Kara Braxton, a former WNBA player and two-time champion with the Detroit Shock, died in a car crash Saturday in Atlanta, officials said.
She was 43.
“It is with profound sadness that we mourn the passing of 2x WNBA Champion Kara Braxton,” the WNBA said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with her family, friends, and former teammates at this time.”
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Braxton’s son, University of North Carolina tight end Jelani Thurman, posted a photo of himself and his mother from when he was a toddler, a teenager and a college football player.
“Imma miss my queen!” he wrote in an Instagram story.
Cobb County police said Braxton was behind the wheel of a 2023 Ford Mustang heading north on Interstate 285 just after 5 p.m. Saturday when she struck the concrete median wall.
“The Ford continued in a northerly direction against the concrete wall until coming to rest on the left shoulder of I-285 at Cobb Parkway,” police said in a news release.
Braxton was rushed to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
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Police said that the crash is still under investigation and that investigators want to speak to witnesses or anyone else with information about the incident.
Kara Braxton of the Detroit Shock poses during the team’s media day in 2005. (Allen Einstein / NBAE via Getty Images file)
(Allen Einstein)
Braxton played with the Detroit Shock, the Tulsa Shock, the Phoenix Mercury and the New York Liberty during her 10-season domestic pro career.
She entered the WNBA as the No. 7 overall pick of the Detroit Shock in the 2005 draft.
The Shock, led by coach Bill Laimbeer and standouts Deanna Nolan and Katie Smith, won WNBA titles in 2006 and 2008.
Braxton finished fourth in Sixth Player of the Year balloting in 2008 and 2009.
She was with the team when the club moved in 2010 to Tulsa, Oklahoma, its home for six seasons before it relocated again, this time to become the Dallas Wings.
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Braxton’s most productive seasons came in Phoenix, where she averaged 10.8 points and 4.9 rebounds per game in parts of 2010 and 2011 for the Mercury.
After the WNBA, she went on to play overseas in Turkey, China, Israel and South Korea.
Braxton was the SEC’s freshman of the year in 2002, averaging 16.3 points and 2.0 blocked shots a game in her rookie season at the University of Georgia.
Her college career in Athens ended in February 2004, when she was a junior, when she was removed from the team for undisclosed violations of team policies. Georgia reached the Elite Eight that year.
Braxton graduated from the University of Georgia in spring 2024.
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“It has always been a goal of mine to come back and finish school, and finish what I started,” she said in a May 2024 statement the school released after she earned her degree. “It’s a very exciting time for me right now.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
