Allisha Gray confirms WNBA decision

On Sunday night, Allisha Gray won a national championship. On Monday, she and her South Carolina teammates returned to campus with the trophy.

On Tuesday, Gray decided that the timing couldn’t be any better, and the Washington County (Ga.) product took another career step and declared for the WNBA Draft.

“Yeah,” she said, drawing the word out a little bit Tuesday morning by phone in an arranged interview that ostensibly was to revisit South Carolina’s win over Mississippi State on Sunday for the NCAA Tournament women’s basketball championship in Dallas. “It’s been hectic. ... It’s true.”

It has indeed been hectic. Gray and her teammates spent Sunday night into the wee hours of Monday morning on social media celebrating their title. At around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the news broke that Gray and teammate Kaela Davis would be leaving South Carolina after their junior seasons — and only season at South Carolina as Gray transferred from North Carolina and Davis from Georgia Tech — for the pro ranks.

“(Monday) night was deadline to declare,” said Gray, a two-time All-Middle Georgia Girls Basketball Player of the Year. “Me and my family, we talked, and we decided it was best for me to go ahead and declare for this year’s draft.”

Last year’s early entrant was Michigan State’s Aerial Powers, who went fifth to Dallas. Two years ago, two players declared early and went 1-2: Notre Dame’s Jewell Loyd and Minneosta’s Amanda Zahui B.

The WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement signed in 2014 states that a 2017 top-four pick’s base salary as a rookie is $51,191, $47,738 for picks 5-8 and $42,600 for the rest of the first round. Most WNBA players also play overseas for more money.

Gray was second in scoring for the national champs with 13.2 points per game, behind roommate and best friend A’ja Wilson’s 17.9 points. Gray, a 6-foot junior, was third with five rebounds per game, second with 2.5 assists and second with 1.3 steals. She shot 51 percent from the floor, 31.6 percent on 3-pointers and 73.5 percent at the free-throw line.

Gray played for two seasons at North Carolina — leading the team in scoring as a sophomore and earning All-ACC honors — and decided to transfer while the Tar Heels’ athletics program dealt with an NCAA investigation regarding academic improprieties. She landed at South Carolina in the summer of 2015 and sat out the 2015-16 season because of the NCAA transfer rules as she watched South Carolina — a Final Four favorite — lose to Syracuse in the Sweet 16.

Gray, whose father Allen is principal at Washington County and brother A.J. plays defensive back at Georgia Tech, said South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley understood her decision.

“Coach Staley was supportive of my decision,” Gray said. “She didn’t try to talk me out of it. ... As a coach, she’s more than a coach. She’s a person you can come talk to about anything. She didn’t try to talk me out of anything.”

Still, considering Gray played only one year at South Carolina after the Gamecocks won the national title with only two seniors (Tiffany Davis and Alaina Coates) on the roster, and All-American Wilson among those returning to give South Carolina a quality chance to repeat, a natural question was why leave early.

“The timing was just perfect,” said Gray, a broadcast journalism major who currently prefers work behind the scenes, mostly video editing, in that field. “It’s always been a dream of mine to play in the WNBA. To have the opportunity to be eligible for the draft, I couldn’t turn down that opportunity.”

Early entrants — who must be 22 years old in the year of the draft — have until five days before the April 14 draft to change their mind, and Gray doesn’t expect that to happen. But she’s not ditching classes.

“My parents have always been on me about grades,” said Gray, estimating her GPA to be about 3.2. “I’m going to finish this semester out. I’ve got to finish this semester. I did not come this far to just drop out now.”

This story was originally published April 4, 2017 at 1:21 PM with the headline "Allisha Gray confirms WNBA decision."