Courtesy of Nicole Sweet/NBA Academy
A seven-hour time difference makes it difficult for Miky Panait to watch her two favorite WNBA players live. But when the 16-year-old Romanian guard wants to pick up moves from future Hall of Famers Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, she turns to YouTube and goes down a rabbit hole in search of two decades of basketball wizardry.
Last week, however, Panait didn’t need the internet to come into contact with members of the WNBA or to further develop her repertoire. Instead, the 5’ 7’’ guard was one of around 40 top international prospects who took part in the inaugural Women’s NBA Academy Games in Atlanta. There, for two days, she competed on one of four teams of international players, which had been shuffled together with girls from 21 countries. More than 50 NCAA coaches, from schools like Michigan, Texas A&M and Clemson, registered for the event, and three WNBA teams—the Storm, Liberty and Dream—also had personnel in attendance for parts of it, according to Monica Rogers, the elite basketball women’s operation lead at the NBA.
