Brian Cardinal attended Unity High School in Tolono, Illinois, where he played basketball with his brother, Troy.

Along with Juniors Brad Miller and Chad Austin, he helped lead the Boilermakers to an NCAA Tournament Second Round appearance.

In Brian's sophomore campaign, he averaged 12.0 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists, and led the team in steals with 65, which tied for the third-best single season total in Purdue history.

While leading Purdue to a 28–8 record (12–4 in the Big Ten), Brian was the Boilermakers' top scorer in four games.

He helped lead the Boilers to a Sweet Sixteen appearance, with the Boilermakers beating Delaware and Detroit Mercy in the first two rounds, before losing to eventual Final Four semifinalist Stanford, by the score of 67–59.

He finished his senior year with career season highs with 203 rebounds and 13.9 points a game.

While at Purdue, Brian won a gold medal at the 1998 Goodwill games; Team USA went 4–1.

On September 11, 2002, Cardinal was traded to the Washington Wizards along with Jerry Stackhouse and Ratko Varda, for Richard Hamilton, Hubert Davis and Bobby Simmons.

Cardinal spent the rest of the 2002–03 season playing in the Spanish league for Pamesa Valencia, winning the ULEB Cup Championship.

He was a finalist for the NBA Most Improved Player Award, eventually won by Zach Randolph.

Teamed with fellow forward Kevin Love in his eighth season in the NBA under head coach Kevin McHale and assistant coach Jerry Sichting, a former Boilermaker, Brian averaged 3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists a game for the 2008–09 season.

[4] On May 8, 2011, Cardinal hit the 20th three-pointer in Game 4 of the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers series.

Cardinal won his first NBA championship with the 2011 Mavericks in a six-game playoff series against the Miami Heat.

The Thunder would go on to sweep the Mavericks and eliminate them from the playoffs, with Cardinal subsequently retiring from the NBA.

Brian is married to former walk-on Purdue standout Danielle Bird, with whom he has a son and two daughters.