Bashaara Graves

Personal: Graves is the daughter of Keinya Graves. She is one of five children in her family. She majored in sociology at Tennessee.

Other Professional Experience: Graves was selected by the Minnesota Lynx with the No. 22 overall pick in 2016 WNBA Draft. She played in 22 games over two WNBA seasons. She opened her career by appearing in 12 games as a reserve for Minnesota in 2016. She averaged 0.3 points and 0.3 rebounds per game in her rookie season. Graves saw action in 10 games off the bench with Chicago Sky in 2017, averaging 2.6 points and 2.3 rebounds per outing. She scored a career-high seven points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field against Seattle on August 20, 2017. She grabbed a career-high seven rebounds at Indiana on August 4, 2017. She has also played for Olympiacos in Greece since 2019.  

International Experience: Graves is a four-time Gold medalist with USA Basketball. She led Team USA to a Gold medal at the 2013 FIBA U-19 World Championship in Panevezys, Lithuania. She was a starter in all nine games who averaged 8.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per outing while shooting 59.2 percent from the field. She also guided the United States U-18 National Team to a Gold medal at 2012 FIBA Americas Championship for Women in Gurabo, Puerto Rico. She averaged 7.4 points and 6.8 rebounds over five contests. She was a member of Gold medal-winning Team USA U-16 squad and FIBA Americas and U-17 squad at FIBA World Championships. 

College Experience: Graves was a four-year letter winner at Tennessee who appeared in 139 games from 2012-16. She earned the starting assignment 128 times, good for fifth on Tennessee's career list. She is the fifth player in program history to amass 1,500 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. She stands fourth in school history with 1,044 career rebounds and ranks 21st on Lady Vols’ career scoring list with 1,509 points. She is one of eight players in program history to make 400 or more career field goals. Graves was an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America selection as a senior. She is a two-time Associated Press All-Southeastern Conference Second Team honoree who also garnered First-Team All-SEC notice from the league’s coaches as a freshman. She wa selected as the 2013 SEC Freshman of the Year by the league’s coaches and Associated Press. She holds Thompson-Boling Arena single-game record with 14 offensive rebounds against Georgia Tech on November 17, 2013. She averaged 10.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game as a senior while making 53.8 percent of her field goal attempts. She collected eight double-double efforts during her final year while reaching double figures in scoring 16 times. She was the Lady Vols’ fourth-leading scorer with 10.6 average during 2014-15 season. Graves grabbed 7.0 rebounds per contest to rank third on the team. She was a starter in 30-of-35 games as a sophomore who was Tennessee’s third-leading rebounder with 6.8 caroms per game. She also averaged 9.3 points per outing. She led the Lady Vols in rebounding as a freshman with 8.0 average. She also paced the squad with .522 field goal percentage during rookie campaign. She was a three-time Academic All-SEC selection.