Leilani Seamah Mitchell (born June 15, 1985) is an American-Australian 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

Southside Flyers The Southside Flyers are an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The Flyers compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at the State Basketball Centre. For sponsorship pur ...

of the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...

(WNBL). Mitchell was drafted 25th overall 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 2008 WNBA draft. A dual citizen of the United States and Australia, she is a member of Australian women's national basketball team (the Opals). In 2019 Mitchell became the first WNBA player to win the Most Improved Player Award twice. Mitchell was a member of the Australian Women's basketball team (Opals) at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. The Opals were eliminated after losing to the USA in the quarterfinals.

Early life

Mitchell was born in

Richland, Washington Richland () is a city in Benton County, Washington, United States. It is located in southeastern Washington at the confluence of the Yakima River, Yakima and the Columbia River, Columbia Rivers. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was ...

and is the only daughter of Dennis Mitchell and Eleanor Majid. Her father is American and her mother is Australian. She has five brothers: Tyler, Troy, Travis, Reggie, and Robbie. Mitchell has dual citizenship with both the United States of America and Australia. Mitchell's mother died from cancer in 2009.

High school career

Mitchell attended Kennewick High School in

Kennewick, Washington Kennewick () is a city in Benton County, Washington, Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is located along the southwest bank of the Columbia River, just southeast of the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima ...

. Mitchell was a four-year starter at Kennewick High School. Mitchell was named first-team all-state and all-conference as a junior and senior at Kennewick High School and earned Big Nine Conference Player of the Year honors as a senior. In four consecutive years, Mitchell led Kennewick High School to state championship games, including Kennewick's title-winning season of 2000.

College career

University of Idaho

Mitchell played for Idaho Vandals from 2003 to 2006. At Idaho, she was named the 2004 Big West Freshman of the Year and set numerous school records. Mitchell finished her career ranking fifth in points (1,471), third in points per game (17.0), ninth in field goals made (441), third in 3-point field goals made (164), free throws made (433), and free throws attempted (514), second in free throws percentage (.842), second in assists (504), and first in steals (323).

University of Utah

Mitchell transferred from Idaho to the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

. She sat out the 2006–07 season under

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

rules, and then played the 2007–08 season for

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. In her lone season at Utah, Mitchell led the Utes to a 27–5 record in the 2007–08 NCAA season. She recorded 240 assists, the second most assists in program history. Mitchell won five Mountain West Conference Player of the Week awards, more than any other player in the conference. After the regular season, Mitchell was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year in separate votes by Mountain West coaches and media. Mitchell finished her college career as one of only six NCAA Division I players since 1999–2000 to compile 2,000 points/500 rebounds/500 assists/300 steals in her career.

Professional career

Mitchell was drafted by the

twenty-fifth overall in the second round of 2008 WNBA draft. Mitchell was then traded to the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Confer ...

during the 2008 pre-season after the Liberty acquired Mitchell in a trade in exchange for a 2009 third round draft pick. Initially a bench player, Mitchell made her first professional start on June 6, 2008, in place of the injured Loree Moore. In her first career start against the Houston Comets she had team-high 18 points going perfect 6–6 from the floor including 3–3 from three-point range. During the 2008 season she developed a strong fan following and a reputation for fearlessness in grabbing loose balls and occasionally driving to the basket. Mitchell scored 14 points in the Liberty's narrow loss to the

Detroit Shock The Detroit Shock were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were the 2003, 2006, and 2008 WNBA champions. Debuting in 1998, the Shock were one of the league's first expansion franchises. Th ...

in Game 3 of the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals. Mitchell had a breakout year in the 2010 WNBA season. She became the regular starting point guard in the 2010 season, after the Liberty released Moore in the offseason. Mitchell averaged career-high 9.3 points and 3.8 assists per game. She scored 10-plus points 14 times, and lead the league in three-point field-goal percentage (48.6). Mitchell scored her first 20-point game against the Tulsa Shock. She won the 2010

WNBA Most Improved Player Award The Women's National Basketball Association's Most Improved Player Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the 2000 WNBA season, to the most improved player of the regular season. The winner is selected b ...

. On September 2, 2011, Mitchell scored a career-high 24 points in a win against 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 ...

. On April 21, 2014, Mitchell announced that she was taking the

2014 WNBA season The 2014 WNBA season was the 18th season of the Women's National Basketball Association. The season started in May and concluded in September to accommodate the 2014 Women's World Championship. Notable occurrences * The New York Liberty return ...

off to spend time with her family in Australia. As a result, on August 7, the Liberty

waived A waiver is the voluntary relinquishment or surrender of some known right or privilege. A waiver is often written, such as a disclaimer that has been accepted, but it may also be spoken between two or more parties. When the right to hold a p ...

Mitchell. On February 4, 2015, Mitchell signed with the Phoenix Mercury. On June 12, versus the Indiana Fever, Mitchell scored then career-high 25 points, going 8–14 from the floor including 7–10 from three-point range. On July 5, Mitchell hit the go ahead three-point shot in overtime with 3.9 seconds, in a 94–91 win over the Los Angeles Sparks. On August 27, she scored 16 points and made a three-pointer from the top of the key at the horn to give Phoenix an 81–80 win over the Connecticut Sun. In 2016, Mitchell signed with 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 of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was ...

in the second half of the season to fill a roster gap at the point guard position. She played 10 games off the bench and averaged 5.9 ppg. In 2017, Mitchell returned to the Phoenix Mercury in free agency. On May 23, 2019, the Phoenix Mercury also waived Mitchell. After releasing Arica Carter and the standard 10 waiting period after Mitchell cleared all waiver, the Mercury resigned Mitchell on June 5. On June 28, Mitchell recorded her first career double double as she had 18 points and then career high 11 assists. On July 30, against the Washington Mystics, she scored then career-high 28 points and tied a WNBA-record 8 threes in a single game. Against her former team the New York Liberty, Mitchell scored her career-high 29 points on August 27. Mitchell ended the 2019 season averaging double figure points for the first time in her career as the Mercury finished 15–19 with the 8th seed in the league. The Mercury lost 105–76 to the Chicago Sky in the first round elimination game. Mitchell won the WNBA Most Improved Player Award, becoming the first player in either the NBA or WNBA to win the award twice. In February 2020, Mitchell signed with the Mystics in free agency. On September 4, Mitchell recorded her second career double double as she had 20 points and career high 12 assists. She scored playoff career-high 25 points in the Mystics' loss to her former team Phoenix Mercury in the first round, losing the single elimination game 85–84.

Career statistics

College

Source

WNBA

Regular season

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2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, 34 , , 5 , , 15.2 , , .371 , , .404 , , .810 , , 1.7 , , 2.9 , , 0.5 , , 0.1 , , 1.1 , , 3.9 , - , align="left" ,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

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, 34 , , 2 , , 14.3 , , .300 , , .269 , , 1.000 , , 1.2 , , 2.2 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 0.7 , , 2.4 , - , align="left" ,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

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, 34 , , 34 , , 28.8 , , .441 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", .486° , , .814 , , 2.6 , , 3.8 , , 1.6 , , 0.2 , , 1.5 , , 9.3 , - , align="left" ,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, align="left" ,

, 34 , , 30 , , 25.4 , , .375 , , .364 , , .800 , , 2.1 , , 2.9 , , 1.3 , , 0.1 , , 1.2 , , 5.6 , - , align="left" ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, align="left" ,

, 34 , , 25 , , 26.7 , , .409 , , .411 , , .750 , , 2.5 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.2 , , 1.5 , , 6.5 , - , align="left" ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, align="left" ,

, 34 , , 9 , , 18.6 , , .406 , , .376 , , .857 , , 2.1 , , 1.9 , , 0.8 , , 0.1 , , 1.0 , , 5.0 , - , align="left" ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, align="left" , Phoenix , 34 , , 26 , , 23.0 , , .374 , , .394 , , .889 , , 2.1 , , 2.7 , , 1.0 , , 0.1 , , 1.4 , , 6.7 , - , align="left" ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, align="left" ,

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, 10 , , 0 , , 16.1 , , .435 , , .355 , , .800 , , 1.7 , , 1.9 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 1.3 , , 5.9 , - , align="left" ,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, align="left" , Phoenix , 34 , , 7 , , 21.3 , , .389 , , .360 , , .824 , , 2.4 , , 3.6 , , 0.9 , , 0.3 , , 1.7 , , 8.0 , - , align="left" ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, align="left" , Phoenix , 31 , , 0 , , 14.9 , , .351 , , .341 , , .857 , , 1.4 , , 2.3 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 1.3 , , 4.4 , - , align="left" ,

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 ...

, align="left" , Phoenix , 32 , , 27 , , 30.4 , , .441 , , .430 , , .829 , , 3.0 , , 4.0 , , 0.9 , , 0.3 , , 1.8 , , 12.8 , - , align="left" ,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, align="left" ,

, 22 , , 22 , , 30.6 , , .408 , , .305 , , .872 , , 2.8 , , 5.4 , , 0.8 , , 0.1 , , 1.7 , , 9.5 , - , align="left" ,

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 ...

, align="left" ,

, 31 , , 12 , , 23.4 , , .360 , , .357 , , .826 , , 2.0 , , 2.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.1 , , 1.1 , , 6.4 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 13 years, 4 teams , 398 , , 199 , , 22.2 , , .395 , , .385 , , .834 , , 2.1 , , 3.0 , , 0.8 , , 0.1 , , 1.3 , , 6.6

Postseason

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, align="left" ,

, 6 , , 0 , , 10.3 , , .429 , , .500 , , 1.000 , , 0.3 , , 1.3 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 4.8 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

, 5 , , 5 , , 29.0 , , .227 , , .250 , , 1.000 , , 3.2 , , 3.6 , , 0.8 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 3.2 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

, 3 , , 3 , , 26.0 , , .353 , , .357 , , .000 , , 1.7 , , 1.7 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 1.0 , , 5.7 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

, 2 , , 0 , , 15.5 , , .250 , , .200 , , .000 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.5 , , 2.5 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , Phoenix , 4 , , 0 , , 14.8 , , .429 , , .500 , , .500 , , 1.8 , , 3.5 , , 1.5 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 4.0 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , Phoenix , 5 , , 5 , , 33.0 , , .467 , , .480 , , .955 , , 2.8 , , 3.8 , , 1.2 , , 0.4 , , 3.2 , , 15.0 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , Phoenix , 7, , 0 , , 7.0 , , .429 , , .000 , , .000 , , 0.3 , , 0.9 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.4 , , 1.7 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , Phoenix , 1 , , 1 , , 26.9 , , .143 , , .250 , , 1.000 , , 2.0 , , 3.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.0 , , 5.0 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

, 1 , , 1 , , 36.0 , , .533 , , .714 , , .800 , , 2.0 , , 4.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.0 , , 25.0 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 9 years, 3 teams , 34 , , 15 , , 19.2 , , .393 , , .391 , , .923 , , 1.6 , , 2.3 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 1.4 , , 5.9

International basketball

During the WNBA off-season, Mitchell has played for ASPTT Arras in the

Ligue Féminine de Basketball The Ligue Féminine de Basketball (LFB; ''Women's Basketball League'') is the top women's France, French professional basketball league. The LFB authorities announced that the championship is renamed La Boulangère Wonderligue (LBWL) as for the se ...

(LFB), a French professional league. For the 2009–10 season, Mitchell won the Import Player of the Year Award and was named to the LFB 1st Team. In 2012–2013, Mitchell played for the ŽKK Novi Zagreb in the Croatian League. Since 2013, Mitchell has been playing for the WNBL where she has played with multiple teams and was a national champion with Southside Flyers in 2020, Canberra Capitals in 2019 and Sydney Uni Flames in 2017. Mitchell was chosen as MVP of the Grand Final, as she had been in 2017, as well as voted team MVP of the season when she and the

won the national championship in 2020 with Mitchell scoring thirty one points. Mitchell planned to start a coaching career with Australian NBL1 team Maitland Mustangs after finishing the 2021-22 WNBL season with the

Bendigo Spirit The Bendigo Spirit are an Australian professional basketball team based in Bendigo, Victoria. The Spirit play in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Bendigo Stadium, Red Energy Arena. The team debuted in the ...

but that playing role came to an end after four games due to pregnancy. Mitchell has been a regular member of the Australian national team, the 'Opals', since 2014, when won a bronze medal in the 2014 World Championship. She was a member of the Australian senior team at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, where Australia fell in the quarterfinals. Mitchell, like all the other members of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Opals women's basketball team, had a difficult tournament. The Opals lost their first two group stage matches. They looked flat against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and then lost to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in heartbreaking circumstances. In their last group match the Opals needed to beat

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

by 25 or more in their final match to progress. This they did by 27 in a very exciting match. However, they lost to the United States in their quarterfinal 79 to 55.

WNBL (Australia) statistics

Personal life

On July 24, 2018, Mitchell's fiancée WNBL basketball player Mikaela Dombkins gave birth to son Kash Maxwell. On 4 June 2022, Mitchell announced, with partner Mikaela, on Mitchell's instagram page the birth of their daughter, Elle.

References

External links

Early life

High school career

College career

University of Idaho

University of Utah

Professional career

Career statistics

College

WNBA

Regular season

Postseason

International basketball

WNBL (Australia) statistics

Personal life

See also

References

External links