Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Cairo, Egypt | 19 August 2001
Nationality | Finnish |
Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
Career information | |
High school | Helsinki Basketball Academy (Helsinki, Finland) |
WNBA draft | 2021: 1st round, 2nd overall pick |
Selected by the Dallas Wings | |
Position | Forward |
Career history | |
2016–2017 | Peli-Karhut |
2017–2020 | HBA-Märsky |
2020–2022 | Virtus Eirene Ragusa |
2021–2023 | Dallas Wings |
2022–present | Reyer Venezia |
Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Medals |
Awak Sabit Bior Kuier (born 19 August 2001) [1] [2] is a Finnish basketball player for the Dallas Wings of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), but she'll be skipping the 2024 WNBA season, [3] and the Finnish national team. [4] [5] Kuier also plays for Italian team Reyer Venezia in LBF and EuroCup. [6] Selected by the Wings with the second overall pick in the 2021 WNBA draft, she was the second Finnish player in the history of the league after Taru Tuukkanen to be drafted, and she became the first Finnish player to play in the WNBA in May 2021. [7]
Growing up in the city of Kotka, Kuier was discovered for basketball by a neighbour at age 10, when she stood already 180 cm tall. The man contacted Mikko Kokkola, who was coaching basketball at the local Peli-Karhut , and Kokkola invited her to practice. [8] Kuier joined the club. She was named the U16-league Player of the Season in 2015–16. She debuted in top-tier Naisten Korisliiga with PeKa first team in the 2016–17 season. [9] At the age of 14, a video of her dunking went viral online.
In 2017, at the age of 16, she joined the Helsinki Basketball Academy team HBA-Märsky. [10] Kuier played in Naisten Korisliiga with HBA team, and was named the Most Improved Player in the league in 2019. She was also named the league's Player of the Month in January 2020. [11]
She then later declined offers from American universities to sign a professional contract with Lega Basket Femminile (LBF) team Virtus Eirene Ragusa (Passalacqua Ragusa) in 2020. [12]
Selected 2nd overall in the 2021 WNBA draft by the Dallas Wings, she was the first non-American player since Australia's Liz Cambage in 2011 to be selected in the first five picks of the draft. [13] After missing the first few games of the 2021 season, she made her debut for the Wings on 27 May 2021, scoring a point, a rebound, and an assist in seven minutes of game time in a 101–95 loss to the Atlanta Dream. [14] In addition to her speed and resilience, Kuier's features also include an exceptionally large wingspan of about seven feet. [15] On June 10, 2022, in a game against the Seattle Storm, Kuier became the 8th woman in WNBA history to dunk a basketball.
Since June 2022, Reyer has also played for Italian team Reyer Venezia during winter seasons in Europe, competing in LBF and EuroCup.
On January 22, 2024, Kuier announced that she will skip the 2024 WNBA season. [3] This is due to overlapping seasons between Italy and the United States, and the strict change in WNBA rules concerning absences related to playing in Europe. [16]
She represented Finland at the 2019 U18B FIBA Women's European Championship, winning the championship and being named tournament MVP. She was then named to the All-Star Five at the 2019 U20B FIBA Women's European Championship, helping Finland to a second-place finish.
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Dallas | 16 | 0 | 8.9 | .308 | .167 | .786 | 2.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 2.4 |
2022 | Dallas | 33 | 0 | 12.6 | .395 | .190 | .613 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 2.8 |
2023 | Dallas | 37 | 4 | 10.8 | .396 | .087 | .778 | 2.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 2.6 |
Career | 3 years, 1 team | 86 | 4 | 11.1 | .380 | .145 | .708 | 2.5 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 2.6 |
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Dallas | 1 | 0 | 8.0 | .000 | — | — | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
2022 | Dallas | 3 | 0 | 5.0 | .000 | .000 | — | 1.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
2023 | Dallas | 5 | 0 | 10.4 | .643 | .286 | .000 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 4.0 |
Career | 3 years, 1 team | 9 | 0 | 8.3 | .500 | .200 | .000 | 1.7 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 2.2 |
She was born in Cairo, Egypt and is of South Sudanese origin. [2] She moved to Finland as a refugee with her family when she was two years old, [17] first settling in the city of Kotka. [18] Today, her family has settled in the coastal town of Uusikaupunki and she holds dual Finnish and Egyptian citizenship. [19] [20] She speaks Italian, Arabic, Finnish, and English. [21] Kuier has four older brothers and her parents are Jehovah's Witnesses. [22] [2]
Helsinki Seagulls is a professional basketball team, based in Helsinki, Finland. The club plays in the Korisliiga, the highest tier of basketball in Finland.
Jasmine Thomas is an American former professional basketball player. She lastly played for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Naisten Korisliiga is the highest tier of women's basketball in Finland. The competition was formerly known as Koripallon naisten SM-sarja and was renamed Naisten Korisliiga for the 2013-14 season.
Torpan Pojat, shortened to ToPo, is a basketball club based in Helsinki, Finland. Torpan Pojat has their men's and women's team playing in national 1st division and many minor and junior teams in different age categories.
The Dallas Wings are an American professional basketball team based in Arlington, Texas. The Wings play in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team is owned by a group led by chairman Bill Cameron. Greg Bibb is president and CEO. Brad Hilsabeck joined the Dallas Wings ownership group in March 2019 with the acquisition of Mark Yancey’s interest in the Wings.
Katie Lou Samuelson is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball for the UConn Huskies.
Allisha Gray is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and Elitzur Ramla of Israel. She won a gold medal in Women's 3x3 basketball, at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Evelyn Akhator is a Nigerian professional women's basketball forward/center for Flammes Carolo. She was drafted by the Dallas Wings of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as the 3rd overall pick in the 2017 WNBA draft.
Ariel Massengale is an American professional basketball player.
Arike Ogunbowale is an American professional basketball player for the Dallas Wings of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, before being drafted by the Wings with the fifth overall pick of the 2019 WNBA draft. She was the Most Outstanding Player of Notre Dame's 2018 national title run, hitting game-winning baskets in both the semi-final and championship game.
The African diaspora in Finland refers to the residents of Finland of full or partial African ancestry, mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa. According to Statistics Finland, the total number of people in Finland with a close African background was 57,496 in 2020.
The 2020 WNBA draft was the league's draft for the 2020 WNBA season. A draft lottery was held on September 17, 2019 and the New York Liberty were awarded the first overall pick in the draft. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the draft was held virtually without players, guests, and the media on-site. The draft was televised as planned; it was the most-watched WNBA draft in 16 years and the second most-watched in ESPN's history.
Isabella Augustine Alarie is an American former professional basketball player. She played her entire career for the Dallas Wings of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is the daughter of Mark Alarie, a retired professional basketball player who played in the NBA for the 1986–1991 seasons.
Riikka Noronen is a Finnish ice hockey coach and retired forward, currently an assistant coach with Tampereen Ilves Naiset. The all-time leading point scorer in the Naisten Liiga, she also holds the records for youngest player to ever play in the Naisten Liiga and for most career games played.
Annika Alexandra Holopainen is a Finnish professional basketball player and a member of the Finnish national team. She played college basketball for the University of Portland and later Old Dominion University. Following her college career, she has played professionally in Europe.
Harold Aidoo Fiifi is a Ghanaian-Finnish professional basketball player for BC Nokia of the Korisliiga.
The 2021 Dallas Wings season was the franchise's 24th season in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the 6th season for the franchise in Dallas. This was the first season under new head coach Vickie Johnson, after she was hired on December 9, 2020.
Tynice Martin is an American basketball player. She played college basketball for West Virginia where she was a first-team All-Big 12 selection in her sophomore and junior year. She led West Virginia to the 2017 Big 12 Conference Championship while being named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Thomas Tumba Exaucia is a Finnish basketball player who plays for Kataja in Korisliiga. Previously he was known as Thomas Exaucia, but since 2022, he started to use his mother's surname Tumba officially.
Erik Sajantila is a Finnish basketball player who plays for Lahti Basketball in Finnish Korisliiga. He played for Helsinki Basketball Academy team HBA-Märsky during 2017–2021, before starting his senior career with Lahti.