Education
He graduated with a degree in computer science and was selected to the Academic All Big 12 Basketball Team three times, in 2006, 2007, and 2008.
He graduated with a degree in computer science and was selected to the Academic All Big 12 Basketball Team three times, in 2006, 2007, and 2008.
He played college basketball in the United States with the University of Kansas for four seasons, and was part of the 2007-2008 national championship team In high school at the Florida Air Academy, Kaun averaged 13.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game as a junior and 15.3 points and 12.6 rebounds per game as a senior. He led his team to a 23-0 record and to the Florida state championships.
During the fall of 2003, he elected to play college basketball for Bill Self at the University of Kansas.
Duke and Michigan State also recruited him heavily. During his freshman season with the Kansas Jayhawks, he played in 27 games, starting twice.
Kaun was drafted 56th overall in the 2008 National Basketball Association Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics. He was the final draft pick in Sonics history, before the franchise moved to Oklahoma City.
He signed a three-year contract worth €2,700,000 with the Russian team CSKA Moscow in 2008.
On May 23, 2012, Kaun re-signed his contract with CSKA, staying three more seasons with the team In the 2014-2015 season, CSKA Moscow has managed to advance to the Euroleague Final Four for fourth straight season, after eliminating Panathinaikos for the second straight season in the quarter-final series with 3–1. However, in the semifinal game, despite being dubbed by media as an absolute favorite to advance, once again lost to Olympiacos.
The final score was 70–68, after an Olympiacos comeback in 4th quarter, led by Vassilis Spanoulis.
In his "contract year", Kaun had the best season since coming in the club, starting in all 30 games played in the Euroleague and averaging career-high 9.9 points and 4.5 rebounds on 69.1% shooting from the field After winning his fifth VTB United League championship with CSKA, there were some reports that Kaun had retired from the professional basketball.
A day later, Kaun denied these reports, adding that he is done playing basketball in Europe, however. On September 9, 2015, Kaun signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Over the first half of the 2015-2016 season, Kaun appeared in just nine games for the Cavaliers, scoring a season-high four points on two occasions.
In his sophomore season he helped the Jayhawks to an 80-68 win against the Texas Longhorns, which made the Jayhawks the 2006 Big 12 Conference champions. During his senior year, he was the back-up center for the Jayhawks and with them he won the 2008 National Collegiate Athletic Association Championship. CSKA Moscow eventually won the third place after defeating Fenerbahçe with 86–80. He made his debut for the Cavaliers on October 28, recording one rebound, one assist, one steal and one block in a 106–76 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Kaun was also a member of the senior Russian national basketball team, and was part of the team that won the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
