Teaira McCowan (born September 28, 1996; first name pronounced ) 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 for the

Dallas Wings The Dallas Wings are an American professional basketball team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Wings compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team is owned by a group ...

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). 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

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the college athletics, athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA D ...

College career

Following McCowan's junior season, she was named WBCA All-American, ESPNW First Team All-American and the Associated Press Third Team All-American. McCowan was also the inaugural winner of the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award. On January 10, 2019, McCowan was the projected first overall pick in the 2019 WNBA draft in an

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 ...

mock draft. However, this particular mock draft included only college seniors and eligible international players. Later that month, ESPN compiled another mock draft, this time including draft-eligible juniors, the most notable of whom was Oregon's

Sabrina Ionescu Sabrina Elaine Ionescu ( ; born December 6, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for the New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is widely considered one of the greatest three-point shooters in ...

. In this second mock draft, McCowan was projected as third, but with the caveat that "if Ionescu decides to stay and play her senior season at Oregon, the whole first round looks different." This qualification proved relevant as Ionescu announced that she would remain at Oregon for 2019–20. On January 21, 2019, she was voted as the espnW national player of the week.

Professional career

WNBA

McCowan was drafted by the

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Fever compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was founded for ...

with the third pick of the 2019 WNBA draft. In her first game for the Fever, she hit a buzzer-beating layup to deliver an 81–80 victory. Following the 2019 season in which she averaged 10 points, 9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, McCowan was named to the All-Rookie Team. She was second in the league in rebounding and scored a career-high 24 points in three games. McCowan played for the Indiana Fever for the 2019 through 2021 seasons and, after a March 2022 trade, the

for the 2022 through 2024 seasons.

Overseas

On 1 August 2022, she signed with

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

of the Turkish

Women's Basketball Super League The Women's Basketball Super League (, KBSL), also known as the ING Women's Basketball Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the top women's professional basketball division of the Turkish women's basketball league system. The league was establ ...

(TKBL). In November 2023, McCowan acquired Turkish citizenship and subsequently began playing for the Turkish national team. On 8 January 2024, it was announced that a contract was signed with Galatasaray again. On November 6, 2024, McCowan signed a short term deal with

Çukurova Basketbol Çukurova basketbol Mersin (ÇBK Mersin), for sponsorship reasons Çimsa ÇBK Mersin, is a Turkish professional women's basketball club based in Mersin, Türkiye. The club was founded in 2015 and currently competing in the Women's Basketball Su ...

Personal life

McCowan was born in

Bryan, Texas Bryan is a city in and the county seat of Brazos County, Texas, United States. It is located in the heart of the Brazos Valley (East and Central Texas). As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 83,980. Bryan borders the city of C ...

and grew up in

Brenham, Texas Brenham ( ) is a city in east-central Texas, United States, and the county seat of Washington County, with a population of 17,369 according to the 2020 U.S. census. Brenham is also known for its annual German heritage festival that takes pl ...

, where she graduated from

Brenham High School Brenham High School is a public high school located in the city of Brenham, Texas, United States. It is classified as a 5A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Brenham Independent School District located in central Washington County. In 20 ...

. She is the daughter of Tracy Nunn and Dayronn McCowan.

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

''Stats current through end of 2024 season'' , - , style="text-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 ...

, style="text-align:left;",

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, 34 , , 16 , , 22.1 , , .517 , , — , , .687 , , 9.0 , , 0.2 , , 0.6 , , 1.3 , , 1.3 , , 10.0 , - , style="text-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 ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 22 , , 10 , , 21.0 , , .536 , , .000 , , .750 , , 7.3 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 1.0 , , 2.0 , , 10.9 , - , style="text-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 ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 23 , , 26.5 , , .537 , , — , , .644 , , 9.6 , , 1.1 , , 0.6 , , 1.6 , , 1.7 , , 11.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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 ...

, style="text-align:left;",

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, 33 , , 15 , , 18.9 , , .602 , , — , , .600 , , 7.0 , , 0.8 , , 0.3 , , 0.7 , , 1.7 , , 11.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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 ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 29 , , 26.1 , , .551 , , .000 , , .586 , , 9.1 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 1.2 , , 1.5 , , 11.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 39 , , 38 , , 25.3 , , .570 , , .250 , , .718 , , 8.1 , , 1.6 , , 0.9 , , 0.9 , , 2.0 , , 11.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 6 years, 2 teams , 190 , , 131 , , 23.4 , , .554 , , .091 , , .661 , , 8.4 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 1.1 , , 1.7 , , 11.2

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;",

, 3 , , 1 , , 24.7 , , .480 , , — , , .533 , , 9.3 , , 1.0 , , 0.3 , , 1.7 , , 3.3 , , 10.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;",

, 5 , , 5 , , 30.4 , , .622 , , — , , .522 , , style="background:#d3d3d3;", 12.6° , , 1.6 , , 0.8 , , 1.4 , , 1.8 , , 11.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career' , style="text-align:left;", 2 years, 1 team , 8 , , 6 , , 28.3 , , .565 , , — , , .565 , , 11.4 , , 1.4 , , 0.6 , , 1.5 , , 2.4 , , 11.3

College

, - , width="10%" style="text-align:center;", 2015–16 ,

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

, 35, , 1, , 13.7, , .495, , —, , .667, , 5.6, , 0.3, , 0.5, , 1.3, , 1.4, , 6.6 , - , style="text-align:center;", 2016–17 ,

, 39, , 6, , 19.7, , .569, , —, , .611, , 7.1, , 0.5, , 0.8, , 1.5, , 1.1, , 8.7 , - , style="text-align:center;", 2017–18 ,

, 39, , 39, , 30.5, , .601, , —, , .633, , 13.9, , 0.5, , 0.8, , 2.1, , 2.0, , 18.2 , - , style="text-align:center;", 2018–19 ,

, 36, , 36, , 29.9, , .662, , .000, , .758, , 13.5, , 0.9, , 0.9, , 2.4, , 1.5, , 18.4 , - class="sortbottom" , colspan=2 style="text-align:center;", Career , 149, , 82, , 23.6, , .597, , .000, , .678, , 10.1, , 0.5, , 0.8, , 1.8, , 1.5, , 13.0

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mccowan, Teaira 1996 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball players Basketball players from Texas Centers (basketball) Dallas Wings players Indiana Fever draft picks Indiana Fever players Mississippi State Bulldogs women's basketball players Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) Sportspeople from Brenham, Texas Sportspeople from Washington County, Texas Galatasaray S.K. (women's basketball) players Naturalised basketball players Turkish people of African-American descent Turkish women's basketball players 21st-century Turkish sportswomen Naturalized citizens of Turkey American expatriate basketball people in Turkey Turkey women's national basketball team players 21st-century American sportswomen