Rickea Velece Jackson ( , born March 16, 2001) 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 for the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...

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 ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

and

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

Early life

Jackson played basketball for Detroit Edison Public School Academy in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. She led her team to three consecutive Class C state titles. As a senior, Jackson averaged 22 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, earning Michigan Miss Basketball honors and being selected to the

McDonald's All-American Game The McDonald's All-American Game is an American all-star basketball game played each year for boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the conclusion of the hi ...

and Jordan Brand Classic. She was named Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year for a second time. Jackson left as the program's all-time leading scorer, with 1,771 points. Mick McCabe of the ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' (commonly referred to as the ''Freep'') is a major daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by Gannett (the publisher of ''USA Today''), and is operated by the Detro ...

'' considered her the greatest girls high school player in state history. Rated a five-star recruit and the fifth-best player in her class by

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 ...

, she committed to play college basketball for

over offers from South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Rutgers, Ohio State and Louisville.

College career

On February 20, 2020, Jackson scored a freshman season-high 34 points for Mississippi State in a 92–85 win against Auburn in overtime. As a freshman, she averaged 15.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game, earning second-team All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) and All-Freshman honors. Jackson won the Gillom Trophy as the top women's college player in Mississippi. In her sophomore season, she averaged 14.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. On December 1, 2021, Jackson scored a career-high 40 points in a 102–55 win over McNeese State. In January 2022, she entered the transfer portal, averaging an SEC-best 20.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game in her junior season. Jackson announced on March 22, 2022, that she would transfer to

. On March 3, 2023, she scored a senior season-high 34 points in an 80–71 win over

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

at the SEC tournament, setting the tournament single-game scoring record. As a senior, Jackson averaged 19.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game and was named first-team All-SEC. Despite being a projected first-round pick in the 2023 WNBA draft, she returned to Tennessee for a fifth season of eligibility, granted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. She averaged 20.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game and repeated as a first-team All-SEC selection.

Professional career

WNBA

Los Angeles Sparks (2024–present)

On April 15, 2024, Jackson was selected by the

(via 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 ...

) as the fourth overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft. On May 15, in an 81–92 loss to the Atlanta Dream, Jackson made her WNBA debut, scoring 7 points in 18 minutes off the bench. On May 28, in an 88–82 win over the

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Fever compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was founded for ...

, Jackson made her first start, scoring 12 points in 23 minutes. She remained a starter for the rest of the season and her role gradually increased. On August 25, in a 110–113 loss to 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 ...

, Jackson recorded 25 points, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and 6 made three-pointers — all career highs. On September 17, in an 81–85 loss to 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 ...

, Jackson was involved in a confrontation with Mercury player

Brittney Griner Brittney Yvette Griner (; born October 18, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. women's natio ...

, leading to both players being ejected. In her rookie season, Jackson played in all 40 regular-season games, starting 35, and averaged 13.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists. She was also named to the 2024 WNBA All-Rookie Team. Despite Jackson's contributions, the Sparks, ravaged by injuries, won only 8 games all season and finished 12th in the league.

Unrivaled

On September 3, 2024, it was announced that Jackson would appear and play in the inaugural season of Unrivaled, a new women's 3-on-3 basketball league founded by

Napheesa Collier Napheesa Collier ( ; born September 23, 1996), nicknamed "Phee", is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Collier is also a founder of the Unrivaled (basketball le ...

and Breanna Stewart.

National team career

Jackson represented the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

alongside her Mississippi State teammates at the

2019 Summer Universiade The 2019 Summer Universiade (), officially known as the XXX Summer Universiade () and also known as Naples 2019, or Napoli 2019, was held in Naples, Italy, between 3 and 14 July 2019. It was initially scheduled for Brasília, Brazil in July 201 ...

in Italy. She led the tournament with 22.2 points per game and won a silver medal. Jackson won a silver medal at the 2023 FIBA Women's AmeriCup in Mexico, where she averaged a team-high 14.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, earning all-tournament honors. In

3x3 basketball 3x3 basketball (stylized as ''ƐX3'', pronounced ''three-ex-three'') is a Variations of basketball, variation of basketball played three-a-side, with one Backboard (basketball), backboard and in a basketball court, half-court setup. This basketba ...

, Jackson played at the 2019 FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup in Mongolia, where she helped her team win the gold medal and was named to the all-tournament team.

Career statistics

WNBA

''Stats current through end of 2024 season'' , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, 40 , , 35 , , 28.8 , , .456 , , .347 , , .807 , , 3.9 , , 1.5 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 1.9 , , 13.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style='text-align:left;', Career , style='text-align:left;', 1 year, 1 team , 40 , , 35 , , 28.8 , , .456 , , .347 , , .807 , , 3.9 , , 1.5 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 1.9 , , 13.4

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 27 , , 30.1 , , 48.3 , , 41.9, , 72.4 , , 5.1 , , 1.2 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 2.5 , , 15.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2020–21 , style="text-align:left;",

, 19 , , 16 , , 31.6 , , 42.0 , , 29.5, , 54.7 , , 4.4 , , 2.0 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 2.9 , , 14.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 15 , , 15 , , 34.9 , , 41.0 , , 24.3, , 73.0 , , 6.8 , , 1.1 , , 0.9 , , 1.5 , , 1.8 , , 20.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2022–23 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 24 , , 28.3 , , 54.8 , , 31.4 , , 79.2, , 6.1 , , 1.4 , , 0.8 , , 0.5 , , 2.6 , , 19.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;",

, 25 , , 24, , 31.5 , , 48.5, , 33.8 , , 78.0 , , 8.2 , , 2.3 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 2.9 , , 20.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 127, , 106, , 30.7, , 47.9, , 30.9, , 74.2, , 6.1, , 1.6, , 0.8, , 0.6, , 2.6, , 17.8

Personal life

Rickea and fellow WNBA player, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton share a godmother, Debra Walker, who played with Laney-Hamilton's mother Yolanda on the historic Cheyney State Lady Wolves basketball team. In July 2024, Jackson became the first WNBA player to sign a shoe deal with Skechers.

References

External links

Mississippi State Bulldogs bioTennessee Lady Volunteers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Rickea 2001 births Living people American women's basketball players Basketball players from Detroit FISU World University Games silver medalists for the United States Los Angeles Sparks draft picks Los Angeles Sparks players McDonald's High School All-Americans Medalists at the 2019 Summer Universiade Mississippi State Bulldogs women's basketball players Power forwards Small forwards Summer World University Games medalists in basketball Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball players Unrivaled basketball players 21st-century American sportswomen