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Four Blue Devils Set for the Start of 25th WNBA Season
5/14/2021 5:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball
DURHAM -- As the WNBA gets set for the start of its 25th season, which launches on Friday, May 14, Duke women's basketball, like many years in the past, will be well-represented. Four former Blue Devils will be taking the stage after making it through the final cuts this week. Each of the four players compete on different teams and include: Chelsea Gray (Las Vegas Aces), Elizabeth Williams (Atlanta Dream), Jasmine Thomas (Connecticut Sun) and Leaonna Odom (New York Liberty).
Karima Christmas-Kelly is another former Blue Devil that is currently rehabbing from an injury and hopes to return for this season to help one lucky team in the pursuit of a championship. Christmas-Kelly has been a professional for nine years, accumulating 2,029 points and 978 total rebounds. Christmas-Kelly also won a WNBA Championship back in 2012 with the Indiana Fever.
The opening game of the season will be on Friday, May 14, with tip off at 7 p.m. EST. The first contest will feature New York Liberty and the Indiana Fever and will include Odom, who is entering her second season in the WNBA. While at Duke, Odom started in 99 out of 125 games and ended her collegiate career with the 10th most minutes with 3,716. Odom averaged 5.5 points and in the final game of her rookie season, scored a career-high 20 points against the Dallas Wings.
Gray signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Las Vegas Aces this offseason, who finished the 2020 season atop the WNBA with an 18-4 record. In her 2020 campaign, Gray scored double digit points in 18 out of 22 games and finished fifth in the league in the assist department. Known as one of the top point guards in the WNBA, Gray played the last five seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks, while helping the Sparks win the 2016. She is also a three-time WNBA All-Star selection.
Two Blue Devils that will be on opposing teams on Friday at 7:30 p.m., will be Thomas and Williams. Thomas is entering into her 10th season after getting selected 12th overall in the 2011 WNBA draft by the Storm. She is beginning her seventh season with the Sun. Thomas has a total of 3,394 career points in the WNBA in 351 career games. Thomas, a 2017 WNBA All-Star, capped off her time at Duke with becoming the seventh leading scorer in program history with 1,704 points.
Williams enters the 2021 season after having started every game for the Dream in 2020. Williams, a 6-3 center, won numerous accolades during her time at Duke including: National Freshman of the Year 2011-12, Four-Time All-American and 2015 National Defensive Player of the Year. In her six seasons in the WNBA, Williams has a career average of 9.4 PPG and 6.3 RPG. Williams is one of the top shot-blockers in the league and has swatted 307 shots in her six seasons.
Williams and Thomas played one season together back in 2015, when they were both a part of the Connecticut Sun franchise.
Both Lexie Brown and Haley Gorecki attended training camps for Chicago and Seattle, respectively, but were cut Thursday when rosters were trimmed to 11.
The Blue Devils rank in the top-6 nationally for most players in the WNBA in 2021. Out of 15 total teams in the ACC, Duke is tied for second with four alumnae competing at the start of the WNBA season. In 2021, the ACC will be represented by 29 former student-athletes with Duke, Notre Dame, and Louisville making up over half (18). With its 29 players, the ACC ranks first out of all the other conferences -- SEC (22), PAC-12 (19) and Big Ten (17).
Three of the four players from Duke (Odom, Thomas, and Williams) will all be participating within the Eastern Conference, and Gray in the Western Conference of the WNBA. The WNBA is set for a 32-game season, which includes 100 nationally televised contests on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, CBS Sports, CBS Network, NBA TV, and as well as Amazon Prime Video. Normally, each team would be granted 36 total games but due to the Coronavirus, the league has decided that 32 games would still suffice as a competitive season.
#GoDuke
Karima Christmas-Kelly is another former Blue Devil that is currently rehabbing from an injury and hopes to return for this season to help one lucky team in the pursuit of a championship. Christmas-Kelly has been a professional for nine years, accumulating 2,029 points and 978 total rebounds. Christmas-Kelly also won a WNBA Championship back in 2012 with the Indiana Fever.
The opening game of the season will be on Friday, May 14, with tip off at 7 p.m. EST. The first contest will feature New York Liberty and the Indiana Fever and will include Odom, who is entering her second season in the WNBA. While at Duke, Odom started in 99 out of 125 games and ended her collegiate career with the 10th most minutes with 3,716. Odom averaged 5.5 points and in the final game of her rookie season, scored a career-high 20 points against the Dallas Wings.
Gray signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Las Vegas Aces this offseason, who finished the 2020 season atop the WNBA with an 18-4 record. In her 2020 campaign, Gray scored double digit points in 18 out of 22 games and finished fifth in the league in the assist department. Known as one of the top point guards in the WNBA, Gray played the last five seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks, while helping the Sparks win the 2016. She is also a three-time WNBA All-Star selection.
Two Blue Devils that will be on opposing teams on Friday at 7:30 p.m., will be Thomas and Williams. Thomas is entering into her 10th season after getting selected 12th overall in the 2011 WNBA draft by the Storm. She is beginning her seventh season with the Sun. Thomas has a total of 3,394 career points in the WNBA in 351 career games. Thomas, a 2017 WNBA All-Star, capped off her time at Duke with becoming the seventh leading scorer in program history with 1,704 points.
Williams enters the 2021 season after having started every game for the Dream in 2020. Williams, a 6-3 center, won numerous accolades during her time at Duke including: National Freshman of the Year 2011-12, Four-Time All-American and 2015 National Defensive Player of the Year. In her six seasons in the WNBA, Williams has a career average of 9.4 PPG and 6.3 RPG. Williams is one of the top shot-blockers in the league and has swatted 307 shots in her six seasons.
Williams and Thomas played one season together back in 2015, when they were both a part of the Connecticut Sun franchise.
Both Lexie Brown and Haley Gorecki attended training camps for Chicago and Seattle, respectively, but were cut Thursday when rosters were trimmed to 11.
The Blue Devils rank in the top-6 nationally for most players in the WNBA in 2021. Out of 15 total teams in the ACC, Duke is tied for second with four alumnae competing at the start of the WNBA season. In 2021, the ACC will be represented by 29 former student-athletes with Duke, Notre Dame, and Louisville making up over half (18). With its 29 players, the ACC ranks first out of all the other conferences -- SEC (22), PAC-12 (19) and Big Ten (17).
Three of the four players from Duke (Odom, Thomas, and Williams) will all be participating within the Eastern Conference, and Gray in the Western Conference of the WNBA. The WNBA is set for a 32-game season, which includes 100 nationally televised contests on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, CBS Sports, CBS Network, NBA TV, and as well as Amazon Prime Video. Normally, each team would be granted 36 total games but due to the Coronavirus, the league has decided that 32 games would still suffice as a competitive season.
#GoDuke
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