson grew up in South Jordan, Utah and attended Bingham High School. Carlson was a consensus four star recruit. He committed to play college basketball at Utah over offers from UCLA, Stanford, BYU, UNLV, Utah State, UC Davis, Santa Clara and Weber State.

After serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), Carlson enrolled at Utah before the start of the 2019–20 season. Carlson played in 30 games with 29 starts during his freshman season and averaged 7.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. He averaged 9.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks as a sophomore. Carlson averaged 13.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks and was named second-team All-Pac-12 Conference as a junior.
He averaged 16.4 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game as a senior and was named first-team All-Pac-12. Carlson considered entering the 2023 NBA draft, but ultimately decided to utilize…