Over the next week, SB Nation will be profiling each of the 12 members of the U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team.
Here’s what you need to know about Kelsey Plum, who was college basketball’s all-time leading scorer before Caitlin Clark held that honor.
Fast Facts
team: Las Vegas Aces (16-8)
2024 Regular Season Stats: 18.8 points (41.9% FG, 37.4% 3P), 4.7 assists, 3.2 rebounds
position: Guard
Draft Class: 2017, No. 1
All-Star Selection: 3 (2022, 2023, 2024)
Past Olympic Games: 2020 Olympic Gold Medalist (3×3)
College: University of Washington
Before Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Plumb was NCAA Division I women’s basketball’s all-time leading scorer.
As a senior at Washington University, Plum scored 57 points on Senior Night, breaking the women’s basketball all-time scoring record with 3,397 career points.
The night came on the heels of a stellar college basketball season that was capped by an almost unprecedented senior season in which Plum averaged 31.7 points on 52.9 percent shooting and 42.8 percent from three-point range.
“I probably had one of the best individual years in basketball history,” Plum said. Said Women’s sports only.
It took her a while to get used to it. WNBA Though she averaged single digits in scoring each of her first three seasons, few players have matched her collegiate greatness.
But Plum has been open about struggling with her mental health during her senior season and throughout the early part of her pro career, so she was happy when Caitlin Clark broke the all-time scoring record.
“I’m really grateful to be passing the baton,” Plumb said on Feb. 2. From NBC Sports“I’m very happy for her… to be honest. [the record] “It was the lowest point in my life. I felt so much pressure and my identity was tied to that record.”
Plum is a two-time WNBA champion.
Like the rest of the Aces core, Kelsey Plum was a key member of the championship teams in 2022 and 2023. She averaged 17.1 points in the postseason that led to the franchise’s first title in 2022 and 18.3 points per game last spring when the Aces won back-to-back championships.
This year, the Aces are aiming to become the first WNBA team since the Houston Comets to win three consecutive championships.
“We’ll be back.” Plum Speaking at the 2024 championship parade“And everyone hates it.”
In 2022, Kelsey Plum scored 30 points and was named All-Star Game MVP.
Kelsey Plum scored 30 points in her first All-Star game on 12-of-18 shooting and 5-of-11 3-pointers. At the time, it was tied for the most points scored by a WNBA All-Star in history, but the record has since been broken twice, most recently by Arike Ogunbowale, who scored 34 points.
Since then, the photo of Plum hoisting the MVP trophy has become something of an icon — a laughably tiny trophy that pales in comparison to the NBA trophy, and highlights the inequality in treatment between male and female basketball players.
But as the WNBA has grown, so has the trophy, and after being crowned MVP last weekend, Ogunbowale hoisted an even more impressive trophy to mark her accomplishment.
Plum tore his Achilles tendon in 2020 but returned much improved as a basketball player.
Kelsey Plum ruptured her Achilles tendon prior to her senior season in the WNBA and missed a year to recover, but she has since characterized the injury as a blessing in disguise, noting that she struggled with mental health issues prior to the injury and that her time away from the game has actually worked to her advantage.
“By the grace of God, I ruptured my Achilles tendon,” she said. We need to talk in 2023“My life wasn’t where I was at right now. I needed to change it. So I completely revamped it mentally, physically and emotionally. It changed the way I see things and the way I live each day. To this day, I think it was the best thing I could have done for my career.”
Plum averaged 8.8 points per game in each of the three seasons prior to her injury. After her injury, her scoring nearly doubled, averaging 17.1 points per game over the next three seasons.
Plum’s breakout season came in 2021, when he averaged 14.8 points and 3.7 assists off the bench, ultimately earning sixth-place player of the year honors and finishing second in Most Improved Player voting.
She followed that up with two All-Star seasons, averaging 20.2 points on 42% 3-point shooting in 2022 and continuing that offensive prowess in 2023, averaging 18.7 points per game.
Perhaps most notably, both of those seasons saw her achieve her ultimate goal: a WNBA championship.
