Kayte Lauren Christensen (born November 16, 1980) is an American

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

for the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

and former professional basketball player in 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 ...

Early life and education

Kayte Lauren Christensen was born in

Lakeview, Oregon Lakeview is a town in Lake County, Oregon, United States. The population was 2,418 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Lake County. The city bills itself as the "Tallest Town in Oregon" because of its elevation, above sea level. ...

to Randy and Cathy Christensen. She attended Modoc High School in Alturas,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and graduated in 1998. She was named the Shasta Cascade League MVP in her sophomore, junior and senior seasons. Her senior season saw her named the California Division V Player of the Year in 1998 en route to winning the

California Interscholastic Federation The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have a ...

Division V championship. Christensen attended college at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

where she competed on the women's basketball team with future WNBA players

Erin Buescher Erin Buescher Perperoglou (born June 5, 1979) is a former American professional basketball player. She played most recently as a forward for the San Antonio Silver Stars of the WNBA. In her WNBA career, Buescher Perperoglou played more than 2,50 ...

, Lindsay Taylor, and Kristen Mann. She was named to the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

All-Freshman team in 1999 and was the 2002 Big West Player of the Year.

UC Santa Barbara statistics

Source

Professional basketball career

Christensen was selected by the Phoenix Mercury in the third round (40th overall) of the 2002 WNBA Draft. She spent four seasons with the Mercury before she signed with the Houston Comets on March 24, 2006. She was waived on May 19, 2006 when she failed to make Houston's regular-season roster. She was signed to a short-term injury hardship contract by Houston on May 23, 2006 before rejoining the Mercury on June 15, 2006. After the 2006 season ended, Christensen became 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 is a ...

until she signed a contract with the Chicago Sky on March 8, 2007. She was released from the Chicago Sky on May 20, 2008 after missing games due to a recurring back injury. Christensen has played professional basketball overseas in South Korea, Turkey, and Greece during the WNBA offseasons. Christensen has twice been the recipient of the WNBA Offseason Community Assist Award, first in 2003 and second in 2004.

Sports commentating career

Christensen served as the

Arizona State Sun Devils The Arizona State Sun Devils are the athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member ...

women's basketball radio color analyst, beginning in 2003, for the Sun Devil Sports Network on NBC 1190 AM. Christensen served as a courtside reporter for the NBA's

during

Comcast SportsNet NBC Sports Regional Networks is the collective name for a group of regional sports networks in the United States that are primarily owned and operated by the NBCUniversal division of the cable television company Comcast. The networks were origin ...

broadcasts at Sleep Train Arena. In May 2010, she was replaced by Jim Gray. She returned to her courtside role in the Kings' 2013–14 season. Prior to the start of the 2021-22 NBA season the Kings announced that Christensen would replace Doug Christie as the team's television broadcast color analyst. She also has worked as a women's basketball color analyst for

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%). Th ...

and ESPNU, a social media correspondent for the Phoenix Suns, and a social media engagement producer for ''

The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...

''.

Public diplomacy

In June 2011, Christensen traveled to Venezuela as a

SportsUnited Formerly known as SportsUnited, Sports Diplomacy is the U.S. Department of State's sports diplomacy division. Sports Diplomacy uses sport to help youth around the world develop important off-the-court skills, including leadership, mutual understan ...

Sports Envoy for the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other ...

. In this function, she worked with

Darvin Ham Darvin Ham Sr. (born July 23, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Texas Tech Re ...

to conduct basketball clinics for 300 youth from underserved areas and met with Venezuelan sports officials. In so doing, Christensen helped contribute to SportsUnited's mission to promote greater understanding and inclusion through sport.

References

External links

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UC Santa Barbara player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christensen, Kayte 1980 births Living people American women's basketball players Basketball players from Oregon Chicago Sky players Houston Comets players People from Lakeview, Oregon People from Alturas, California Phoenix Mercury draft picks Phoenix Mercury players Power forwards (basketball) UC Santa Barbara Gauchos women's basketball players