Kruger then played professional basketball from 2007 to 2013, including multiple stints with NBA Development League teams Utah Flash and Los Angeles D-Fenders.

[1] His father, Lon Kruger, was head men's basketball coach at the University of Texas Pan American at the time.

At the conclusion of his sophomore season, he moved to Marietta, Georgia, where he attended George Walton Comprehensive High School,[3] graduating in 2002.

[1] After graduating from Arizona State in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in justice studies, Kruger transferred to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to play his senior season under his father, by then the head coach for the UNLV Runnin' Rebels.

Kruger began his coaching career at Northern Arizona as an assistant for two seasons before joining his father's staff at Oklahoma.