With WNBA teams currently fighting for playoff spots, the Blue Zone takes a look at former Blue Devils currently playing in the league's eleventh week of games for the year.
Chelsea Gray, Los Angeles Sparks
Duke alumnus Chelsea Gray has continued to dominate the league and was recently chosen as a WNBA All-Star Game starter for the first time in her career. Gray received votes from fans, coaches and players to earn her All-Star bid for the second year in a row and it isn’t hard to see why. Up to this point in the season, Gray has averaged 14.5 PPG and 5.4 APG, shooting 39.4 percent from behind the arc in 26 games. Gray’s playmaking ability was on full display as she fully embraced the flashiness commonly seen at All-Star games.
Gray finished with five points, five rebounds and two assists in almost 18 minutes of play. Gray and fellow teammate and Duke Alumnus, Alana Beard, have led the Los Angeles Sparks to a 15-11 record, the fourth best in the league, in position to make the playoffs again and try to make a championship run.
Jasmine Thomas and Lexie Brown, Connecticut Sun
The five-foot-nine guard Jasmine Thomas, has done all she could to try and put her team in position to make the playoffs. Averaging 12.1 PPG and 4.5 APG at a team high 23.4 percent usage rate for the Connecticut Sum, Thomas has been the team’s backbone on both sides of the floor, which has given her team the eighth best record in the league so far.
Thomas’ protege, recent Duke graduate Lexie Brown, hasn’t received a lot of playing time in her rookie season on such a guard heavy team. However, in her limited time on the floor, she has shown flashes of what could be a successful career in the WNBA, something the Sun expected out of their 2018 lottery pick. Against the Phoenix Mercury July 5, Brown nailed a trifecta of threes at a 75 percent clip in just seven minutes of playing time. Thomas and the rest of the Sun organization has been pleased with Brown’s development thus far.
Elizabeth Williams, Atlanta Dream
The Atlanta Dream currently own the second best record in the WNBA and are on an eight game winning streak; this domination has been made possible in part by former Duke center Elizabeth William’s performance this season. Williams has made her mark on both sides of the floor, with 7.7 PPG, 5.5 APG and 1.67 BPG (the sixth best in the league). Williams recently put together a season-best performance against the Seattle Storm July 22, with a season high in points (17), game high in rebounds (8) and a game high in blocks (2), leading the Dream to an 87-74 victory. The former 2017 all-star is an important piece to one of the better teams in the WNBA, and she hopes to help them win a championship this year.
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