Kaila Charles (born March 23, 1998) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player who last played for the Seattle Storm of the WNBA. She played college basketball for the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

. After a successful college career there, Charles was drafted by the

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

with the 23rd overall pick in the 2020 WNBA draft.

Early life

High school

Charles hails from

Glenn Dale, Maryland Glenn Dale is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 14,698 at the 2020 census. Glenn Dale is home to the Glenn Dale Hospital, an abandoned sanatorium, and th ...

. For her first three years of high school, she attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School in nearby

Greenbelt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which h ...

, where her teams had a combined 72 and 5 record. While at Eleanor Roosevelt, Charles' teams won two

Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA), is the association that oversees public high school sporting contests in the state of Maryland. Organized after World War II in 1946, the MPSSAA is made up of public high schools fr ...

Class AAAA state championships (2014 and 2015). Charles also earned

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

All-Metro honors as a sophomore and junior. She transferred her senior year to

Riverdale Baptist School Riverdale Baptist School is a private Christian school located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, serving students from Pre-K to 12. It is located in Prince George's County, Maryland, and is accredited through Middle States Association of Colleges a ...

in Upper Marlboro, and helped the team to a national championship game. She was a McDonalds and

Women's Basketball Coaches Association The Women's Basketball Coaches Association is an association of coaches of women's basketball teams at all levels. The organization was formed in 1981, with the goal of addressing the needs of women's basketball coaches. The mission of the WBCA ...

All-American selection as a senior, and also received All-Metro Player of The Year honors from the Post.

Recruiting

Charles was ranked as the 25th best player in her national class by ESPN and the Collegiate Girls Report, though the All Star Girls Report had her ranked as high as 21st. She was a highly-sought player as a five-star recruit, and received over 30 scholarship offers, eventually signing with Brenda Frese and the nearby

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divis ...

over Tennessee and South Carolina.

College career

Freshman season (2016-17)

Charles earned a

double-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

in her first game and saw a large amount of playing time. She was eventually named to the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

All-Freshman Team.

Sophomore season (2017-18)

As a sophomore, Charles was named a Preseason All-Big Ten team member, as well as a preseason Ann Meyers Drysdale Award watch list member. Charles became the third player in program history to score 600 points as a second year player, and her 17.9 points per game remain the highest-ever for a Maryland sophomore. Charles earned her first Big Ten Player of the Week honors as a sophomore, and finished the season as a First Team All-Big Ten selection.

Junior season (2018-19)

Charles received Player of the Week in February of this season, and finished the season receiving

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

and WBCA Honorable Mention All-American honors, and becoming a Cheryl Miller Award finalist. She was also a unanimous First Team All-Big Ten selection, and appeared on the watchlist for the

Wade Trophy The Wade Trophy is an award presented annually to the best upperclass women's basketball player in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I competition. It is named after three–time national champion Delta State University coac ...

Senior season (2019-2020)

Prior to the 2019-20 season, she was named an AP Preseason All-American, as well as the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year. Charles was Big Ten, United States Basketball Writers Association, and ESPNW player of the week for December 30, and would receive Big Ten Player of the Week Honors once again in February. Charles finished her Maryland career by winning the 2020 Big Ten women's basketball tournament, the first time the team had done so since her freshman year, after losing to

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

and

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

in the championship game the two previous years. Charles became one of six players in program history to be in the program's top ten scorers and rebounders, holding sixth place for both. She also tied Sun teammate

Alyssa Thomas Alyssa Thomas (born April 12, 1992) is an American professional basketball forward for the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball for the Maryland Terrapins. The New York Liberty draft ...

' record of career starts (135), as she started every game of her career.

Maryland statistics

Source

WNBA

Connecticut Sun

Charles was drafted by the

with the 23rd pick in the second round of the 2020 WNBA draft. She appeared in 21 games for the Sun in her rookie year, starting seven. She averaged 5.4 points and 2.6 rebounds over 17.9 minutes per game. Despite being the seventh seed (of eight) in the

2020 WNBA Playoffs The 2020 WNBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the WNBA's 2020 season being played in Bradenton, Florida at the IMG Academy, known for the season as the "wubble." The Seattle Storm defeated the Las Vegas Aces three games to zero in t ...

, the Sun made it to the semifinals before losing to the

Las Vegas Aces The Las Vegas Aces are an American professional basketball team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Aces compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team play ...

in five games. Charles was waived by the Sun on May 5, 2022.

New York Liberty

On May 6, 2022, Charles joined the New York Liberty on a hardship contract. Two days later, she was released from the hardship and did not appear in any games.

Atlanta Dream

On August 12, 2022, Charles signed with the Dream on a hardship contract.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

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Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

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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 ...

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Postseason

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Personal life

Charles' mother, Ruperta Charles, competed in the

100 meter The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

dash at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

on behalf of Antigua and Barbuda after attending

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

. She has three older siblings. Her sister,

Afia Afia is an Akan female given name among the Akan people (i.e. Ashanti, Akuapem, Akyem, Fante) in Ghana that means "born on Friday" in Akan language, following their day naming system. People born on particular days are supposed to exhibit the c ...

, was a track athlete at the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

and represented Antigua and Barbuda in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Her brother Akil plays basketball at

St. Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Franc ...

in Nova Scotia, Canada.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Kaila 1998 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball players American people of Antigua and Barbuda descent Atlanta Dream players Sportspeople of Antigua and Barbuda descent Connecticut Sun draft picks Connecticut Sun players McDonald's High School All-Americans Maryland Terrapins women's basketball players Basketball players from Prince George's County, Maryland Seattle Storm players Shooting guards Small forwards