Jessica Shepard

Jessica Shepard (born September 11, 1996) is an American-Slovenian professional basketball player for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Shepard began her college career at Nebraska, playing there for two seasons before transferring to Notre Dame to complete her career. She was drafted 16th overall by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2019 WNBA draft.

Jessica Shepard

No. 15 – Minnesota Lynx
Position	Forward
League	WNBA
Personal information
Born	(1996-09-11) September 11, 1996 (age 28) Fremont, Nebraska, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight	175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High school	Lincoln Southeast (Lincoln, Nebraska) Fremont (Fremont, Nebraska)
College	Nebraska (2015–2017) Notre Dame (2017–2019)
WNBA draft	2019: 2nd round, 16th overall pick
Drafted by	Minnesota Lynx
Playing career	2019–present
Career history
2019–2023	Minnesota Lynx
2021–2022	Dinamo Sassari
2022–2024	Reyer Venezia
2024–2025	Athinaikos
2025–present	Minnesota Lynx
Career highlights
NCAA champion (2018) Lega Basket Femminile champion (2024) Third-team All-American – AP (2019) 2× First-team All-ACC (2018, 2019) First-team All-Big Ten (2016) Second-team All-Big Ten (2017) Big Ten Freshman of the Year (2016) Big Ten All-Freshman Team (2016)
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals Women's Basketball Representing  United States FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship 2014 United States Team

Family and early years

A Fremont, Nebraska native, Shepard is the daughter of Mark and Kim Shepard.^[1] She has four sisters and one older brother.^[1] Shepard won a state title while attending Lincoln Southeast High School in 2013, and finished her high school career at Fremont.^[2]

WNBA

Minnesota Lynx (2019–present)

Shepard was selected 16th overall in the 2nd round of the 2019 WNBA Draft. Shepard appeared in 5 games of the 2019 season, and averaged 4.6 ppg. On June 8, 2019, in a game against the Los Angeles Sparks, it was determined Shepard had torn her ACL, effectively ending her rookie season.^[3]

Shepard missed the 2020 season as she continued to recovery from her ACL injury that she sustained in 2019.^[4]

Shepard was suspended for and subsequently missed the entire 2024 season. This was due to contract commitments with her basketball club in Italy, Umana Reyer Venezia and violating the WNBA collective bargaining agreement which requires players to prioritize the WNBA over other international leagues.^[5]

On April 21, 2025, Shepard re-signed with the Lynx.^[6]

National team career

On June 19, 2024, the Basketball Federation of Slovenia announced that Shepard had received Slovenian citizenship and became eligible to play for the Slovenia women's national basketball team.^[7]

WNBA career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
TO	Turnovers per game	FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
Bold	Career best	°	League leader

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2019	Minnesota	6	0	18.7	.379	.143	.750	5.7	3.5	0.3	0.2	2.5	4.8
2021	Minnesota	22	0	10.5	.364	.083	.750	3.2	1.7	0.1	0.2	0.8	2.0
2022	Minnesota	36	22	26.1	.500	.250	.734	7.4	3.0	0.4	0.3	1.7	8.1
2023	Minnesota	21	17	26.9	.516	.000	.774	7.0	3.1	0.6	0.1	1.4	8.1
2024	Did not appear in league
2025	Minnesota	17	3	19.4	.595	0.0	574	6.8	2.5	0.5	0.1	1.5	7.1
Career	5 years, 1 team	102	42	21.4	.501	.178	.711	6.2	2.7	0.4	0.2	1.5	6.4

Nebraska and Notre Dame statistics

Source^[8]

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
TO	Turnovers per game	FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
Bold	Career best	°	League leader

Year	Team	GP	Points	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2015–16	Nebraska	31	574	51.0%	0.0%	58.1%	8.6	1.9	0.6	0.6	18.5
2016–17	Nebraska	29	538	40.8%	31.5%	55.7%	9.8	1.9	0.5	0.2	18.6
2017–18	Notre Dame	38	594	56.5%	0.0%	67.9%	8.1	2.4	0.8	0.7	15.6
2018–19	Notre Dame	38	634	59.4%	0.0%	71.0%	10.3	3.3	1.4	0.5	16.7
Career		136	2340	51.6%	29.5%	62.4%	9.2	2.4	0.9	0.5	17.2