Imani Trishawn McGee-Stafford (born October 11, 1994) 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 (appro ...

player. She played college basketball for

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

College

In 2015, while at

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, McGee-Stafford was awarded the Honda Inspiration Award which is given to a collegiate athlete "who has overcome hardship and was able to return to play at the collegiate level". She grew up in a challenging home environment, but overcame the challenge and became a voice for others.

Texas statistics

Source

Professional career

WNBA

McGee-Stafford was drafted 10th overall by 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 of the Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded prior to the 2006 season. Th ...

in the

2016 WNBA draft The 2016 WNBA draft is the league's draft for the 2016 WNBA season. It was held on April 14 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The draft was most notable for Connecticut producing the top three picks, with #1 pick Breanna Stewart ...

. In her rookie season, she was ranked seventh in the league in blocks per game and was named to the

WNBA All-Rookie Team The WNBA All-Rookie Team is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) honor given since the 2005 WNBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the WNBA head coaches, who are not allowed to vote f ...

. In her first playoff game, she broke the WNBA playoff rookie record for blocks in a game with 6. Midway through the 2017 season, McGee-Stafford was traded to the

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Dream compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded for the ...

along with teammate Tamera Young in exchange for

Jordan Hooper Jordan Renee Hooper (born February 20, 1992) is an American basketball player. She last played for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was an All-American forward at the college level for the University of ...

and a first-round draft pick. She continued on with Atlanta in 2018 before joining the

Dallas Wings The Dallas Wings are an American professional basketball team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Wings compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team is owned by a group ...

for the 2019 season.

Overseas

In December 2016, McGee-Stafford moved to Israel to play for Bnot Hertzeliya. In 16 games during the 2016–17 season, she averaged 14.0 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 2.6 blocks per game. Between November and December 2017, she played in China for Beijing Great Wall of the

Women's Chinese Basketball Association The Women's Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the WCBA, is the first-tier professional women's basketball league in China. It was established in 2002 as the women's counterpart to the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). ...

. She returned to China a year later, where she played for the Liaoning Flying Eagles between October and November 2018. In February 2019, she had a four-game stint in Turkey with Adana Basketbol. On June 13, 2019, McGee-Stafford signed with 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 both WA Basketball Centre, Bendat Basketball Centre ...

in Australia for the 2019–20 WNBL season.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

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Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

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Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

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Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

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Playoffs

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2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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Personal life

McGee-Stafford was married to former

Texas Longhorns football The Texas Longhorns football program is the intercollegiate team representing the University of Texas at Austin (variously Texas or UT) in the sport of American football. The Texas Longhorns, Longhorns compete in the NCAA Division I Football B ...

player Paul Boyette Jr. in 2015, but the couple divorced in 2017. She is the daughter of former WNBA player

Pamela McGee Pamela Denise McGee (born December 1, 1962) is an American former professional women's basketball player, Olympic gold medalist, and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductee. She is the mother of NBA player JaVale McGee and WNBL player Imani ...

, the younger maternal half-sister of current

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

player JaVale McGee, and a cousin of

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

player Jarron Gilbert. She also appeared on ''

Let's Make a Deal ''Let's Make a Deal'' (also known as ''LMAD'') is a television game show that originated in the United States in 1963 and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The program was created and produced by Stefan Hatos and Mo ...

'' with her grandmother on March 8, 2018 and received a pair of scooters. In the spring of 2020, she announced that she is stepping away for the next two WNBA seasons to pursue a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from

Southwestern Law School Southwestern Law School is a Private university, private Law school in the United States, law school in Los Angeles, California. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and enrolls nearly 1,000 students. Its campus includes the Bullocks ...

in Los Angeles. In March 2023, McGee-Stafford was announced as a partner in MOORvision Technologies and Ucam, a camera built to capture athlete's point of view during games.

References

External links

Texas Longhorns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGee-Stafford, Imani 1994 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Australia American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American women's basketball players Atlanta Dream players Basketball players from Los Angeles Beijing Great Wall players Centers (basketball) Chicago Sky draft picks Chicago Sky players Children of basketball players Dallas Wings players Liaoning Flying Eagles players McDonald's High School All-Americans Perth Lynx players Texas Longhorns women's basketball players 21st-century African-American sportswomen 21st-century American sportswomen Athletes Unlimited basketball players