Has the WNBA Found Their Kyrie Irving in Kysre Gondrezick?
With the fourth overall selection in the 2021 WNBA Draft, the Indiana Fever selected Kysre Gondrezick from West Virginia. Gondrezick is something sort of a legacy as she comes from two parents who played basketball at a high level: her mother, Lisa Harvey Gondrezick, who played at Louisiana Tech, and her father, Grant Gondrezick, who played at Pepperdine and later played in the NBA, being drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 1986.
4️⃣’s up . pic.twitter.com/ikGeW75NKX
— Kysre Gondrezick (@KysreRae) April 17, 2021
Kysre was a stand-out in high school and she made her name in the history book as she became the first girl in the state of Michigan to average over 40 points during a season in 2016. The highlight of that year was when Gondrezick put on an outstanding showing, scoring 72 points in a double-overtime victory in the district playoffs. She was a one-woman show as her 72 was out of only 80 scored by her entire team, so she was responsible for more than 90% of the team's points that night.
Kysre, who is a native of Benton Harbor, Michigan, began her collegiate career at the University of Michigan, where she averaged 14.9 points per game as a freshman and earned second-team all-Big Ten honors. She then transferred to West Virginia, but due to the NCAA transfer rules, she sat out her sophomore season.
By then, she was a redshirt junior and she had upped her scoring tally to about 20 points a game, which she felt was her pinnacle to declare for the draft even though the NCAA froze the eligibility for all winter sport student-athletes due to a shortened season amid the pandemic. She became the tenth player from the Mountaineers to be selected in the draft.
During her time in college, she electrified fans with her handles and jumper. Twitter saw an interest in her after seeing her highlights, drawing comparisons to Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving. Her ability to handle the ball and finish at the rim is what must have drawn interest from the Indiana Fever. She was recently asked to move to point guard in college and it turned out to be a seamless transition. So the Fever are essentially getting a combo guard that can do a lot of things very well, and being listed at 5’9” doesn’t hurt. Draft analysis of her game was that she was potentially a threat to pull up from anywhere as well as get to the foul line at-will, boasting a 20.1 percent free throw rate, according to Eric Nemchock.
Gondrezick, who recently lost her father earlier this year in January, showed what she was really made of just two days after his passing, she played against the No.17 ranked Texas team as she put on a show. She finished the game with twenty-four points on 43% shooting from the field along with recording five assists and two steals as they upset and defeated the Texas Longhorns pretty handily 92-58.
There was much speculation on where she might end up on draft night, with her overall talent in so many areas it's sure the Fever are getting a good one in Kysre Gondrezick.