Celeste Yvonne Taylor (born June 20, 2001) is an American

professional basketball In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought l ...

player for the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut that competes in the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was established ...

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 played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, t ...

, and

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

High school career

Taylor played

varsity Varsity may refer to: *University, an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in various academic disciplines Places *Varsity, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta, Canada * Varsity Lakes ...

basketball for

Valley Stream South High School Valley Stream South High School (VSSHS) is a combined public junior and senior high school located in South Valley Stream, New York, in southwest Nassau County on Long Island. The school was established in 1955. The high school is one of three ...

Valley Stream, New York Valley Stream is a village in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population in the Village of Valley Stream was 37,511 at the 2010 census. The incorporated Village of Valley Stream is within the Town of Hempstead, a ...

in seventh grade. One year later, she transferred

Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School (commonly known as LuHi) is a Christian college preparatory school in Brookville, New York, United States. It was founded and built in 1960 on a estate and has a student body of approximately 420 stude ...

Brookville, New York Brookville is a village located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 3,465 at the time of the 2010 census. History The geographic Village of Brookv ...

, where she became a starter as a freshman. As a senior, Taylor was named New York

Gatorade Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' cross country, boys' football, boys' a ...

. She was selected to play in the

McDonald's All-American Game The McDonald's All-American Game is the all-star basketball game played each year for American and Canadian boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the concl ...

and

Jordan Brand Classic The Jordan Brand Classic is a high school All-Star basketball game played annually in April. The game's rosters feature the best and most highly recruited high school boys in the senior class including alumns like Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, B ...

. Taylor was named ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and ...

'' Long Island Player of the Year in her final two years. Rated a five-star recruit by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, she committed to playing

for

over offers from Stanford, Notre Dame, Ohio State and South Carolina, among other programs.

College career

As a freshman at Texas, Taylor averaged 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, leading the team with 31 three-pointers. She was named to the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...

All-Freshman Team. She averaged 12.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game as a sophomore, earning All-Big 12 honorable mention. For her junior season, Taylor transferred to

and averaged 11 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. In her senior season, Taylor was named Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-ACC, while averaging 11.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game. She set a program single-game record with 10 steals in a second-round loss to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

at the 2023 NCAA tournament. Taylor transferred to

for her fifth season.

Professional career

On April 15, 2024, Taylor was selected in the second round as the fifteenth overall pick of the

2024 WNBA draft The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s draft for the 2024 season, following the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season, was held on April 15, 2024, the 29th draft in WNBA history. The draft took place at the Brooklyn ...

by the

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the 2000 season began. The team is owned ...

. She made the roster and played in five games for the Fever before being waived on June 25, 2024. On July 12, 2024, Taylor signed a seven-day contract with the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season ...

. On August 16, 2024, Taylor signed a seven-day contract with the

National team career

Taylor won a gold medal with the United States national under-16 team at the

2017 FIBA Under-16 Women's Americas Championship The 2017 FIBA Under-16 Women's Americas Championship was an international basketball competition that was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 7–11 June 2017. The defeated the defending champions , 91–46, in the final game to reclaim the c ...

in Argentina. She started in all five games and averaged 4.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Taylor played at the

2018 FIBA Under-17 Women's Basketball World Cup The 2018 FIBA Under-17 Women's Basketball World Cup (Belarusian: Кубак свету па баскетболе сярод жанчын да 17 гадоў ФІБА 2018) was an international basketball competition held from 21 to 29 July 2018 in M ...

in Belarus, averaging 6.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game en route to a gold medal. She won a third gold medal with the national under-19 team at the

2019 FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup The 2019 FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup (Thai: บาสเกตบอลหญิงชิงแชมป์โลกรุ่นอายุไม่เกิน 19 ปี 2019) (formerly FIBA U19 Women's World Championship) was a ...

in Thailand, where she averaged five points and 2.6 rebounds per game.

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

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2024 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1928 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ***'' Steamboat Willie'', Walt Disney ...

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Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

, 4 , , 0 , , 15.8 , , 37.5 , , 50.0 , , 50.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.8 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 2.5 , - !scope="row" style="text-align:center;",

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Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

, 5 , , 0 , , 3.2 , , 100.0 , , – , , 50.0 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , - , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 0.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 9 , , 0 , , 8.8 , , 44.4 , , 50.0 , , 50.0 , , 0.6 , , 0.9 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 1.4

College

, - !scope="row" style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30, , 26, , 27.9, , 34.0, , 28.4, , 70.8, , 4.8, , 1.5, , 1.4, , 0.7, , 2.8, , 9.3 , - !scope="row" style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

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

, 28, , 26, , 32.0, , 35.3, , 29.7, , 58.9, , 4.9, , 2.0, , 2.1, , 0.6, , 2.5, , 12.3 , - !scope="row" style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 23, , 22, , 28.5, , 38.8, , 33.3, , 69.0, , 5.5, , 2.1, , 1.8, , 0.5, , 2.8, , 11.0 , - !scope="row" style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

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

, 33, , 33, , 28.9, , 39.4, , 32.1, , 67.5, , 4.8, , 2.5, , 2.2, , 0.6, , 2.2, , 11.4 , - !scope="row" style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32, , 32, , 28.7, , 40.9, , 32.0, , 64.3, , 4.1, , 3.4, , 2.5, , 0.9, , 2.4, , 10.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 146, , 139, , 29.2, , 37.6, , 31.1, , 66.3, , 4.8, , 2.3, , 2.0, , 0.7, , 2.5, , 10.8

References

External links

Celeste Taylor instagramDuke Blue Devils bioOhio State Buckeyes bioTexas Longhorns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Celeste Living people American women's basketball players Basketball players from Queens, New York Basketball players from Nassau County, New York Connecticut Sun players Guards (basketball) Duke Blue Devils women's basketball players Indiana Fever draft picks Indiana Fever players Texas Longhorns women's basketball players McDonald's High School All-Americans Valley Stream South High School alumni 2001 births