Bree Purganan — The Woman Behind Jalen Green’s Rise

If you’ve been following Jalen Green’s journey in the NBA, chances are you’ve come across the name bree purganan. She is Jalen’s mother and the woman often seen courtside at his games; she is the voice he credits in interviews for shaping everything he became before the NBA ever got involved. People search for her because they want to understand the supportive foundation behind the Houston Rockets star, and her story as a dedicated nurse and mother is a vital part of Jalen’s rise to professional stardom.

Bree Purganan is a nurse, entrepreneur, and proud Filipino-American mother of NBA player Jalen Green. Story Uniweek She didn’t become known for chasing fame — she became known because she raised someone the world couldn’t ignore, and did it on her own terms, with quiet strength and real discipline.

Bree Purganan — Quick Facts at a Glance

Early Life — From Ilocos Sur to California

Bree Purganan’s story starts far from NBA arenas and spotlight moments. She was born and raised in Ilocos Sur, Philippines, alongside her two siblings, Kristie Canon and Josh Bass, and later immigrated to California, United States. YEN.COM.GH

Ilocos Sur is a province in the northwestern part of Luzon — a place known for its deep cultural traditions, strong family values, and a community that prizes hard work above almost everything else. Those values didn’t stay behind when Bree made the move to America. She carried them with her, and they show up in everything she’s done since.

She was born to her mother Julia Durbin, who was a teacher by profession, while details about her biological father remain unknown. The family setup changed for her when her mother married Bob Durbin in 1995, who became her stepfather. Tilt Magazine

Growing up between two cultures — Filipino roots and American opportunity — gave Bree a particular kind of resilience. She understood from a young age that nothing was handed to you. You built it. That lesson became the backbone of how she raised her own children.

Education & Early Career — The Nurse Who Also Played Ball

Here’s something most people don’t know about Bree Purganan: before she was a full-time nurse and mother, she was an athlete.

Bree attended Merced Community College District, where she also played college basketball. She completed her associate degree in Nursing in 1999. In 2002, she completed her licensed vocational nursing certification (LVN) at Turlock Emanuel. Legit.ng

That combination — athlete and healthcare professional — tells you a lot about who she is. Sports gave her discipline, teamwork, and mental toughness. Nursing gave her purpose, compassion, and a career built on showing up for people at their most vulnerable. Both of those things fed directly into how she mothered Jalen.

Between 2004 and 2015, she worked at various health facilities, including Provant, OccuVax, Corizon Health and the CDC. She has also worked as a licensed vocational nurse (LVN) since 2016 in the emergency department of Madera Community Hospital. As of 2025, she is a mental health care nurse. Legit.ng

That’s over two decades of professional nursing — quietly building expertise while raising three kids. No fanfare. No viral moments. Just consistent, skilled, essential work.

Career at a Glance

The Mother Behind the MVP

If you want to understand why Jalen Green plays the way he does — with that relentless energy, that competitive edge, that never-back-down confidence — look at his mother.

Bree Purganan played a pivotal role in shaping Jalen’s mindset, discipline, and profound cultural pride. She was Jalen’s first lockdown defender, who taught him to play defence in their driveway, establishing a tough mindset that is still part of his game today. YEN.COM.GH

Think about that for a second. A working nurse, raising three kids, still found time to be in the driveway teaching her son how to play defense. That’s not a story about basketball. That’s a story about a mother who refused to let circumstances become excuses.

Jalen has been vocal about it too. The Suns guard credited his mother for his career success, saying: “I got my work ethic from her, my mindset from her… since a young age, I felt like winning was everything.” Legit.ng

That quote didn’t come from a PR team. It came from a young man who genuinely means it.

Marcus Green — The Stepfather Who Showed Up

Bree Purganan is married to Marcus Green, a former high school basketball player who played with NBA stars such as DeShawn Stevenson. While Marcus is Jalen’s stepfather and not his biological father, he entered his life early and instantly became a guiding force. Marcus supported Jalen’s budding talent since middle school, taking him to camps and even gifting him his first pair of Jordans after a backyard dunk. YEN.COM.GH

The family that Bree built around Jalen wasn’t a perfect, picture-book setup. It was a blended family, held together by love and effort and a shared commitment to seeing those kids thrive. Marcus stepped into a father role and delivered on it. Bree created a home where that was possible.

Details about Jalen’s biological father — whose first name is Enoch — are not publicly available, and Bree has consistently kept that part of her life private. That boundary is hers to keep.

Bree’s Three Children

Jurnee Tyra (born in February 2011) is the youngest child who, like his big brother, has a passion for basketball. Briefly.co.za There’s something genuinely beautiful about a household where the love of sport runs that deep across generations — and it traces right back to Bree, who was playing college basketball herself before any of her kids were born.

Philanthropy — Giving Back With Purpose

Bree Purganan isn’t someone who needed fame before she started caring about the world around her. She’s been doing the work quietly for years.

She is the founder of Bree’s Organisation for Breast Cancer Research — a charitable organization that aims to raise awareness of breast cancer and attract donations to support research. YEN.COM.GH

For a nurse who spent decades working in emergency and mental health departments, the link between her professional life and her charity work makes complete sense. She’s seen up close what illness does to families. She’s watched people fight for their health with whatever they have. Channeling that experience into advocacy and fundraising is a natural extension of who she is.

Her philanthropic work is also a lesson she’s passing down to her kids. Jalen Green uses his NBA platform to acknowledge his Filipino heritage and give back to communities. That instinct — to use visibility for something bigger than yourself — didn’t come from an agent. It came from watching his mom.

Her Filipino-American Identity — A Thread Through Everything

Jalen’s mother, Purganan, previously expressed her delight in seeing her son cherishing his culture: “It makes me feel proud for him to carry on and then be able to understand and recognize where he comes from, his heritage… my grandfather is from here. And so, for him to recognize that and to be able to come back — it just feels great.” Briefly.co.za

That quote captures something important about Bree. She didn’t just survive the immigrant experience — she honored it. She made sure her children understood where their family came from, what it cost to get here, and why that story was worth being proud of.

For Jalen Green, being one of the very few Filipino-American players in NBA history isn’t just a statistic. It’s a tribute to his mother’s roots. Every time he steps on the court representing that heritage, Bree’s story is part of it.

Social Media & Public Presence

Bree Purganan is notably private for someone so closely connected to a global sports star.

Bree Purganan is not on Instagram. However, you can find the NBA star’s mother on Facebook. Briefly.co.za She uses it to share glimpses of her family and her work — but on her own terms, in her own time. That restraint, in an era of oversharing, feels very intentional.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Bree Purganan? Bree Purganan is a Filipino-American registered nurse, entrepreneur, and philanthropist best known as the mother of NBA star Jalen Green. She was born in Ilocos Sur, Philippines, and later relocated to California where she built her career in healthcare and raised her three children.

What is Bree Purganan known for? She is primarily known as the mother of Jalen Green, but she has her own significant identity — a career spanning over two decades in nursing, a wellness entrepreneurship background, and the founding of Bree’s Organisation for Breast Cancer Research.

What is Bree Purganan’s nationality? Bree Purganan is Filipino-American. She was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States, where she has lived and worked in California for most of her adult life.

How old is Bree Purganan? Bree Purganan’s exact date of birth has not been made public. Based on her career timeline — completing her nursing degree in 1999 — she is estimated to be in her mid-to-late 40s as of 2025.

Where is Bree Purganan from? She was born and raised in Ilocos Sur, a province in the Philippines. She later immigrated to California and has lived in Merced, Livingston, and Fresno over the years.

Does Bree Purganan have other children besides Jalen Green? Yes. Bree has three children — Raquel Purganan (eldest daughter, married to Steve Tucker), Jalen Green (middle child, NBA player), and Jurnee Tyra (youngest daughter, born 2011).

Final Thoughts

Bree Purganan is the kind of person the world would have never heard of if her son hadn’t become famous — and that’s exactly the point. She wasn’t building a public profile. She was building a family.

She left the Philippines for a better life, got her nursing degree while playing college basketball, worked two decades in healthcare, raised three kids, founded a cancer research charity, and somewhere in between all of that, produced one of the most exciting young players in the NBA.

The world knows Jalen Green’s name. But behind every step of that journey was a woman in Fresno, California — working a night shift, coaching defense in a driveway, teaching her son that winning starts in the mind.

That’s Bree Purganan. And now you know her story.