Ariel Atkins (born July 30, 1996) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was founded pri ...

of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA). After a four-year college career with the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

, Atkins was drafted 7th overall by the

in 2018 and helped them reach the

WNBA Finals The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the officia ...

. She then spent the 2018–19 season in Poland with InvestInTheWest ENEA Gorzów Wielkopolski. In 2019, she won a WNBA Championship with the Washington Mystics. For the 2019–20 WNBA off-season, she signed with an Australian team, the

Perth Lynx The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Bendat Basketball Centre. For sponsorship reasons, t ...

College

Atkins played college basketball at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

for the Longhorns.

Career

WNBA

At the

2018 WNBA draft The 2018 WNBA draft was the WNBA, league's draft for the 2018 WNBA season. On March 12, the league announced the draft would be held on April 12 at Nike, Inc., Nike New York City, New York Headquarters, a recently opened secondary headquarters for ...

, Atkins was drafted by the

in the first round, as the seventh overall pick. Atkins would join a Mystics line-up alongside players such as

Elena Delle Donne Elena Delle Donne (born September 5, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Delle Donne played college basketball for the Delaware Blue Hens from 2009 ...

Kristi Toliver Kristi Renee Toliver (born January 27, 1987) is an American-Slovak professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and an NBA assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks. During her ro ...

Natasha Cloud Natasha Cloud (born February 22, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). High school Natasha Cloud gained recognition while being named AAAA First Tea ...

. In August 2018, Atkins was named to the All-Defensive Second Team in her debut season. Later in September 2018, Atkins was also named to the All-Rookie Team. On October 10, 2019, Atkins and the

Mystics A mystic is a person who practices mysticism, or a reference to a mystery, mystic craft, first hand-experience or the occult. Mystic may also refer to: Places United States * Mistick, an old name for parts of Malden and Medford, Massachusetts * ...

took home their first

WNBA Championship The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the officia ...

after defeating the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut that competes in the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was established ...

, 3–2. In September 2020, Atkins was named to the All-Defensive Second Team for the third time in her three career seasons.

Career statistics

College

, - , 2014–15 , align="left" ,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, 27 , 19 , 23.9 , .363 , .288 , .825 , 3.4 , 1.3 , 1.2 , 0.2 , 2.2 , 9.7 , - , 2015–16 , align="left" ,

, 27 , 14 , 21.0 , .536 , .356 , .819 , 3.9 , 1.3 , 1.3 , 0.2 , 1.4 , 11.2 , - , 2016–17 , align="left",

, 32 , 32 , 26.6 , .456 , .377 , .818 , 4.2 , 1.6 , 2.0 , 0.3 , 1.4 , 12.8 , - , 2017–18 , align="left",

, 35 , 35 , 27.7 , .534 , .420 , .859 , 5.5 , 3.2 , 2.5 , 0.6 , 2.0 , 14.9 , - , Career , , 121 , 100 , 25.1 , .475 , .373 , .831 , 4.3 , 1.9 , 1.8 , 0.4 , 1.7 , 12.4

WNBA

Regular season

, - , align="left" ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, align="left" ,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, 29 , , 24 , , 22.5 , , .432 , , .357 , , .824 , , 2.4 , , 2.1 , , 1.3 , , 0.3 , , 1.3 , , 11.3 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;" ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

^† , align="left" ,

, 33 , , 33 , , 24.3 , , .416 , , .357 , , .811 , , 2.8 , , 1.9 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 1.0 , , 10.3 , - , align="left" ,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, align="left" ,

, 22 , , 22 , , 31.0 , , .438 , , .411 , , .886 , , 2.9 , , 2.4 , , 1.8 , , 0.3 , , 1.9 , , 14.8 , - , align="left" ,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, align="left" ,

, 30 , , 30 , , 30.6 , , .407 , , .359 , , .831 , , 2.8 , , 2.6 , , 1.6 , , 0.5 , , 2.0, , 16.2 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 4 years, 1 team , 114 , , 109 , , 26.8 , , .421 , , .368 , , .839 , , 2.7 , , 2.3 , , 1.5 , , 0.4 , , 2.6 , , 13.0

Postseason

, - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

, 9 , , 9 , , 27.9 , , .480 , , .424 , , .879 , , 3.7 , , 1.9 , , 1.1 , , 0.1 , , 0.8 , , 15.2 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;" ,

^† , align="left" ,

, 9 , , 9 , , 19.8 , , .373 , , .333 , , .929 , , 2.7 , , 2.3 , , 0.8 , , 0.0 , , 1.2 , , 7.3 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

, 1 , , 1 , , 36.0 , , .375 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 4.0 , , 4.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 13.0 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 3 years, 1 team , 19 , , 19 , , 24.5 , , .434 , , .365 , , .896 , , 3.2 , , 2.2 , , 1.1 , , 0.1 , , 1.0 , , 11.4

References

External links

*
WNBA player profileTexas Longhorns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkins, Ariel 1996 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Australia American expatriate basketball people in Poland American women's basketball players Basketball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Dallas Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball Perth Lynx players Shooting guards Texas Longhorns women's basketball players Washington Mystics draft picks Washington Mystics players Women's National Basketball Association All-Stars United States women's national basketball team players