Kia Nurse

Personal: Nurse is the daughter of Richard and Cathy Nurse. Her sister, Tamika, played basketball at Oregon from 2005-08 and Bowling Green from 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 Vancouver Goldeneyes of the PWHL. She works as a broadcast analyst for TSN Sports covering the Toronto Raptors and has a dog named Primrose. Nurse lists former UConn assistant women’s basketball coach Shea Ralph as a person who has made a difference in her life. She played soccer until high school after starting at the age of 3 years old and also competed in cross country and track and field in elementary and middle school. She has been playing basketball since she was 4 years old. She enjoys reading books, including murder mysteries and thrillers, and also likes to walk her dog in addition to doing pilates and yoga. Nurse lists meeting Barack Obama at the White House as a time when she felt starstruck.

2025 Season: Nurse opened her Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball career by earning ninth place with 4,254 leaderboard points. She ranked ninth in the league with 1,404 stat points and collected 210 MVP points to rate eighth in the 41-player field. She served as a team captain during Week Two and was a three-time Game MVP recipient. Nurse tied for fourth in the league with 29 quarter wins. She was a starter in 11 games and registered nine double-digit scoring outputs, including a pair of 20-point performances. She was the eighth-leading scorer in the league with a 15.8 average and also grabbed 5.4 rebounds per outing. Nurse was one of four players in the league to score 30 points in a game and ranked third in the league in free throws made (39) and attempted (49). She opened the season with a run of six consecutive double-digit scoring outputs. She collected a season-high 739 leaderboard points in the season opener against Team Bell, where she scored 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field, including a 6-for-10 effort from three-point range, while adding six rebounds en route to MVP 1 recognition. Nurse erupted for a season-high 35 points against Team Siegrist to begin Week Two. She claimed the MVP 2 certificate after knocking down 11-of-22 shots from the floor, including a 6-for-10 performance from three-point range. She also went 7-for-9 at the free throw line while drawing six fouls. Nurse tallied 18 points with eight rebounds and a season-high seven assists against Team Harrison in the Week Two finale. She ended the season with MVP 2 accolades and 531 leaderboard points against Team Siegrist after netting 16 points, which included a game-winning three-pointer in the closing seconds. She narrowly missed a double-double with 14 points and a season-high nine rebounds against Team Bradford on February 14.

Other Professional Experience: Nurse is a seven-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 156-of-245 games and owns career averages of 8.9 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. She spent her first three seasons with the Liberty and was a member of the 2018 Associated Press All-Rookie Team. Nurse was named a starter in the 2019 WNBA All-Star Game for Team Delle Donne. She averaged a career-high 13.7 points per game during the 2019 campaign while starting all 34 games. She contributed 12.2 points per outing while making 21 appearances during the 2020 season. Nurse was acquired by Phoenix prior to the 2021 season and started all 32 games for the Mercury, averaging 9.5 points per outing. She did not play in 2022 before being signed by Seattle before the 2023 campaign, where she posted a 5.9 scoring average while receiving the starting nod in 20-of-40 appearances. She was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks before the 2024 campaign, starting 27-of-40 games with the Sparks and averaging 7.6 points per game. She also contributed 1.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per outing. Nurse was acquired by Chicago prior to the 2025 season, playing in all 44 games for the Sky with 18 starts. She contributed 7.2 points and 2.3 rebounds per contest with 14 double-digit scoring efforts. She netted a season-high 19 points against Connecticut on August 19, 2025.

International Experience: Nurse has been a member of the Canada National Team since 2013. Nurse guided Team Canada to a Silver medal at the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship for Women, averaging 10.0 points per contest. She guided Canada to the quarterfinals at the 2014 FIBA World Championship and averaged nearly 7.0 points per game. She helped Canada win a 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 competed for Team Canada in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 Olympic Games. 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 who appeared in 147 games for the Huskies from 2014-18. She led the Huskies to back-to-back NCAA Division I titles as a freshman and sophomore. 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. Nurse was a four-time All-American Athletic Conference selection who was honored as the 2017-18 AAC Defensive Player of the Year. She also collected the AAC Freshman of the Year notice following the 2014-15 season. She was a CoSIDA Third-Team Academic All-America® selection as a junior. Nurse enjoyed her best offensive season as a senior after 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. She earned a starting assignment in 33 games for UConn as a junior, where she led the American Athletic Conference by making 46.2 percent of her three-point field goal attempts. She also paced the league with an .855 free throw percentage while contributing 12.7 points per contest. Nurse accumulated 20 double-digit scoring outputs, including a career-high 33 points against DePaul on December 1, 2017. She tied the NCAA single-game record after going 8-for-8 from beyond the arc against Nevada on November 28, 2017. Nurse was the only UConn player to start every game in 2015-16. She 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, chipping in 10.2 points per contest during her rookie season.