Azurá Stevens

Azurá Breeona Stevens (born February 1, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).[1] Stevens played collegiately for the Duke Blue Devils[1] and the Connecticut Huskies.[2][3] She was drafted with the 6th overall pick in the 2018 WNBA draft by the Dallas Wings.

Azurá Stevens
Stevens in 2018
No. 23 – Los Angeles Sparks
PositionPower forward / center
LeagueWNBA
Personal information
Born (1996-02-01) February 1, 1996
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
High schoolCary
(Cary, North Carolina)
College
WNBA draft2018: 1st round, 6th overall pick
Selected by the Dallas Wings
Playing career2018–present
Career history
2018–2019Dallas Wings
2020–2022Chicago Sky
2022–2023Galatasaray
2023–presentLos Angeles Sparks
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Women's 3x3 basketball
Representing the  United States
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place2023 SantiagoTeam

Background

Stevens was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the daughter of Damon and Kaasha Stevens.[1] She attended Cary High School in Cary, North Carolina, graduating in 2014.[1] She played basketball at Cary High, where she averaged 30 points, 20 rebounds, and four blocks her senior year.[4][5] As a sophomore and junior in high school, she played basketball with The Miracle League of the Triangle.[1]

Stevens was an All-Academic selection all four years of high school.[1] Her senior year, she was selected as an All-American by Parade Magazine.[1] In 2014, she was selected for All-State by the Associated Press and for All-North Carolina First Team by USA Today.[1]

Career

College career

Stevens played for the Duke Blue Devils during the 2014–15 and 2015-16 season. At Duke, she was named to the All-ACC Second Team as a freshman and to the First Team as a sophomore. She sat out the following due to transfer rules before playing for the UConn Huskies in the 2017-18 season. At UConn, she was named to the All-AAC Second Team and received the AAC Sixth Player of Year and AAC Newcomer of Year awards.[6]

Duke and Connecticut statistics

Source[7]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2014-15 Duke 33 466 51.2% 28.3% 59.6% 8.2 1.7 1.1 0.9 14.1
2015-16 Duke 25 472 53.5% 35.8% 75.0% 9.6 1.6 1.3 2.1 18.9
2016-17 Connecticut Sat due to NCAA transfer rules
2017-18 Connecticut 37 543 60.6% 17.6% 79.1% 7.4 1.9 0.8 2.1 14.7
Career 95 1481 55.2% 27.3% 70.7% 8.3 1.7 1.0 1.7 15.6

WNBA career

In April 2018, Stevens decided to forgo her senior year of college and declare for the 2018 WNBA draft.[8][9] She was a highly rated player expected to be taken in the first round of the draft, and noted for her ability to play "positionless" basketball.[10][11][12][13]

In her rookie season for the Wings, Stevens mostly came off the bench, averaging 20.6 minutes, 8.9 points, and 4.6 rebounds per game, and was named to the WNBA All-Rookie Team.[14] Although the Wings ended the season with a 15–19 losing record, they entered the playoffs as the eighth seed and lost in the first round to the Phoenix Mercury. Stevens missed most of the 2019 season with an injury, playing only 9 games where she averaged 16 minutes and 4.8 points per game.[15] She later had surgery on her injured foot.[15]

Ahead of the 2020 season, the Wings traded Stevens to the Chicago Sky in exchange for Katie Lou Samuelson and first-round pick in the 2021 WNBA draft.[16] In reporting ahead of the 2018 draft, multiple outlets had expected the Sky to draft Stevens with the third or fourth pick.[11][12][13] With the Sky, Stevens was expected to fill a gap in the forward position created by the departure of Astou Ndour.[15]

Galatasaray

On 3 August 2022, she signed with Galatasaray of the Turkish Women's Basketball Super League (TKBL).[17]

As of July 2023, her contract has expired. Galatasaray club said goodbye to the player on July 6, 2023 by publishing a thank you message.[18]

Career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader
† Denotes seasons in which Stevens won a WNBA championship

Regular season
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2018 Dallas 34920.6.430.318.7884.61.30.91.11.58.9
2019 Dallas 9116.0.358.111.8003.60.60.61.11.04.8
2020 Chicago 131327.3.500.385.8505.91.50.91.81.511.5
2021† Chicago 301119.6.500.333.813'4.60.80.80.70.97.4
2022 Chicago 35821.9.472.362.7443.90.80.51.10.710.6
Career 5 years, 2 teams 1214221.1.463.340.7904.41.00.71.11.19.0

Playoffs
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2018 Dallas 1013.01.0001.000.0002.00.00.00.00.07.0
2021† Chicago 101025.4.477.263.7866.90.80.70.80.99.8
2022 Chicago 8018.8.472.188.6673.80.51.00.90.87.4
Career 3 years, 2 teams 191021.9.486.250.7395.30.60.80.80.88.6

Notes
  1. "Azurá Stevens - 2015-16 - Women's Basketball". Duke Athletics. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  2. "23 Azurá Stevens". CBS Interactive (UConn Huskies). Archived from the original on May 26, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  3. "UConn's Azura Stevens skipping final year to enter WNBA". ESPN. Associated Press. April 6, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  4. Moody, Aaron (February 26, 2012). "Cary Girls Upset East Wake: Two Imps - Stevens and Coleman - Outscore Entire Warrior Team". The News and Observer. p. A6. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Azura Stevens: 5 Things To Know About UConn Women's Newest Player". Hartford Courant. May 2, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  6. "Azura Stevens". WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  7. "NCAA Statistics". web1.ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
  8. Associated Press (2018-04-02). "UConn forward Stevens to enter WNBA draft". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-05. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  9. Anthony, Mike. "UConn's Azura Stevens Declares For WNBA Draft, Forgoing Senior Season". courant.com. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  10. Ellentuck, Matt (2018-04-10). "Dallas Wings get future of the WNBA in Azura Stevens". SBNation.com. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  11. Voepel, Michelle (2018-04-11). "How will UConn's Azurá Stevens impact the WNBA draft?". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  12. "WNBA mock draft: Projecting all three rounds". ESPN.com. 2018-04-10. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  13. Ellentuck, Matt (2018-04-09). "WNBA mock draft: A'ja Wilson will go No. 1. After that, anything can happen". SBNation.com. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  14. "Azura Stevens WNBA Stats". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  15. Kenney, Madeline (2020-07-04). "Sky look to Azura Stevens for 'big season' after injury-plagued 2019". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  16. "Sky trade Katie Lou Samuelson and a 1st-round pick to the Dallas Wings for Azura Stevens". chicagotribune.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  17. "Azura Stevens Galatasaray'da!" (in Turkish). Galatasaray. August 3, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  18. "Teşekkürler!". Galatasaray S.K. July 6, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
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