Kara Braxton

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Kara Braxton

| image = Kara Braxton 84.JPG

| caption =

| position = Power forward / center

| league =

| team = Free agent

| number =

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 6

| weight_lbs = 225

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1983|02|18}}

| birth_place = Jackson, Michigan, U.S.

| high_school = Westview (Beaverton, Oregon)

| college = Georgia (2002–2005)

| draft_league = WNBA

| draft_year = 2005

| draft_round = 1

| draft_pick = 7

| draft_team = Detroit Shock

| career_start = 2005

| career_end =

| years1 = 2005–2008

| team1 = Detroit Shock

| years2 = 2010

| team2 = Tulsa Shock

| years3 = 2010–2011

| team3 = Phoenix Mercury

| years4 = 2011–2014

| team4 = New York Liberty

| highlights =

WNBA All-Star (2007)
2× WNBA champion (2006, 2008)
WNBA All-Rookie Team (2005)
First-team All-SEC (2002)
SEC Freshman of the Year (2002)
SEC All-Freshman Team (2002)

| wnba_profile = kara_braxton

| bbr_wnba = braxtka01w

}}

Kara Liana Braxton (born February 18, 1983) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

Early life

Kara and her twin sister Kim grew up in a household with four other siblings in Jackson, Michigan. Her father also played basketball. She played her freshman season at Jackson High and then moved to Oregon. She and her twin sister later enrolled at Westview High School, in the Portland suburb of Beaverton.

Braxton attended the University of Georgia, and was freshman of the year. She was frequently late to practice and committed other unspecified violations of team rules, and after three suspensions during the 2002–03 season, on February 20, 2004, coach Andy Landers dismissed Braxton from the team.Associated Press, [http://www.secsports.com/news/default.aspx?ArticleId=3489 "Georgia Dismisses Leading Scorer Braxton"]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} February 20, 2004 She graduated in 2005.

Professional career

=WNBA=

On April 16, 2005, the Shock drafted Braxton in the first round as the seventh overall pick in the annual WNBA draft. She had given birth to a son, Jelani, in January 2005. Jelani's father is Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Odell Thurman.

Braxton was named to the WNBA's All-Rookie team in 2005 after averaging 6.9 points and 3.0 rebounds as a key reserve for the Shock. In 2006, she averaged fewer minutes and points than in her rookie season, but helped the Shock win the WNBA title that year.

In 2007, Braxton became Detroit's starting center after the Shock traded Ruth Riley to the San Antonio Stars. She averaged 6.0 ppg. Near the end of the 2007 regular season, the WNBA suspended Braxton for two games after she pled guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol. She was also suspended for the first six games of the 2009 season for a second DUI.

On May 28, 2014, the Liberty waived Braxton.

Career statistics

class="wikitable"

| style="background:#afe6ba; width:3em;" |†

|Denotes season(s) in which Braxton won a WNBA championship

=WNBA=

==Regular season==

{{WNBA player statistics start|caption=WNBA regular season statistics{{cite web |title=Kara Braxton WNBA Stats |url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/players/b/braxtka01w.html |website=Basketball Reference |access-date=April 1, 2025}}}}

| align="left" | 2005

| align="left" | Detroit

|33||2||13.8||46.2||0.0||55.0||3.0||0.4||0.5||0.4||1.6||6.9

| align="left" | 2006

| align="left" | Detroit

|34||1||10.6||40.6||0.0||62.5||3.4||0.8||0.3||0.3||1.6||4.3

| align="left" | 2007

| align="left" | Detroit

|31||20||17.6||44.7||—||67.2||5.4||0.5||0.5||0.5||2.0||6.7

| align="left" | 2008

| align="left" | Detroit

|33||10||17.9||41.5||0.0||74.3||5.1||0.8||0.4||0.7||1.6||8.9

| align="left" | 2009

| align="left" | Detroit

|28||2||18.0||52.7||—||64.5||6.0||1.5||0.7||0.6||1.8||9.0

| align="left"rowspan=2 | 2010

| align="left" | Tulsa

|22||16||16.8||50.0||25.0||63.9||4.6||1.3||1.1||0.8||3.0||9.3

| align="left" | Phoenix

|13||0||17.2||54.4||—||71.1||4.8||1.2||0.6||0.4||2.1||11.1

| align="left"rowspan=2 | 2011

| align="left" | Phoenix

|18||18||19.8||55.9||50.0||59.5||4.9||1.3||0.8||0.8||1.8||10.6

| align="left" | New York

|13||0||12.8||39.7||33.3||40.0||3.0||0.8||0.4||0.5||1.5||3.9

| align="left" | 2012

| align="left" | New York

|34||18||15.7||48.1||20.0||45.0||4.5||1.1||0.5||0.6||2.2||6.6

| align="left" | 2013

| align="left" | New York

|34||33||21.8||48.1||—||66.1||6.6||1.2||0.6||0.4||2.3||8.7

| align="left" | 2014

| align="left" | New York

|4||0||7.8||50.0||—||100.0||1.0||0.8||0.3||0.3||1.0||2.5

|- class="sortbottom"

| rowspan=2 align="left" | Career

| align="left" | 12 years, 3 teams

|297||120||16.4||47.5||28.0||64.1||4.7||0.9||0.6||0.5||1.9||7.6

|- class="sortbottom"

| style="text-align:center;"| All-Star

|1||1||12.3||28.6||—||—||4.0||0.0||0.0||0.0||1.0||4.0

==Playoffs==

| align="left" | 2005

| align="left" | Detroit

|2||0||18.0||27.8||—||83.3||3.5||1.0||0.0||0.0||1.5||7.5

| align="left" style="background:#afe6ba" | 2006^†

| align="left" | Detroit

|10||0||12.3||42.3||—||54.5||2.8||0.6||0.8||0.4||1.8||5.0

| align="left" | 2007

| align="left" | Detroit

|11||0||15.5||46.9||0.0||70.8||5.5||0.5||0.3||0.7||1.8||7.0

| align="left" style="background:#afe6ba" | 2008^†

| align="left" | Detroit

|9||9||20.0||50.0||—||65.0||5.3||1.0||0.4||0.6||1.9||8.6

| align="left" | 2009

| align="left" | Detroit

|5||0||19.2||54.1||—||57.1||6.8||1.4||0.8||1.4||2.4||9.6

| align="left | 2010

| align="left" | Phoenix

|4||0||13.3||59.3||100.0||42.9||2.5||0.8||0.3||0.3||1.8||9.0

| align="left" | 2011

| align="left" | New York

|3||0||16.0||50.0||0.0||100.0||4.3||1.7||0.3||0.3||1.7||5.0

| align="left" | 2012

| align="left" | New York

|2||2||17.5||43.8||0.0||0.0||3.5||0.0||2.0||0.0||0.5||7.0

|- class="sortbottom"

| align="left" | Career

| align="left" | 8 years, 3 teams

|46||11||16.1||47.6||25.0||63.9||4.5||0.8||0.5||0.6||1.8||7.2

=College=

class="wikitable sortable"

|+ NCAA statistics

!Year

!Team

!GP

!Points

!FG%

!3P%

!FT%

!RPG

!APG

!SPG

!BPG

!PPG

2001–02

|rowspan=3| Georgia

|30

|489

|54.0

|14.3

|62.6

|6.8

|2.3

|1.8

|2.0

|16.3

2002–03

|21

|330

|55.1

|28.6

|73.2

|7.3

|2.5

|1.4

|2.0

|15.7

2003–04

|20

|274

|47.8

|16.7

|64.8

|8.0

|1.2

|1.4

|1.3

|13.7

class="sortbottom"

|align=center colspan=2| Career

|71

|1582

|52.6

|20.0

|65.9

|7.3

|2.0

|1.6

|1.8

|15.4

European career

2005–2006: {{flagicon|Poland}} TS Wisla Can-Pack Krakow (champion)
2006–2007: {{flagicon|Turkey}} Beşiktaş Cola Turka
2007–2008: {{flagicon|Poland}} TS Wisla Can-Pack Krakow (champion)
2008–2009: {{flagicon|Turkey}} Galatasaray
2009–2010: {{flagicon|China}} Liaoning Hengye (MVP, champion)
2010–2011: {{flagicon|China}} Liaoning Hengye
2011–2012: {{flagicon|Turkey}} Optimum TED
2012–2013: {{flagicon|Russia}} Nadezhda Orenburg

Statistics

A two-time Class 4A player of the year.{{Where|date=July 2011}}

References

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite web|title=Women's Basketball Player stats|url=http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/careersearch|website=NCAA|access-date=2 October 2015}}

}}

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20051115121931/http://www.wnba.com/playerfile/kara_braxton/index.html?nav=page WNBA Player Profile]
[http://www.wnba.com/draft2005/qa_kara_braxton.html Kara Braxton Q&A]

Category:1983 births

Category:Living people

Category:American expatriate basketball people in China

Category:American expatriate basketball people in Poland

Category:American expatriate basketball people in Russia

Category:American expatriate basketball people in Turkey

Category:American women's basketball players

Category:Basketball players from Michigan

Category:Beşiktaş women's basketball players

Category:Centers (basketball)

Category:Detroit Shock players

Category:Galatasaray S.K. (women's basketball) players