Kia Nurse

Personal: Kia Nurse is the daughter of Richard and Cathy Nurse. Her sister, Tamika, played basketball at Oregon (2005-08) and Bowling Green (2009-10). Her brother, Darnell, is a professional hockey player currently playing for the National Hockey League’s Edmonton Oilers. Her father played in the Canadian Football League as a wide receiver from 1990-95. Her uncle, Donovan McNabb, played basketball and football at Syracuse before enjoying a 13-year professional career in the National Football League, including 11 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. Her aunt, Raquel Nurse McNabb, played college basketball at Syracuse from 1994-98. Her cousin, Sarah Nurse, is a two-time Olympic medalist and four-time IIHF World Championship medalist for Team Canada, who currently plays for the Toronto Sceptres of the PWHL. Kia Nurse works as a broadcast analyst for TSN Sports, covering the Toronto Raptors.

Other Professional Experience: Kia Nurse is a six-year WNBA veteran after being drafted with the No. 10 overall selection in the 2018 WNBA Draft by the New York Liberty. She has earned a starting assignment in 138 of 201 games and owns career averages of 9.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. Nurse spent her first three seasons with the Liberty and was a member of the 2018 Associated Press All-Rookie Team. She was also named a starter in the 2019 WNBA All-Star Game for Team Delle Donne. During the 2019 campaign, she averaged a career-high 13.7 points per game while starting all 34 games. In 2020, she contributed 12.2 points per outing while making 21 appearances.

Prior to the 2021 season, Nurse was acquired by the Phoenix Mercury. She started in all 32 games for the Mercury and averaged 9.5 points per outing. She did not play in 2022 but was signed by Seattle before the 2023 campaign. She posted a 5.9 scoring average while receiving the starting nod in 20 of 40 appearances. Before the 2024 campaign, she was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks, where she started 27 of 40 games and averaged 7.6 points per game. She also contributed 1.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per outing.

International Experience: Nurse has been a member of the Canada National Team since 2013. She guided Team Canada to a Silver medal at the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship for Women, averaging 10.0 points per contest. She also guided Canada to the quarterfinals at the 2014 FIBA World Championship, averaging nearly 7.0 points per game. She helped Canada win the Gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Ontario, where she scored 33 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field and 11-of-12 at the free-throw line in the Gold medal game against Team USA. Nurse has competed for Team Canada in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 Olympic Games, and she piloted Canada to a seventh-place performance in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

At UConn: Nurse was a four-year letter winner at UConn, where she appeared in 147 games for the Huskies from 2014-18. She ranks 22nd in program history with 1,674 career points and holds fourth place on the Huskies’ all-time ledger with a .428 career three-point field goal percentage. She was a four-time All-American Athletic Conference selection and was honored as the 2017-18 AAC Defensive Player of the Year. She also collected AAC Freshman of the Year notice following the 2014-15 season and was a CoSIDA Third-Team Academic All-America® selection as a junior.

Nurse enjoyed her best offensive season as a senior, averaging 13.5 points per game while starting all 37 contests. She registered 28 double-digit scoring performances, including six games with 20 or more points. As a junior, she earned a starting assignment in 33 games for UConn and led the American Athletic Conference by making 46.2 percent of her three-point field goal attempts. She also paced the league with a .855 free throw percentage while contributing 12.7 points per contest. She accumulated 20 double-digit scoring outputs, including a career-high 33 points against DePaul on December 1, 2017. On November 28, 2017, she tied the NCAA single-game record by going 8-for-8 from beyond the arc against Nevada.

She was the only UConn player to start every game in 2015-16 and was the Huskies’ fifth-leading scorer as a sophomore with a 9.3 average while ranking fourth on the squad with 104 assists. She notched 15 double-digit scoring efforts and garnered a spot in the starting lineup during 36 of 39 games as a freshman. During her rookie season, she chipped in 10.2 points per contest.