Crystal Bradford (born November 1, 1993) is an American professional basketball player who is a free agent. A star college player at

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

, she made history being the first player in the CMU program to ever be drafted to the WNBA. She was drafted by the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...

in the

2015 WNBA draft The 2015 WNBA draft was the league's draft for the 2015 WNBA season. The Seattle Storm picked first. This year's draft was unusual in that two players with remaining college eligibility declared for the draft—Jewell Loyd of Notre Dame, who h ...

High school career

Crystal Bradford attended Inkster High School and was rated as the No. 37 prospect in the nation by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, the ninth-best guard ... named Class A all-state special mention by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan and second team all-state by the

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

and Detroit News as a junior ... earned Class B all-state honors from the Associated Press, second-team all-state honors from the Detroit News and third-team all-state honors from the Detroit Free Press as a sophomore ... earned second-team All-Detroit honors from the Detroit Free Press and first team honors from the Detroit News as a sophomore ... was rated the No. 15 player in the country entering her junior year.

College career

Bradford finished her college career as CMU's all-time leader in points (2,006), rebounds (1,140), made field goals (805) and blocks (177). She was the first CMU player to be drafted in the WNBA draft.

Freshman year

Bradford entered

in 2011. As a freshman Bradford proved she was a star, ending her freshman year with ground breaking numbers. Bradford earned

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

(MAC) Honorable mention honors and was named to the MAC All-Freshmen Team ... started 19 games as a freshman while appearing in 32 ... led the team in scoring (14.2), rebounds (8.4), blocks (57) and steals (69) ... finished the season with 11 double-doubles ... scored in double digits in all but five games with, including a season-high 27 at

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...

(1/5) ... had a season-high 17 rebounds against South Florida (11/23) ... posted a season-high five blocks and five steals against

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pen ...

(1/11) ... named to the Carrs-Safeway Great Alaska Shootout All-Tournament Team and set the tournament record for most blocks (6) ... recorded three straight double-doubles in the

Tournament while finishing with a 16.4 points per game average and 10.6 rebounds ... set the tournament record for most field goals made (36), field goals attempted (80) and rebounds (53) ... was named to the MAC All-Tournament Team ... was named MAC West Player of the Week for the Week of Nov. 28th and Dec. 26th ... recorded the second most points and rebounds by a freshman at CMU ... posted the fifth most field goals made in a season at 193 ... 69 total steals were ninth most in the CMU single-season history ... has the second-most blocks in a single season at 57.

Professional career

United States

Bradford was drafted by the

with the 7th pick in the

. She appeared in 15 games during the 2015 season, averaging 2.7 points per game. During the summer of 2017, she played for the Flint Lady Monarchs of the Global Women's Basketball Association, helping the team win the GWBA title while being named the Finals MVP. In April 2021, Bradford signed with the

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real ...

. On 24 August 2021, Bradford sustained a

Jones fracture A Jones fracture is a Fracture (bone), broken bone in a specific part of the fifth metatarsal of the foot between the epiphysis, base and diaphysis, middle part that is known for its high rate of delayed healing or nonunion. It results in pain ne ...

in her right foot and missed the reminder of the season. For the season she averaged 8.8 points and 3.8 rebounds. In October 2021, it was reported that the Dream would not resign Bradford after a footage of her involvement in a fight outside of a club in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

in May 2021 circulated on social media. In February 2022, Bradford signed with the

Chicago Sky The Chicago Sky are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Sky compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded prior to the 20 ...

. In May 2023, Bradford was waived by the

after one game. She scored 4 points against the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the league ...

on May 12, 2023.

Overseas

In January 2016, Bradford signed with Vimpelin Veto of the

Naisten Korisliiga Naisten Korisliiga (Women's Basketball League) is the highest tier of women's basketball in Finland. The competition was formerly known as Koripallon naisten SM-sarja (Women's Basketball Finnish Championship) and was renamed Naisten Korisliiga f ...

. In 11 games she averaged 15.8 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. She played for Israel club Elitzur Holon during the 2017–2018 season. In 26 games, she averaged 19.6 points 13.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.5 steals helping Elitzur to both league and Cup finals. In May 2018, Bradford signed with Bnot Hertzeliya. In 23 games for the club, she averaged 22.1 points and 14.5 rebounds. During the 2020–2021 season, she played first played for

Beşiktaş JK Beşiktaş () is a List of districts in Turkey, district and List of municipalities in Turkey, municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the ...

where she averaged 20.2 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.0 steals in 19 games. She later signed with

Ramat Hasharon Ramat HaSharon ( he, רָמַת הַשָּׁרוֹן, ''lit.'' '' Sharon Heights'', ar, رمات هشارون) is a city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon region, bordering Tel Aviv to the south, Hod HaSharon t ...

, where she averaged 19.3 points, 9.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals in 11 games. In May 2021, Bradford signed to play for

Basket Liga Kobiet Basket Liga Kobiet (BLK), currently known for sponsorship reasons as Energa Basket Liga Kobiet (EBLK; 2001–2013 Polska Liga Koszykówki Kobiet, PLKK) is a professional women's club basketball league in Poland. It constitutes the first and highes ...

club

AZS Poznań AZS may refer to: *Samaná El Catey International Airport *Arizona Southern Railroad *Akademickiego Związku Sportowego, the Academic Sports Association Academic Sports Association (Polish: ''Akademicki Związek Sportowy'', ''AZS'') is a mass stud ...

for the 2021–2022 season.

Statistics

College statistics

Source

References

External links

WNBA.com: Prospect: Crystal BradfordProfile
at

Eurobasket.com Eurobasket.com also commonly referred to as "Eurobasket News", is a basketball-centered website that provide coverages of every professional and semi-professional leagues around the world. Although primarily focusing on European basketball, th ...

Finnish statistics
at Basket.fi {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradford, Crystal 1993 births Living people Atlanta Dream players Basketball players from Detroit Central Michigan Chippewas women's basketball players Guards (basketball) Los Angeles Sparks draft picks Los Angeles Sparks players Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade People from Inkster, Michigan Basketball players from Wayne County, Michigan FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States Universiade medalists in basketball