Alysha Angelica Clark (born July 7, 1987) is an American-Israeli professional basketball player for the

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference ...

of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA). She was drafted in the second round of the 2010 WNBA draft by the

San Antonio Silver Stars The San Antonio Stars were a professional basketball team based in San Antonio, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, as the Utah Starzz before th ...

. In 2018, Clark won a championship with the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

as they swept the Mystics in the 2018 WNBA Finals, and in 2020 won her second championship as the Storm swept the

Las Vegas Aces The Las Vegas Aces are an American professional basketball team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Aces compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team plays ...

. She was also League MVP in 2018 when her team CCC Polkowice (Basketball) of Poland in the Basket Liga Kobiet Basketball won that League's Championship. In 2019, she won a Ligue Féminine de Basketball championship with her French team, Lyon Asvel. She is known for her swarming defense and clutch shooting.

Early life

Clark was born in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

, Colorado to Jan and Duane Clark, who were both musicians. She is the younger sister of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to A ...

'' contestant Corey Clark. Clark's maternal grandparents were Jews and could speak Hebrew, according to Clark. However, she was baptized as a child and identifies as a Christian. Clark-20180912

The family later moved to her hometown of

Mount Juliet, Tennessee Mt. Juliet (also referred to as Mount Juliet) is a city located in western Wilson County, Tennessee. A suburb of Nashville, it is approximately east of downtown Nashville. Mt. Juliet is located mostly between two major national east-west routes, ...

, where she attended Mt. Juliet High School.

College career

Before Clark attended

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a public university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight Undergraduate education, undergraduate colleges as well as a college of Postgr ...

, she played two years at

Belmont University Belmont University is a private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee. Descended from Belmont Women's College, founded in 1890 by schoolteachers Ida Hood and Susan Heron, the institution was incorporated in 1951 as Belmont College. It b ...

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

. At Belmont she helped the Lady Bruins to their first ever NCAA tournament appearance in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

. After two years she transferred to

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the ...

. Clark sat out the 2007–08 season, as required by

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

rules for transfer students. In 2008–09 she averaged a national best and school-record 27.5 points per game. The following year she averaged 28.3 points per game to lead the nation among Division I schools. At Middle Tennessee she earned Sun Belt Player of the Year in 2009 and 2010.

Professional career

Clark was drafted with the 17th overall pick in the second round of the 2010 WNBA Draft by the

, but did not make a roster that year or in 2011. In 2012, she signed with the Seattle Storm. In 2018, Clark started every game of the Storm's WNBA Championship run. In Seattle's Western Conference Finals series against the Phoenix Mercury, Clark was the Storm's main choice to guard

Diana Taurasi Diana Lorena Taurasi (born June 11, 1982) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was drafted by Phoenix first overall in the 2004 WNBA draft. Taurasi has w ...

, and in the decisive Game 5, she also logged a double-double with 13 points and a team-high 13 rebounds. In the Storm's championship-clinching win in the WNBA Finals against the Washington Mystics, Clark led the team in playing time, and added 15 points. In February 2021, Clark signed with the

, but was ruled out of playing during the

2021 WNBA season The 2021 WNBA season was the 25th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Seattle Storm were the defending champions. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teams played a 32-game season (rather than the 36 games agreed to in the ...

due to a

Lisfranc injury A Lisfranc injury, also known as Lisfranc fracture, is an injury of the foot in which one or more of the metatarsal bones are displaced from the tarsus. The injury is named after Jacques Lisfranc de St. Martin, a French surgeon and gynecologi ...

received while playing in France.

Career statistics

WNBA

Source

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2012 , style="text-align:left;",

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, 23 , , 0 , , 10.3 , , .547 , , .450 , , .706 , , 2.0 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 0.8 , , 3.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2013 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 0 , , 15.3 , , .453 , , .390 , , .760 , , 2.5 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 1.1 , , 4.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014 , style="text-align:left;",

, style="background:#D3D3D3", 34° , , 22 , , 16.5 , , .448 , , .246 , , .696 , , 2.1 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 0.7 , , 4.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 31 , , 23.1 , , .544 , , .353 , , .775 , , 3.7 , , 1.2 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 1.1 , , 6.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 32 , , 27.6 , , .484 , , .387 , , .847 , , 3.7 , , 1.9 , , 0.7 , , 0.1 , , 1.3 , , 9.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 28.3 , , .525 , , .328 , , .745 , , 4.2 , , 1.6 , , 0.7 , , 0.1 , , 1.0 , , 8.2 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 2018^† , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 30 , , 26.2 , , .480 , , .392 , , .846 , , 3.5 , , 1.9 , , 1.0 , , 0.1 , , 1.2 , , 7.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 30 , , 28.4 , , .481 , , .481 , , .818 , , 4.7 , , 2.5 , , 1.1 , , 0.5 , , 1.5 , , 9.6 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 2020^† , style="text-align:left;",

, style="background:#D3D3D3", 22° , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 22° , , 28.8 , , .558 , , .522 , , .800 , , 4.2 , , 2.7 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.9 , , 10.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 9 years, 1 team , 273 , , 200 , , 22.9 , , .500 , , .398 , , .787 , , 3.4 , , 1.4 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 1.1 , , 6.9

Postseason

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2013 , style="text-align:left;",

, 2 , , 0 , , 18.5 , , .455 , , .333 , , 1.000 , , 5.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 7.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016 , style="text-align:left;",

, 1 , , 1 , , 28.0 , , .333 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 2.0 , , 3.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 8.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017 , style="text-align:left;",

, 1 , , 1 , , 26.0 , , .667 , , – , , 1.000 , , 5.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , 6.0 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 2018^† , style="text-align:left;",

, 8 , , 8 , , 35.0 , , .500 , , .458 , , .875 , , 5.9 , , 2.6 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 0.6 , , 8.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019 , style="text-align:left;",

, 2 , , 2 , , 28.5 , , .143 , , .200 , , .857 , , 3.5 , , 1.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.5 , , 2.5 , , 4.5 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 2020^† , style="text-align:left;",

, 6 , , 6 , , 30.5 , , .453 , , .348 , , 1.000 , , 6.5 , , 3.2 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 10.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 6 years, 1 team , 20 , , 18 , , 30.6 , , .451 , , .373 , , .926 , , 5.5 , , 2.3 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 0.9 , , 8.4

College