WNBA star Brittney Griner is one of the best basketball players ever in the history of the league. Before joining the league, she also had a stellar college career winning the National title with the Baylor Lady Bears in 2012. So there were huge expectations when she joined the Phoenix Mercury in 2013 as the #1 pick. NBA superstar LeBron James even compared her to legend Wilt Chamberlain owing to her dominance on the hardwood. Listed at 6’9″, Griner’s hands are bigger than James’ hands and her wingspan is longer than NBA veteran Andrew Bynum.
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Dunking a basketball is still very rare in the WNBA. With her size, Griner is one of the few WNBA players who can actually dunk the ball. But during a live segment on ESPN’s ‘SportsCenter’ in 2015,? she embarrassingly failed to live up to it when she was asked to throw down a dunk. She missed the first two dunk attempts and then salvaged herself on the third attempt.
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The Phoenix Mercury center then redeemed herself with a two-handed dunk during the WNBA All-Star game. Interestingly, Griner holds the NCAA career dunk record.
Brittney Griner has the NCAA record for dunks
The number of dunks is taken into account in stats in the women’s game because of its rarity. Brittney Griner holds the NCAA career dunk record with 18 dunks during her four years in college. She holds the record for most dunks in one game with three dunks. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was also astonished by her dominance and athleticism, similar to LeBron James. Cuban once stated she can play in the NBA.
He went as far as claiming he could draft her for the Mavericks. “If she is the best on the board, I will take her,” Cuban said.
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He added, “I’ve thought about it. I’ve thought about it already. Would I do it? Right now, I’d lean toward yes, just to see if she can do it. You never know unless you give somebody a chance, and it’s not like the likelihood of any late-50s draft pick has a good chance of making it.”
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It is very rare to see a draft pick beyond 50 make it in the NBA, however; it has been done. But the Mavs did not go ahead with the idea and the Mercury got their target.
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Griner instantly became a superstar in the league and helped the Mercury win a title in 2014. She has also won the Defensive Player of the Year award twice.
Do you think Brittney Griner could have played in the NBA? Let us know in the comments.