Ivory Latta (born September 25, 1984) is an American professional basketball player who is currently a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who i ...

. She was drafted 11th overall by the

Detroit Shock The Detroit Shock were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were the 2003, 2006, and 2008 WNBA champions. Debuting in 1998, the Shock were one of the league's first expansion franchises. Th ...

in the 2007 WNBA Draft. A 5'6" (1.68 m) guard noted for her three-point shooting and on-court enthusiasm, she played college basketball for the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the stat ...

. She is the all-time leading scorer in South Carolina high school basketball history (men's and women's) with a total of 4,319 career points.

High school

Born in

McConnells, South Carolina McConnells is a town in York County, South Carolina, United States and a suburb of York. The population was 255 at the 2010 census. History The Bethesda Presbyterian Church, Brattonsville Historic District, and Hightower Hall are listed on th ...

, Latta played for York Comprehensive High School in York, South Carolina, where she was named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the 2003 WBCA High School All-America Game where she scored seventeen points, and earned MVP honors.

College career

Latta was named the 2006 Player of the Year by

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including: ...

, USBWA, GballMag.com and Basketball Times National Player of the Year, Nancy Lieberman Award Winner as Point Guard of the Year (2006), Consensus All-American (2006), ACC Player of the Year (2006), ACC Tournament MVP (2005), WBCA National Player for the Month of March (2005), All-ACC First Team (2007, 2005), AP All-American Third Team (2005), ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year (2004), All-ACC Second Team (2004), All-ACC Freshmen Team (2004). Latta averaged 14.0 points per game as a freshman, 16.2 as a senior, and 16.6 for her career at North Carolina.

College statistics

Source

Professional career

Latta was drafted by the

with the 11th pick in the 2007 WNBA Draft. She averaged 3.0 points per game as a rookie, and had the second-best 3-point field goal percentage in the WNBA for the 2007 regular season. Latta appeared in her first WNBA Finals during her rookie season with the Shock, where they lost in 5 games to the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season ...

. On February 6, 2008, Latta was traded to 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 ...

for the Dream's 2008 second round pick and

LaToya Thomas LaToya Monique Thomas (born July 6, 1981) is a professional basketball player. College years Thomas was a standout four-year starter at Mississippi State University. Thomas was the eighth freshman in the 25-year history of Kodak All-America ho ...

. She played for Ceyhan in Turkey during the 2008–09 WNBA off-season. She was originally released by the Atlanta Dream at the start of the 2009 WNBA season, but then signed on July 3, 2009, after the Dream released Nikki Teasley instead. Latta played for the Tulsa Shock from 2010 to 2012, and joined 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 ...

in 2013. In 2013, she was selected to the

WNBA All-Star Game The Women's National Basketball Association All-Star Game, commonly referred to as the WNBA All-Star Game, is an annual exhibition basketball game played in the United States between the best players of the Western and Eastern Conference of ...

for the first time. In 2014, Latta was selected as an all-star replacement for the injured

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 200 ...

, making it her second all-star game appearance. In July 2016, Latta suffered a left knee injury during practice at the Verizon Center that would sideline her for the rest of the season after playing 22 games. In 2017, Latta was healthy and played all 34 games. The Mystics advanced past the second round for the first time in franchise history, but were swept by the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team won the WNBA title in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Founded p ...

in the semi-finals.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

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2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

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Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

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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 498,7 ...

, 34 , , 31 , , 28.2 , , .362, , .344 , , .802 , , 2.1 , , 3.6 , , 1.3 , , 0.0 , , 1.7 , , 11.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

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, 24 , , 0 , , 14.6 , , .409 , , .360 , , .826 , , 0.7 , , 1.4 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 6.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

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Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...

, 18 , , 16 , , 28.7 , , .422 , , .370 , , .776 , , 1.4 , , 3.9 , , 1.0 , , 0.1 , , 2.1 , , 12.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

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, 24 , , 24 , , 28.5 , , .414 , , .351 , , .830 , , 2.0 , , 3.2 , , 1.2 , , 0.0 , , 2.8 , , 12.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

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, 34 , , 18 , , 28.3 , , .430 , , .390 , , .840 , , 2.2 , , 3.3 , , 0.9 , , 0.0 , , 2.1 , , 14.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

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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 ...

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2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

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2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

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, 34 , , 25 , , 27.3 , , .406 , , .389 , , .909 , , 1.8 , , 2.6 , , 0.6 , , 0.0 , , 1.7 , , 13.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016 , style="text-align:left;",

, 22 , , 2 , , 20.8 , , .331 , , .305 , , .909 , , 1.7 , , 1.9 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 1.4 , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 1 , , 17.0 , , .349 , , .328 , , .871 , , 0.8 , , 1.7 , , 0.4 , , 0.0 , , 0.8 , , 8.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 11 years, 4 teams , 323 , , 185 , , 24.2 , , .393 , , .369 , , .848 , , 1.7 , , 2.7 , , 0.8 , , 0.0 , , 1.7 , , 10.7

Playoffs

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, 3 , , 3 , , 31.3 , , .484 , , .400 , , .500 , , 4.0 , , 3.0 , , 0.6 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 12.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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, 3 , , 0 , , 9.2 , , .467 , , .444 , , .000 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 0.0, , 0.0 , , 0.3 , , 6.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 6 years, 3 teams , 23 , , 10 , , 17.9 , , .399 , , .402 , , .795 , , 1.2 , , 1.8 , , 0.4 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 8.0

European career

*2007–2008: Elitzur Holon *2008–2009: Ceyhan Belediyesi *2009–2010: Mersin BŞB *2010–2011: Maccabi Ramat Hen *2011–2012: Tarsus Belediye *2013: Maccabi Ramat Hen *2015–2016: Edirne Belediyesi Edirnespor

Personal life

On January 9, 2003 a resolution was read on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives by U.S. Representative

John Spratt John McKee Spratt Jr. (born November 1, 1942) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 1983 to 2011. The 5th Congressional District covers all or part of 14 counties in north-central South Carolina. The largest cities a ...

honoring Latta. She would also receive the key to the city of York, South Carolina (where she attended high school and Spratt's hometown), which celebrated Ivory Latta Day on January 10, 2003. Latta's father and paternal grandmother both live with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms beco ...

and she has been very outspoken about how her father's diagnosis impacted her. As a result, Latta serves as an ambassador for the

Parkinson's Disease Foundation The Parkinson's Foundation is a national organization that funds research and provides educational resources to Parkinson’s disease patients and caregivers. The Parkinson's Foundation was established in 2016 through the merger of the National P ...

(PDF). In this role, she is involved with fundraising campaigns for PDF and generating awareness about Parkinson's disease, and enlists other professional athletes to support the cause. Latta's friendships with NBA superstar LeBron James and actor/rapper Chris " Ludacris" Bridges have been well documented.

Awards and honors

* 2006 – Nancy Lieberman Award

Notes

External links

WNBA profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Latta, Ivory 1984 births Living people African-American basketball players All-American college women's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Atlanta Dream players Basketball players from South Carolina Detroit Shock players McDonald's High School All-Americans Mersin Büyükşehir Belediyesi women's basketball players North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball coaches North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball players Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) People from York County, South Carolina Point guards Tulsa Shock players Washington Mystics players Women's National Basketball Association All-Stars 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women