Awak Kuier

Last updated

Awak Kuier
2021-09-19 WNBA Dallas Wings - 28 Awak Kuier - 002.jpg
Awak Kuier with the Dallas Wings in 2021.
Personal information
Born (2001-08-19) 19 August 2001 (age 22)
Cairo, Egypt
NationalityFinnish
Listed height6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Career information
High schoolHelsinki Basketball Academy
(Helsinki, Finland)
WNBA draft 2021: 1st round, 2nd overall pick
Selected by the Dallas Wings
Position Forward
Career history
2016–2017 Peli-Karhut  [ fi ]
2017–2020HBA-Märsky
2020–2022 Virtus Eirene Ragusa  [ it ]
2021–2023 Dallas Wings
2022–present Reyer Venezia
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Basketball
Representing Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
FIBA Under-18 European Division B Championship
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2019 North Macedonia Team

Awak Sabit Bior Kuier (born 19 August 2001) [1] [2] is a Finnish basketball player for the Dallas Wings of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), but she'll be skipping the 2024 WNBA season, [3] and the Finnish national team. [4] [5] Kuier also plays for Italian team Reyer Venezia in LBF and EuroCup. [6] Selected by the Wings with the second overall pick in the 2021 WNBA draft, she was the second Finnish player in the history of the league after Taru Tuukkanen to be drafted, and she became the first Finnish player to play in the WNBA in May 2021. [7]

Contents

Career

Growing up in the city of Kotka, Kuier was discovered for basketball by a neighbour at age 10, when she stood already 180 cm tall. The man contacted Mikko Kokkola, who was coaching basketball at the local Peli-Karhut  [ fi ], and Kokkola invited her to practice. [8] Kuier joined the club. She was named the U16-league Player of the Season in 2015–16. She debuted in top-tier Naisten Korisliiga with PeKa first team in the 2016–17 season. [9] At the age of 14, a video of her dunking went viral online.

In 2017, at the age of 16, she joined the Helsinki Basketball Academy team HBA-Märsky. [10] Kuier played in Naisten Korisliiga with HBA team, and was named the Most Improved Player in the league in 2019. She was also named the league's Player of the Month in January 2020. [11]

She then later declined offers from American universities to sign a professional contract with Lega Basket Femminile (LBF) team Virtus Eirene Ragusa  [ it ] (Passalacqua Ragusa) in 2020. [12]

Selected 2nd overall in the 2021 WNBA draft by the Dallas Wings, she was the first non-American player since Australia's Liz Cambage in 2011 to be selected in the first five picks of the draft. [13] After missing the first few games of the 2021 season, she made her debut for the Wings on 27 May 2021, scoring a point, a rebound, and an assist in seven minutes of game time in a 101–95 loss to the Atlanta Dream. [14] In addition to her speed and resilience, Kuier's features also include an exceptionally large wingspan of about seven feet. [15] On June 10, 2022, in a game against the Seattle Storm, Kuier became the 8th woman in WNBA history to dunk a basketball.

Since June 2022, Reyer has also played for Italian team Reyer Venezia during winter seasons in Europe, competing in LBF and EuroCup.

On January 22, 2024, Kuier announced that she will skip the 2024 WNBA season. [3] This is due to overlapping seasons between Italy and the United States, and the strict change in WNBA rules concerning absences related to playing in Europe. [16]

International career

She represented Finland at the 2019 U18B FIBA Women's European Championship, winning the championship and being named tournament MVP. She was then named to the All-Star Five at the 2019 U20B FIBA Women's European Championship, helping Finland to a second-place finish.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

YearTeamGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGTOPPG
2021 Dallas 1608.9.308.167.7862.40.60.30.81.02.4
2022 Dallas 33012.6.395.190.6132.50.90.40.90.62.8
2023 Dallas 37410.8.396.087.7782.50.50.20.60.62.6
Career3 years, 1 team86411.1.380.145.7082.50.70.30.80.72.6

Postseason

YearTeamGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGTOPPG
2021 Dallas 108.0.000——3.00.00.00.01.00.0
2022 Dallas 305.0.000.000—1.70.00.00.70.00.0
2023 Dallas 5010.4.643.286.0001.40.20.60.80.84.0
Career3 years, 1 team908.3.500.200.0001.70.10.30.70.62.2

Personal life

She was born in Cairo, Egypt and is of South Sudanese origin. [2] She moved to Finland as a refugee with her family when she was two years old, [17] first settling in the city of Kotka. [18] Today, her family has settled in the coastal town of Uusikaupunki and she holds dual Finnish and Egyptian citizenship. [19] [20] She speaks Italian, Arabic, Finnish, and English. [21] Kuier has four older brothers and her parents are Jehovah's Witnesses. [22] [2]

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References

  1. ↑ Kuier Awak Sabit Bior, legabasketfemminile.it
  2. 1 2 3 Kemppainen, Jouni K. (25 September 2022). "Aina päätä pidempi". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  3. 1 2 https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/wings/2024/01/22/dallas-wings-forward-awak-kuier-will-forgo-2024-wnba-season/%3foutputType=amp
  4. ↑ "WNBA mock draft 2021, version 2.0: Texas' Collier projected to go No. 1". ESPN.com. 21 February 2021.
  5. ↑ "International prospects for the 2021 WNBA draft". FIBA.basketball.
  6. ↑ Awak Kuier teki sopimuksen uuteen italialaisseuraan: "Halusin kovempaan liigaan", Yle, Ossi Saarinen, 12 June 2022
  7. ↑ "Awak Kuier set for historic basketball debut". Yle Uutiset.
  8. ↑ "Kuier celebrates with cake after historic WNBA pick". YLE. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  9. ↑ Awak Kuier, basketi.fi
  10. ↑ Hurd, Sean (13 April 2021). "'The sky's the limit': The promising WNBA future of Awak Kuier".
  11. ↑ HBA-Märskyn Awak Kuier on Naisten Korisliigan tammikuun pelaaja, basket.fi, 5 February 2020
  12. ↑ "How Wings' draft pick Awak Kuier, a teenager from Finland, grew into a one-of-kind prospect". Dallas News. 23 April 2021.
  13. ↑ "Kuier celebrates with cake after historic WNBA pick". Yle Uutiset.
  14. ↑ "Wings defense crumples in loss to Dream as rookie Awak Kuier fulfills her dream in WNBA debut". Dallas News. 28 May 2021.
  15. ↑ YLE: Awak Kuierin poikkeuksellinen ominaisuus herättää ihastusta amerikkalaislapsissa – suomalaista ylistetään Dallasissa, vaikka kausi on ollut haastava (in Finnish)
  16. ↑ Awak Kuier voi joutua tekemään pian kovan ratkaisun WNBA:sta – Suomen uusi päävalmentaja näkee tilanteessa hyvääkin, Yle, 6 November 2023
  17. ↑ Knuuttila, Mikko (5 December 2019). "Suomen koripallon superlupaus on syntynyt Kairossa – "Itsenäisyyspäivä tuo ihmiset yhteen"". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  18. ↑ Kotkalaislähtöinen Awak Kuier varattiin WNBA:han historiallisesti toisella varausvuorolla – Tie vie nyt Dallasiin – Kymen Sanomat (in Finnish)
  19. ↑ YLE: Sudanilaislähtöinen Kuierin perhe teki kaikkensa tyttären koripallouran eteen – varaus huippusarjaan herkisti ylpeät vanhemmat ja pyyhki vaikeat ajat mielestä (in Finnish)
  20. ↑ "Five Things to Know About Awak Kuier". WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA.
  21. ↑ Pickman, Ben. "Awak Kuier Is Ready to Soar in the WNBA". Sports Illustrated.
  22. ↑ Saarikoski, Saska (2019). "Tässä lepää tähti". Helsingin Sanomien Kuukausiliite (in Finnish) (6). Helsingin Sanomat: 22–29.
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