Jessica Shepard (born September 11, 1996) is an American-Slovenian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team won the WNBA ...

of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

(WNBA). Shepard began her college career at

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, playing there for two seasons before transferring to Notre Dame to complete her career. She was drafted 16th overall by the

in the 2019 WNBA draft.

Family and early years

Fremont, Nebraska Fremont is a city in and the county seat of Dodge County, Nebraska, Dodge County in the eastern portion of the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. The population was 27,141 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it t ...

native, Shepard is the daughter of Mark and Kim Shepard. She has four sisters and one older brother. Shepard won a state title while attending

Lincoln Southeast High School Lincoln Southeast High School is a public high school located in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Lincoln Public Schools district. Lincoln Southeast High School has the highest accreditation from the Nebraska Department ...

in 2013, and finished her high school career at Fremont.

WNBA

Minnesota Lynx (2019–present)

Shepard was selected 16th overall in the 2nd round of the 2019 WNBA Draft. Shepard appeared in 5 games of the 2019 season, and averaged 4.6 ppg. On June 8, 2019, in a game against the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...

, it was determined Shepard had

torn Torn may refer to: Film and television * ''Torn'' (2013 American film), directed Jeremiah Birnbaum * ''Torn'' (2013 Nigerian film), directed by Moses Inwang * Torn (2021 film), an American documentary film * ''Torn'' (TV series), a 2007 Briti ...

her ACL, effectively ending her rookie season. Shepard missed the 2020 season as she continued to recovery from her ACL injury that she sustained in 2019. Shepard was suspended for and subsequently missed the entire 2024 season. This was due to contract commitments with her basketball club in Italy, Umana Reyer Venezia and violating the WNBA collective bargaining agreement which requires players to prioritize the WNBA over other international leagues. On April 21, 2025, Shepard re-signed with the Lynx.

National team career

On June 19, 2024, the

Basketball Federation of Slovenia The Basketball Federation of Slovenia () also known as KZS is the governing body of basketball in Slovenia. It was founded in 1950 as a member of the larger Yugoslav Basketball Federation (see also: Basketball in Yugoslavia). In 1992, KZS joined ...

announced that Shepard had received Slovenian citizenship and became eligible to play for the Slovenia women's national basketball team.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

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2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

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2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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Nebraska and Notre Dame statistics

Source

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shepard, Jessica 1996 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball players Basketball players from Nebraska Forwards (basketball) Minnesota Lynx draft picks Minnesota Lynx players Nebraska Cornhuskers women's basketball players Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball players People from Fremont, Nebraska 21st-century American sportswomen