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Liatu King
American basketball player (born 2002) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Liatu King (born February 10, 2002) is an American professional basketball player who is a free agent. She played college basketball for the Pittsburgh Panthers and Notre Dame Fighting Irish. King was selected by the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) in the third round of the 2025 WNBA draft.
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Early life
King was born on February 10, 2002 in Washington, D.C.[1][2] She and her younger sister were born to deaf parents; King began learning American Sign Language (ASL) at nine months old. As a child, she played American football as a linebacker.[3] She stood out on her middle school football team as a girl with male teammates and opponents.[4][5]
King attended Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland,[6] where as a senior in 2020, she led the school's basketball team to a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship, the school's first since 2008; she scored a team-high 13 points in the championship game.[1][7] She was named to the All-WCAC second team as a junior and the conference's first team as a senior, tallying 1,024 points, 1,018 rebounds, and a 28–5 record in her high school career.[8]
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College career
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King began her college basketball career with the Pittsburgh Panthers. She played in all 19 games of her freshman year, averaging 5.0 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, including a season-high 15 points in a win against the Clemson Tigers. She played in 26 games during her sophomore year, averaging 7.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game and recording double-doubles in consecutive games on two occasions; during the Paradise Jam tournament, she followed a 10-point, 19-rebound performance against the Texas A&M Aggies with 23 points and 19 rebounds in a victory against the Northwestern Wildcats. In her junior year, King played in all 30 games, averaging 9.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, and 1.2 assists per game and recording five more double-doubles, with standout performances in wins against the North Alabama Lions (26 points, 16 rebounds) and Duquesne Dukes (25 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks). In her senior year, she started in all 32 games and averaged 18.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.5 blocks per game[1][2] on her way to securing 18 more double-doubles and first-team All-ACC honors.[9][10] She was also named the ACC's most-improved player for 2024 – the first Pittsburgh player to win a major individual ACC award[11] – and was one of three players in the conference that season to average a double-double.[10] She scored 30 points against the Northern Kentucky Norse and a career-high 34 points against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the most points that Notre Dame allowed to an individual player that season.[1]
King's 18 double-doubles, 598 points, 329 rebounds, and 58 blocks as a senior ranked first, third, second, and first, respectively, in a season in Pittsburgh program history. Granted an extra year of NCAA eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she chose to play college basketball for a fifth season, transferring to Notre Dame to do so.[11]
In her fifth-year senior season at Notre Dame, starting in all 33 games,[2][12] King averaged 11.5 points and 2.0 steals per game.[1] She also averaged 10.4 rebounds per game, a Notre Dame program record.[13] King recorded 14 double-doubles on the season;[12] CBS Sports called her Notre Dame's "X-factor".[14] Notre Dame qualified for the 2025 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, advancing as far as the Sweet Sixteen. She recorded ten points and six points in a round of 64 win over the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks, added 18 points and 15 rebounds in a round of 32 victory against the Michigan Wolverines, and ended her college career with 17 points and ten rebounds in Notre Dame's Sweet Sixteen loss to the TCU Horned Frogs.[1] She was named second-team All-ACC for her season at Notre Dame.[13][15]
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Professional career
Los Angeles Sparks
King was selected in the third round (28th overall) of the 2025 WNBA draft by the Los Angeles Sparks.[12] She played in the Sparks' preseason game on May 6, 2025, recording six points and four rebounds in five minutes.[16] The Sparks waived King on May 11[17] but re-signed her to a hardship contract on May 20.[18] In her first three regular-season games with the Sparks, her 12.7 minutes per game was the second-most among the team's bench players; she averaged 2.0 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in that span.[19] On June 28, she was released by the Sparks after averaging 3.0 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 12 games.[20]
Dallas Wings
On July 2, 2025, the Dallas Wings announced that they had signed King for a rest-of-season contract.[21] She was waived by the Wings on July 8 after appearing in two games.[22]
Career statistics
| 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 |
WNBA
College
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References
External links
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