Gamecocks in the WNBA: How A’ja Wilson, Te-Hina Paopao, others are doing
We’re just two weeks into the 2025 WNBA season, and South Carolina women’s basketball alums are already picking up league-wide honors.
The league announced Tuesday morning that A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces) and Allisha Gray (Atlanta Dream) earned WNBA Western and Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors, respectively, for Week 2 of the season.
Wilson averaged 27 points, 10 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game last week. The Aces are currently 4-2 on the season and Wilson leads the team in points (22.8), rebounds (10.5), assists (4.2), steals (2.3) and blocks (2.7) per game.
Gray averaged 26.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and four assists per game last week. Atlanta is 5-2 on the season and Gray leads the team with 21.4 points per game which, at the moment, is a career-high mark.
There are seven other former Gamecocks currently on rosters in the WNBA. Here’s a look at their progress through the first two weeks of the season.
Te-Hina Paopao
Paopao has had the most success of the two respective rookies this year who are Gamecock alums.
The No. 18 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft has played in six of seven games this year. Paopao started the first four games of the season for the Dream before missing a game with an injury.
She’s since been coming off the bench but is averaging five points in 15.7 minutes per game.
Kamilla Cardoso
Cardoso just had a career-best performance with the Chicago Sky.
On Thursday she scored a career-high 23 points in a win over the Dallas Wings. She also recorded eight rebounds in the game.
Cardoso is averaging 11.3 points per game this season, up from her average of 9.8 last year. She is also averaging 6.5 rebounds per game.
The team as a whole (2-4) has struggled.
Tyasha Harris
Harris has yet to start for the Dallas Wings this year after starting in all but one of the 39 games she played in for the Connecticut Sun last season.
Harris injured her knee on Friday in a matchup against her former team and has not played since.
She’s averaging 16.4 minutes and 4.6 points per game this season for the struggling Wings. At 1-6 so far, Dallas currently shares the worst record in the league with the Sun.
Aliyah Boston
Boston’s early returns this season have some speculating she could be a darkhorse candidate for MVP.
She’s averaging a career-high 16.8 points and 9.2 rebounds through six games.
Boston has already logged two 20-point games this season. The first came in a loss to the New York Liberty, where she scored 27 points while also recording 13 rebounds. The second came in a loss to the Dream where she scored 24 points and brought in 10 rebounds. Boston has tallied three double-doubles already this year.
Boston’s already-important role will likely continue to expand for a 2-4 Indiana Fever team that is without its other star, Caitlin Clark, who is missing time with a quad strain.
Tiffany Mitchell
Mitchell has been serviceable in her time off the bench for the Aces this season.
She is averaging three points in 13.2 minutes per game. Mitchell’s season-high in points (five) came in a win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Friday.
Mitchell’s arguably best performance of the season came against Seattle on May 25 when she scored four points and recorded four rebounds, two assists and a block.
Sania Feagin
Feagin hasn’t seen the court much during her rookie season.
The No. 21 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft has made just one appearance this year for the Los Angeles Sparks. In that game she played just over one minute in the game and missed her only shot attempt.
Zia Cooke
Things seem to be trending up for Cooke in her first year with the Seattle Storm.
Cooke has played in six games and is averaging 11.2 minutes per game, up from just under nine minutes per game with the Sparks last season.
Cooke is averaging 3.5 points per game (just a hair below her averaged from last season) and is bringing in one rebound, 0.7 assists and 0.5 steals per game (all just slightly above her averages from a year ago).
