Thanks for posting this. That's one tough young lady.This explains why her career tailed off after 2019 (she was stellar her first 2 seasons).
Diamond DeShields and the WNBA comeback no one knew about
Just 21 months before winning a WNBA title with Chicago, Diamond DeShields had a tumor removed from her spine that left her with tremors and relearning how to walk.www.espn.com
Plus she missed all of last year with a knee injury. Definitely a tough road for her.
Sophie Cunningham has been a huge surprise to me. A'ja Wilson has not. I think anyone who watched her closely throughout college would have recognized the potential to be the best at the next level.
I don't think it was poor conditioning, it was injuries. Per wiki she sprained her ankle and had a stress fracture in her leg in the first game of the NCAA Tourney during her Sr. season. She was a shell of herself as the Tourney continued on.
i have to believe only reason she's on a roster is because connection to a, boston. in 2 seasons she probably doesn't have 40 total minutesplayed...
Of course you can't - (insert the biggest sarcasm emoji ever and the most eye rolling ever)
My best friend, a type 1 diabetic since around 8, passed away at 29 by heart attack. Diabetics was the underlying cause of all of his health issues, mostly with feet and nerve endings. He was all-state in basketball, and pitched a no-hitter in high school.
I had a cousin who was diabetic around age 12. He died young as well, but not related to diabetes.
I assume by “at the end of her career” Milford meant last few seasons in the WNBA. I would concur that Jayne didn’t look the same her last couple of years. Of course it’s possible or likely that her wheels didn’t allow her to train as hard as when she was younger.
Oops, my mistake.
Kahleah Copper. A star at Rutgers, but after the time we were in NJ.
I expected her to be the star she is, but slipping to #6 in the draft reflected how underrated Napheesa Collier was. I imagine she was viewed as undersized for her position.
If I remember correctly, most thought she’d go #4 and Samuelson being picked there was a surprise. Collier was projected as a tad undersized but she had a brilliant senior year and most thought she’d be a solid pro.
That’s a pretty ridiculous statement TBH and is disrespectful to both players. Aliyah doesn’t need a babysitter, nor does she need a companion. She has a BF.
I’m not going to argue because this is a great thread, and I don’t want it to get locked but both of those young women have worked hard to get where they are.
She's THE clearcut #1--there hasn't been a "1a/1b" situation since October 18, 2023 (and maybe even a month before that).
Yep. I remember reading/hearing how the so-called experts said that Bonner would not last long because of the physical nature of the game, much like how they are saying the same things about a certain #1 pick. How with her slight frame, she would take a beating and suffer injuries. Thanks for pointing out how she rarely misses games. Bonner has played herself into a Hall of Fame career.
This has been my sense of A'ja too. Good in college, tremendous as a pro. I've observed elsewhere that bigs can often have the most surprising leap in talent in the pros. Maybe it's because the whole timetable for them is longer than for guards. Maybe it's because they're not so hamstrung by the narrow way college games are reffed. But players like A'ja and Jonquel seem like they've been unleashed as pros.
