Nika Mühl ( ; born 9 April 2001) is a Croatian 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 for the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team was founded by Gi ...

of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

(WNBA). She played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

as a

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

for the

UConn Huskies The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, with its main campus located in Storrs, Connecticut. The school is a member of ...

. Twice named

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

Defensive Player of the Year while in college, Mühl is

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

's all-time leader in career assists, with 686, and also holds the program records for most assists in a single season (284, set in 2022–23) and in a single game (15 against

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

on November 20, 2022). She was selected 14th overall by

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

in the

2024 WNBA draft The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s draft for the 2024 WNBA season, 2024 season, following the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season, was held on April 15, 2024, the WNBA draft, 29th draft in WNBA history. The draf ...

and also plays for

Beşiktaş JK Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

of the

Women's Basketball Super League The Women's Basketball Super League (, KBSL), also known as the ING Women's Basketball Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the top women's professional basketball division of the Turkish women's basketball league system. The league was establ ...

in Turkey.

Early life

Mühl was born in

Zagreb, Croatia Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

to parents Roberta and Darko Mühl, both of whom played basketball. She has one younger sister, Hana Mühl. Nika Mühl attended the III Gymnasium Zagreb.

ŽKK Trešnjevka 2009

Mühl played four seasons for

ŽKK Trešnjevka 2009 Ženski Košarkaški Klub Trešnjevka 2009 is a Croatian women's basketball club from Zagreb currently playing in the First League of Croatia. Its major success was winning the Ronchetti Cup in 1980 beating Maritsa Plovdiv in the final; it was th ...

in the Croatian Prva Ženska Liga, from 2016 to 2020. She appeared in 24 games in the Prva liga in her first season, averaging 6.4 points, 4.2

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

and 2.8 assists. The following season she averaged 9.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists in the Prva Ženska Liga and 11.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists in the

Women Adriatic Basketball Association WABA League, commonly known as the Adriatic League, is a top-level regional basketball league, featuring female teams from Serbia, Montenegro, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia. Clubs from Turkey, North Macedonia, ...

(WABA). In 2018–2019, she averaged 10.0, 7.9 and 6.2 assists in the Prva Ženska Liga and 11.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.2 assists in the WABA. She continued her stellar performance with Trešnjevka during the 2019–2020 season; Mühl averaged 8.6 points and 7.1 assists in the Prva Ženska Liga and 11.7 points and 7.2 assists in the WABA.

College career

Recruiting

Mühl received

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

offers from several

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

basketball programs, including

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

, and

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

. On April 8, 2019, Mühl announced her commitment to the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

. She credited Coach

Geno Auriemma Luigi "Geno" Auriemma (born March 23, 1954) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. He holds the NCAA basketball records for wins and winning percentage with a mi ...

's personal trip to

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

as one reason for her decision: “He was the first one to visit. He made me think that he really cared and that he really wanted me there.” On November 13, 2019, Mühl signed a

National Letter of Intent The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manag ...

with

Freshman

During her freshman season, Mühl averaged 5.0 points, 2.7 assists, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.8 steals across 22 games. She made 14 consecutive starts. On 25 February 2021, she scored a season high 19 points in an 81-49 victory against Creighton. In UConn’s first game against High Point in the NCAA Tournament, Mühl rolled her ankle and needed to be helped off the court. She missed the next three games and was unable to return to form in the

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

Sophomore

Mühl was named

Big East The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

Defensive Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY or DPOTY) is the name of an award given in sports for outstanding defensive play by a single player over the course of a season. Many sports leagues award this type of award. League awards for Defensive Player o ...

for the 2021–22 season after averaging 2.2 steals per game, second best in the

, and headlining the Huskies defense which allowed a league best of 50.8 points per game against conference opponents.

Junior

With teammate

Paige Bueckers Paige Madison Bueckers ( ; born October 20, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Dallas Wings of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball for the UConn Huskies women's basketball, ...

out for the season due to a torn ACL, ''

SB Nation ''SB Nation'' (an abbreviation for their full name ''SportsBlogs Nation'') is a sports blogging network owned by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Tyler Blezinski, Markos Moulitsas, and Jerome Armstrong in 2003. The blog from which the netwo ...

''s Daniel Connolly wrote that Mühl had become

's "most important player as the team's only true

with no obvious options behind her." Mühl took on the role of leader on both the defensive and offensive end. On November 20, 2022, she set the program record for most assists in a single game with 15 against

, a record held previously by Bueckers. She led the nation in

assists per game In basketball, an assist is attributed to a player who passes the ball to a teammate in a way that leads directly to a score by field goal, meaning that they were "assisting" in the basket. An assist is also credited when a basket is awarded due ...

for most of the 2022–23 season, only finishing behind

Caitlin Clark Caitlin Elizabeth Clark (born January 22, 2002) is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Regarded as one of the greatest female collegiate players, Clark was tw ...

by 0.2 assists. In the final regular-season game against Xavier, Mühl recorded seven assists to bring her season total to 236, five more than the single-season school record set by

Sue Bird Suzanne Brigit Bird (born October 16, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who played her entire career with the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Bird was drafted first overall pick by t ...

in 2002. Starting throughout

's three games in the

Tournament and three more in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, Mühl finished the season with 284 assists. Mühl's was announced as a top 10 candidate for the 2023 Nancy Lieberman award honoring the top point guard in Division 1 college basketball.

Senior

In Mühl's senior season at UConn, she played 39 games, all as a starter, averaging 32.1 minutes per game. Her field goal percentage was 46.2%, with a three-point shooting percentage of 40.2%. Over the course of the season, Mühl averaged 6.9 points, 6.5 assists, and 4.0 rebounds per game, along with 1.3 steals. Her performance earned her a spot on the All-Big East second team. Mühl broke UConn's all-time career assist record during UConn's second round game against Syracuse with her 660th assist on a pass to Ashlynn Shade. The record was previously held by Moriah Jefferson (659). Mühl would finish her UConn career with 686 assists. Mühl would have back-to-back seasons of 200+ assists as she would finish her senior season with 253 assists. In the 2024

tournament game against Iowa on April 5, 2024, Mühl had the primary responsibility of guarding Iowa player

. Mühl finished her final college game with 9 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds and played all 40 minutes. Prior to the start of the Big East tournament, Mühl announced on social media that she would forgo her final year of eligibilty from the COVID-19 extension.

Professional career

WNBA

Mühl was asked to attend the

in person and selected in the second round as the 14th pick overall by the

. On May 13, the team announced that Mühl had made the final roster for the

2024 Seattle Storm season The 2024 season for the Seattle Storm, a professional American basketball team based in Seattle, Washington, was their 25th season in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). It was their third full season with Noelle Quinn as head c ...

. Mühl made her WNBA debut on 22 May 2024, recording three minutes played and two rebounds. She had missed the first four games of the season having issues converting her student visa into a P1A work visa. While Mühl saw limited in-game minutes as a rookie, she acknowledged her lack of playing time was a result of having to "earn erspot" in a rotation that featured several experienced veterans and star players, while her Storm teammates and head coach

Noelle Quinn Noelle Quinn (born January 3, 1985) is an American basketball coach and former player who is currently the head coach for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Quinn played in the WNBA for Minnesota Lynx, Los Ang ...

praised her work ethic in practice as she adapted to the professional level. On 19 September, Mühl played a season-high 14 minutes in the

Storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...

's regular-season finale against the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Mercury compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. One of eight original franchises, it wa ...

, scoring her first career points off of a steal with 4:40 left in the game. On 18 April 2025, the Storm confirmed Mühl would miss the entire

2025 WNBA season The 2025 WNBA season is the ongoing 29th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The regular season began on May 16, 2025, and is scheduled to end on September 11. The fifth edition of the WNBA Commissioner's Cup will be held ...

due to a torn ACL suffered while playing for

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

in October 2024.

KBSL

On 31 May 2024, Turkish club

Beşiktaş J.K. Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü (, ), abbreviated as BJK, is a Turkish professional sports club founded in 1903 that is based in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. The club's football team is one of the Big Three in Turkey and one of the most ...

announced that Mühl would be joining the team for the 2024–25 season in the KBSL. Late in the third quarter of a game against Fenerbahçe S.K. on 3 October, Mühl suffered an ACL and

meniscus tear A tear of a meniscus is a rupturing of one or more of the fibrocartilage strips in the knee called menisci. When doctors and patients refer to "torn cartilage" in the knee, they actually may be referring to an injury to a meniscus at the top of ...

, prematurely ending her season. Prior to her injury, Mühl played 28 minutes, with 11 points, 9 assists, and 3 rebounds while on the court. Fenerbahçe went on to win the game 79-63 over Beşiktaş. Mühl underwent surgery on 1 November 2024 to repair the torn ACL and meniscus.

National team career

Mühl represented

at the

2018 FIBA U18 European Championship The 2018 FIBA U18 European Championship was the 35th edition of the FIBA U18 European Championship. The competition took place in Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of ...

, averaging 10.9 points, 5.7 assists, and 5.0 rebounds per game. Croatia would finish third in Group A with a plus 3 point differential. Croatia would lose in the Round of 16 to Hungary 63-58. Croatia would go on to defeat

Bosnia & Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

to finish in 9th place overall.

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

, - !scope="row" style="text-align:center;",

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, align=center,

, 16 , , 0 , , 3.6 , , .071 , , .000 , , – , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 0.1 , , – , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , - class="sortbottom" !scope="row" align=left, ''2025'' , align=center colspan=13, ''Did not play (injury)'' , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 16 , , 0 , , 3.6 , , .071 , , .000 , , – , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 0.1 , , – , , 0.3 , , 0.1

College

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2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 23 , , 15 , , 24.4 , , .381 , , .343 , , .727 , , 2.4 , , 2.7 , , 1.7 , , 0.2 , , 1.9 , , 4.9 , - !scope="row" style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 19 , , 21.7 , , .431 , , .342 , , .222 , , 3.0 , , 2.6 , , 1.4 , , 0.2 , , 1.5 , , 3.8 , - !scope="row" style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 36 , , 36.6 , , .412 , , .343 , , .729 , , 3.9 , , 7.9 , , 1.5 , , 0.1 , , 1.4 , , 7.1 , - !scope="row" style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;",

, 39 , , 39 , , 32.1 , , .462 , , .402 , , .571 , , 4.0 , , 6.5 , , 1.3 , , 0.2 , , 2.6 , , 6.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 131 , , 109 , , 29.4 , , .427 , , .362 , , .658 , , 3.5 , , 5.2 , , 1.4 , , 0.2 , , 1.9 , , 5.8

Off the court

Personal life

Her sister Hana plays basketball as well, she previously played for

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana, United States. The university has three off-campus centers in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Fishers, Indiana. The university is composed of seven aca ...

and currently plays for

Manhattan University Manhattan University (previously Manhattan College) is a private university, private, Catholic university in New York City. Originally established in 1853 by the De La Salle Brothers, De La Salle Christian Brothers (Institute of the Brothers o ...

. Other than her native Croatian, Mühl speaks

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

fluently and can speak limited

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

. In April 2024, Mühl attended

Kelsey Plum Kelsey Christine Plum (born August 24, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Nicknamed "Plum Dawg", she is a three-time WNBA All-Star Game, WNBA All- ...

's second annual Dawg Class, a 3-day camp to help top women college athletes transition from collegiate to professional basketball. The 2024 camp was held at the

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a University-preparatory school, preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. The organization is set across over 600 acres (243 ha) and features programs consisting of sport ca ...

and sponsored by

Under Armour Under Armour, Inc. is an American sportswear company that manufactures footwear and clothing, apparel headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. History 20th century Under Armour was founded on September 25, 1996, by Kevin Plank, a ...

. GQ Sports named Mühl the WNBA's best dressed rookie of the 2024 season. She was also named the WNBA's most stylish player in a fan voted contest on their instagram.

Endorsements

On 12 September 2024, Mühl announced via

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

she would be a

Mazda is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), Fuchū, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima, Japan. The company was founded on January 30, 1920, as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd. ...

brand partner. She featured in televised commercials for the company while being highlighted across their social media channels. Mühl has also featured in partnerships with

Smartwater SmartWater is a traceable liquid and forensic asset marking system ( taggant), applied to items of value to identify thieves, and deter theft. The liquid leaves a unique identifier, whose presence "cannot be easily seen by the naked eye" excep ...

and

Ulta Beauty Ulta Beauty, Inc., formerly known as Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. and before 2000 as Ulta3, is an American chain of cosmetic stores headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Ulta Beauty carries both high- and low-end cosmetics, fragra ...

. On 4 March 2025,

uploaded a teaser to their social media featuring a new athlete that would be joining the brand. Mühl was officially announced the next day, March 5th, as their newest signing.

Awards and honors

;College *

Defensive Player of the Year (2022) *

Defensive Player of the Year (2023) * All-Big East Second Team (2023, 2024) * AP All-America Honorable Mention (2023, 2024) * Big East All-Tournament Team (2024)

References

External links

*
Nika Mühl
at

Nika Muhl
– college basketball player statistics at

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

Nika Muhl
– college basketball player statistics at

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey ...

* *
Nika Mühl
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mühl, Nika 2001 births Living people 21st-century Croatian sportswomen Basketball players from Zagreb Beşiktaş women's basketball players Croatian expatriate basketball people in the United States Croatian expatriate basketball people in Turkey Croatian Women's Basketball League players Croatian women's basketball players Point guards Seattle Storm draft picks Seattle Storm players UConn Huskies women's basketball players Women's National Basketball Association players from Croatia