Imani McGee-Stafford drives to the basket (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
The law school dream claims another one.
Earlier this week, Imani McGee-Stafford, center for the Dallas Wings, announced she was stepping away from basketball to focus on the next step in her career: law school. She says she’ll be pursuing her J.D. at Southwestern Law School.
McGee-Stafford is part of a family basketball tradition — her mother is former USC basketball player Pamela McGee and her brother is Lakers center JaVale McGee, but she says she is looking forward to law school. I guess she hasn’t watched The Paper Chase yet:
“While I am saddened to step away from such a big part of my life, I’m also excited for this next chapter.”
ESPN reports the highlights of McGee-Stafford’s ball career:
The 6-foot-7 McGee-Stafford, 25, played at Texas from 2012 to ’16, averaging 10.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. She was selected No. 10 overall in the 2016 WNBA draft by the Chicago Sky, for whom she played that season and part of 2017 before being traded to Atlanta. She was with the Dream in 2018 as well, and then was traded to the Wings before last season. She averaged 3.9 points and 3.8 rebounds for Dallas in 2019.
And though they’re losing a player, Wings president and CEO Greg Bibb wished McGee-Stafford well, saying, “We thank her for her hard work and contribution to the Wings organization and support her decision to step away from the WNBA in order to achieve a longtime goal.”
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).