Nakia Sanford (born May 10, 1976) is a professional

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college compet ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

most recently with the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team was founded by Gi ...

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).Nakia Sanford
WNBA.com

College career

Sanford finished her career at

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

ranked fourth all-time rebounder (832) and shot-blocker (89).

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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, 31, , 29, , 21.1, , 50.0, , 0.0, , 57.3, , 5.0, , 0.6, , 0.6, , 0.5, , 1.2, , 5.5 , - , 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 ...

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, 27, , 0, , 10.9, , 48.3, , 0.0, , 48.4, , 1.7, , 0.2, , 0.4, , 0.4, , 0.6, , 3.3 , - , align="left" ,

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 ...

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, 34, , 19, , 26.1, , 51.9, , 0.0, , 61.6, , 6.0, , 1.1, , 0.8, , 0.6, , 2.1, , 8.9 , - , 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 ...

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, 34, , 31, , 29.2, , 53.0, , 0.0, , 66.5, , 7.1, , 0.7, , 0.8, , 0.8, , 2.6, , 11.0 , - , align="left" ,

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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, 34, , 28, , 23.4, , 45.2, , 0.0, , 39.8, , 5.7, , 1.2, , 0.6, , 0.3, , 2.4, , 6.7 , - , 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, , 13, , 19.5, , 47.0, , 0.0, , 57.8, , 4.3, , 0.6, , 0.8, , 0.4, , 2.1, , 6.3 , - , 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, , 22, , 17.9, , 47.8, , 0.0, , 69.7, , 4.2, , 0.7, , 0.7, , 0.2, , 2.0, , 6.0 , - , 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" , Phoenix , 33, , 16, , 14.4, , 48.4, , 0.0, , 75.0, , 4.2, , 0.4, , 0.2, , 0.2, , 0.9, , 4.2 , - , 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" , Phoenix , 30, , 15, , 16.7, , 42.5, , 25.0, , 60.0, , 3.3, , 0.6, , 0.5, , 0.3, , 1.3, , 4.1 , - , 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 ...

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Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, 15, , 0, , 10.2, , 29.6, , 0.0, , 56.3, , 2.0, , 0.5, , 0.1, , 0.3, , 0.8, , 1.7 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 11 years, 3 teams , 323, , 173, , 19.1, , 48.4, , 25.0, , 59.0, , 4.4, , 0.6, , 0.6, , 0.4, , 1.6, , 5.9

Playoffs

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, 2, , 2, , 30.0, , 33.3, , 0.0, , 27.3, , 8.0, , 0.5, , 1.5, , 0.0, , 1.0, , 6.5 , - , align="left" ,

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, 2, , 0, , 17.5, , 71.4, , 0.0, , 0.0, , 2.5, , 1.5, , 0.0, , 0.5, , 1.0, , 5.0 , - , align="left" ,

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, 2, , 1, , 14.0, , 71.4, , 0.0, , 50.0, , 3.0, , 0.5, , 0.5, , 0.5, , 1.0, , 5.5 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , Phoenix , 4, , 0, , 20.0, , 63.6, , 0.0, , 50.0, , 4.5, , 0.3, , 0.3, , 0.8, , 1.0, , 4.8 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 5 years, 2 teams , 13, , 6, , 20.4, , 50.0, , 0.0, , 45.2, , 4.9, , 0.5, , 0.5, , 0.5, , 1.3, , 5.1

College

WNBA career

Sanford was not drafted. She was signed by 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 ...

before the

2003 WNBA season The 2003 WNBA season was the Women's National Basketball Association's seventh season. It was the first season in which teams either folded or relocated, as well as the first to have teams that were not co-owned with NBA teams. The Orlando Miracl ...

. During her first three-season, she saw limited action. It was not until the

2006 WNBA season The 2006 WNBA season was the Women's National Basketball Association's tenth season. The league added one team: the Chicago Sky. The Sky were the first expansion team since 2000 when the Indiana Fever, Miami Sol, Portland Fire, and the Seattle ...

that Sanford began to show progress as a player. She set career highs for all her stats in 2006, including rebounds per game (6.0) and field goal percentage (52%). In 2007, she set new career highs averaging 7 rebounds and 11 points per game. She saw decreased playing time during the

2008 WNBA season The 2008 WNBA season was the 12th season of the Women's National Basketball Association. It was the first WNBA season with a franchise in Atlanta as the Dream were announced in late 2007. No WNBA All-Star Game was held due to the 2008 Summer Oly ...

, however.

References

1976 births Living people Abdullah Gül Üniversitesi basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American women's basketball players Basketball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Centers (basketball) Kansas Jayhawks women's basketball players Sportspeople from Lithonia, Georgia Phoenix Mercury players Power forwards Seattle Storm players Washington Mystics players Undrafted Women's National Basketball Association players {{US-women-basketball-bio-stub