Kayte Lauren Christensen (born November 16, 1980) is an American

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...

for the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

and former professional basketball player in 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 ...

Early life and education

Kayte Lauren Christensen was born in

Lakeview, Oregon Lakeview is a city in Lake County, Oregon, United States. The population was 2,418 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Lake County. The city bills itself as the "Tallest Town in Oregon" because of its elevation ...

to Randy and Cathy Christensen. She attended Modoc High School in

Alturas Alturas (Spanish for "Heights"; Achumawi: ''Kasalektawi'') is the only incorporated city in Modoc County, California of which it is also the county seat. Located in the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California, the city had a population o ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and graduated in 1998. She was named the Shasta Cascade League MVP in her sophomore, junior and senior seasons. Her senior season saw her named the California Division V Player of the Year in 1998 en route to winning the

California Interscholastic Federation The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have s ...

Division V championship. Christensen attended college at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

where she competed on the women's basketball team with future WNBA players Erin Buescher, Lindsay Taylor, and

Kristen Mann Kristen Cherie Mann (born August 10, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Minnesota Lynx, Atlanta Dream, Indiana Fever, and Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She pl ...

. She was named to the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

All-Freshman team in 1999 and was the 2002 Big West Player of the Year.

Playing career

Christensen was selected by the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Mercury compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. One of eight original franchises, it wa ...

in the third round (40th overall) of the 2002 WNBA draft. She spent four seasons with the Mercury before she signed with the

Houston Comets The Houston Comets were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Houston. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams and won the first four championships of the league's existence. They are one of two ...

on March 24, 2006. She was waived on May 19, 2006, when she failed to make Houston's regular-season roster. She was signed to a short-term injury hardship contract by Houston on May 23, 2006, before rejoining the Mercury on June 15, 2006. After the 2006 season ended, Christensen became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

until she signed a contract with the Chicago Sky on March 8, 2007. She was released from the Chicago Sky on May 20, 2008 after missing games due to a recurring back injury. Christensen has played professional basketball overseas in South Korea, Turkey, and Greece during the WNBA offseasons. Christensen has twice received the WNBA Offseason Community Assist Award, first in 2003 and second in 2004.

Commentary career

Christensen served as the

Arizona State Sun Devils The Arizona State Sun Devils are the sport, athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's Varsity team, varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Divisi ...

women's basketball radio color analyst, beginning in 2003, for the Sun Devil Sports Network on NBC 1190 AM. Christensen served as a courtside reporter for the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

during

Comcast SportsNet NBC Sports Regional Networks is the collective name for a group of regional sports networks in the United States that are primarily owned and operated by the NBCUniversal division of the cable television company Comcast. The networks were origina ...

broadcasts at

Sleep Train Arena ARCO Arena (known as Power Balance Pavilion from 2011 to 2012 and Sleep Train Arena from 2012 until 2022) was an indoor arena located in Sacramento, California, United States. Opened in 1988, it was the home of the Sacramento Kings of the Nation ...

. In May 2010, she was replaced by Jim Gray. She returned to her courtside role in the Kings' 2013–14 season. Before the start of the 2021-22 NBA season the Kings announced that Christensen would replace

Doug Christie Douglas Dale Christie (born May 9, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Standing at , Christie played the shooting guar ...

as the team's television broadcast color analyst. She also has worked as a women's basketball color analyst for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

and

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

, a social media correspondent for the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

, and a social media engagement producer for ''

The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. History Early years The newspap ...

''.

Public diplomacy

In June 2011, Christensen traveled to Venezuela as a

SportsUnited Formerly known as SportsUnited, Sports Diplomacy is the U.S. Department of State's sports diplomacy division. Sports Diplomacy uses sport to help youth around the world develop important off-the-court skills, including leadership, mutual understa ...

Sports Envoy for the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

. In this function, she worked with

Darvin Ham Darvin Demonte Ham Sr. (born July 23, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the top assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He previously served as the head coac ...

to conduct basketball clinics for 300 youth from underserved areas and met with Venezuelan sports officials. In so doing, Christensen helped contribute to SportsUnited's mission to promote greater understanding and inclusion through sport.

Career statistics

WNBA

, - , align="left" ,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, align="left" , Phoenix , 30, , 2, , 13.8, , 50.5, , 0.0, , 68.6, , 2.7, , 0.5, , 0.8, , 0.4, , 1.1, , 4.0 , - , align="left" ,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, align="left" , Phoenix , 30, , 16, , 22.0, , 48.4, , —, , 60.2, , 4.2, , 0.5, , 0.8, , 0.5, , 1.3, , 6.9 , - , align="left" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, align="left" , Phoenix , 32, , 1, , 12.7, , 38.8, , —, , 63.2, , 2.2, , 0.7, , 0.7, , 0.2, , 0.8, , 1.6 , - , align="left" ,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, align="left" , Phoenix , 11, , 1, , 9.8, , 46.7, , —, , 57.1, , 2.0, , 0.6, , 0.6, , 0.5, , 0.9, , 1.6 , - , align="left" rowspan=2 ,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, align="left" ,

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, 6, , 0, , 14.5, , 50.0, , —, , 100.0, , 3.2, , 0.7, , 0.0, , 0.0, , 1.8, , 3.0 , - , align="left" , Phoenix , 11, , 0, , 4.8, , 16.7, , —, , 50.0, , 1.3, , 0.2, , 0.3, , 0.1, , 0.5, , 0.3 , - , align="left" ,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, align="left" ,

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, 23, , 7, , 9.2, , 41.7, , —, , 44.4, , 1.9, , 0.3, , 0.4, , 0.2, , 0.9, , 2.1 , - class="sortbottom" , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 6 years, 3 teams , 143, , 27, , 13.6, , 46.4, , 0.0, , 60.8, , 2.6, , 0.5, , 0.6, , 0.3, , 1.0, , 3.2

College

, - , style="text-align:left;" , 1998–99 , style="text-align:left;" , Santa Barbara , 30, , -, , -, , 55.1, , 100.0, , 62.1, , 5.6, , 0.4, , 0.9, , 0.6, , -, , 8.0 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1999–00 , style="text-align:left;" , Santa Barbara , 18, , -, , -, , 56.5, , 0.0, , 50.8, , 6.3, , 0.4, , 1.4, , 1.5, , -, , 10.4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2000–01 , style="text-align:left;" , Santa Barbara , 31, , -, , -, , 54.9, , 0.0, , 66.7, , 7.6, , 0.9, , 1.5, , 1.1, , -, , 13.7 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2001–02 , style="text-align:left;" , Santa Barbara , 32, , -, , -, , 54.3, , 0.0, , 65.5, , 9.1, , 0.8, , 1.5, , 0.5, , -, , 14.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Career , 111, , -, , -, , 54.9, , 11.1, , 63.1, , 7.3, , 0.7, , 1.3, , 0.9, , -, , 11.9

References

External links

* *
UC Santa Barbara player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christensen, Kayte 1980 births Living people American women's basketball players Basketball players from Oregon Chicago Sky players Houston Comets players People from Lakeview, Oregon People from Alturas, California Phoenix Mercury draft picks Phoenix Mercury players Power forwards UC Santa Barbara Gauchos women's basketball players