Kiki Jefferson (born March 1, 2001) is an American 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 who is a free agent. She was drafted by 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 ...

in the

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

. She played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

James Madison Dukes The James Madison Dukes are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams that represent James Madison University (JMU), in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The name "Dukes" is derived from Samuel Page Duke, the university's se ...

and the

Louisville Cardinals The Louisville Cardinals (also known as the Cards) are the NCAA athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. The Cardinals teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, beginning in the 2014 season. While playing in the Big East Co ...

Early life

Jefferson was born in

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, to Marcus and Kiyana Jefferson.

High school career

She attended and played basketball at Lancaster Catholic High School in Lancaster, under head coach Charlie Detz. Detz described Jefferson as "a special person and a once-in-a-generational player." During her time on the team, she was named to the Lancaster Lebanon League First-Team selection three times, Lancaster Lebanon All-Star,

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

Pennsylvania First Team honoree three times, USA Today Pennsylvania Player of the Year, Pennsylvania Class 4A Player of the Year twice, and

PennLive ''The Patriot-News'' is the largest newspaper serving Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical area in central Pennsylvania. In 2005, the newspaper was ranked in the top 100 in daily and Sunday circulation in the United States. It has bee ...

's Player of the Year twice. Jefferson helped her team go undefeated in her junior year, winning the Lancaster Lebanon League, District Three championship, and the

Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc. (PIAA) is one of the governing bodies of Secondary school, high school and middle school athletics for Pennsylvania. PIAA's main office is located in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harri ...

(PIAA) championship. She finished her high school career with 2,510 career points, ranking second all-time in the Lancaster Lebanon League. She played for the Philadelphia Belles in the

Nike Elite Youth Basketball League The Nike Elite Youth Basketball League, also known as Nike EYBL, or simply EYBL, is a basketball circuit for teams of players aged 17 and under. The circuit was founded in 2010 and is composed of AAU travel teams. Both boys and girls play in the ...

(EYBL).

College career

In college, she played four seasons at

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public university, public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1908, the institution was renamed in 1938 in honor of the fourth president of the ...

(JMU) and one graduate season at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

. At JMU, she was named

Coastal Athletic Association The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), formerly the ECAC South Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA' ...

(CAA) Rookie of the Week nine times, the second most in conference history. In her freshman year of 2019–20, Jefferson played in all 29 games and started in 25. She average 9.8 points per game (ppg), 5.6

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

, 1.8 assists, and 1.1 steals. She had a 46.4% shot rate from the field and a 39.7% rate from behind the arc. In her debut game, she scored 17 points, nine rebounds, three steals, and three assists against

Longwood University Longwood University is a public university in Farmville, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1839 as Farmville Female Seminary and colloquially known as Longwood or Longwood College, it is the third-oldest public university in Virginia and one of ...

. She was named 2020 CAA Rookie of the Year as well as named to the 2020 CAA All-Rookie Team. In her sophomore season of 2020–21, she started in all 24 games. She led the team with 388 points total, 16.2 points per game, 188 rebounds, 7.8 rebounds per game, and 26 steals. Jefferson led the CAA in free throws with an 82% shot rate. In 2021, she was named to the 2020–21 All-CAA First Team, the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) All-State First Team, the CAA All-Tournament Team, and All-CAA First Team. In the 2021–22 season, her junior year, Jefferson started in all 29 games and led the team in scoring with 18.8 ppg average and 545 points total. She had two games where she scored 30-plus points. Jefferson entered the top-10 all time for

free throws In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted ...

in the JMU Dukes history with 174 free throws on an 81.3% shot rate. She was fourth nationally in free throws that season. As a student, she was awarded JMU Athletic Director's Scholar-Athlete in spring 2022, and CAA Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll in both fall 2021 and spring 2022. Finishing her career at JMU in the 2022–23 season, she placed second in career free throws with 550, fifth in scoring average, sixth in all-time points with 1,838 points, and ninth in rebounds with 815. She was also tied for sixth in free throw percentage with an 80.2% shot rate, tied for ninth in field goals with 518, and tied for 10th in three-point percentage with a 33.9% shot rate. She was award the 2023

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

(SBC) Tournament Most Outstanding Player, and was named to the SBC's tournament team while averaging 18.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, with a 75% shot rate from three. Jefferson was awarded the 2022–23 Sun Belt Player of the Week three times, as well as Sun Belt Player of the Year. She was named to the First Team All-Sun Belt, VaSID All-State First Team, and

Eastern College Athletic Conference The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 15 sports (13 men's and 13 women's). It has 220 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location from ...

(ECAC) First Team. Jefferson transferred to the University of Louisville for her graduate year, where she finished the 2023–24 season with a team best of 12.3 ppg, second with 2.3 assists, and third with 4.5 rebounds per game. She played in all 34 games and started in 32. Jefferson helped the Cards to a 24–10 record. She was named to the All-

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC) Second Team, and was awarded the 2023–24 Cheryl Miller Award Top 10 List. She finished her college career with 2,257 points, 969 rebounds, 349 assists, 142 steals, 71 blocks, and 155 three-pointers. She made 82% of her foul shots.

Professional career

WNBA

Jefferson was drafted in the third round, 31st overall, by the

in the

. She was the 17th player from the University of Louisville to be selected in the draft, and the second by the Lynx. Lynx head coach

Cheryl Reeve Cheryl Reeve (born September 20, 1966) is an American basketball head coach and President of Basketball Operations for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association, WNBA. Reeve has coached the Lynx to four league championshi ...

describes Jefferson as "an all-around good basketball player who impacts the game in a variety of ways. She scores, rebounds and can pass". On May 9, 2024, Jefferson was waived by the Lynx.

Unrivaled

In February 2025,

Laces BC Laces Basketball Club, also known as Laces BC, is an American professional basketball team. They are a member of the Unrivaled basketball league, and made their debut in January 2025. The teams are based in Miami, Florida and the Laces are led by ...

signed Jefferson to a relief player contract for their game against

Vinyl BC Vinyl Basketball Club, also known as Vinyl BC, is an American professional basketball team. They are a member of the Unrivaled basketball league, and made their debut in 2025. The teams are based in Miami, Florida and Vinyl is led by coach Teres ...

on February 8. However, the game was canceled by

the league ''The League'' is an American television sitcom that aired on FX and later FXX from October 29, 2009, to December 9, 2015, for a total of seven seasons. The series, set in Chicago, is a semi-improvised comedy show about a fantasy football l ...

"to prioritize player health and safety."

Career statistics

College

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

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

, 29, , 25, , 24.2, , 46.4, , 39.7, , 77.3, , 5.6, , 1.8, , 1.1, , 0.6, , 1.5, , 9.8 , - , 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 ...

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, 24, , 24, , 29.3, , 44.5, , 34.9, , 82.0, , 7.8, , 2.4, , 1.1, , 0.4, , 3.0, , 16.2 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 29, , 29, , 30.9, , 40.7, , 27.4, , 81.3, , 6.8, , 2.2, , 0.7, , 0.7, , 3.4, , 18.8 , - , 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 ...

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, 34, , 32, , 29.2, , 42.9, , 34.1, , 79.1, , 7.9, , 2.9, , 0.8, , 0.4, , 2.2, , 18.3 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;" ,

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

, 34, , 32, , 24.4, , 46.6, , 34.9, , 88.4, , 4.5, , 2.3, , 1.1, , 0.2, , 2.1, , 12.3 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Career , 150, , 142, , 27.5, , 43.7, , 34.1, , 81.5, , 6.5, , 2.3, , 0.9, , 0.5, , 2.4, , 15.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="14", Statistics retrieved from

Sports-Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey Ref ...

Personal life

Jefferson has a brother, Steven, and a sister, Ayanda. She majored in Sport & Recreation Management at James Madison University.

References

External links

James Madison Dukes bio

Louisville Cardinals bio

Kiki Jefferson – ESPN
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Kiki Living people 2001 births 21st-century American sportswomen American women's basketball players Basketball players from Pennsylvania Guards (basketball) James Madison Dukes women's basketball players Louisville Cardinals women's basketball players Minnesota Lynx draft picks Minnesota Lynx players People from Lancaster, Pennsylvania Unrivaled basketball players