Evelyn Akhator

Evelyn Akhator
No. 23 – Flammes Carolo Basketball
PositionPower forward / center
LeagueLFB
Personal information
Born (1995-02-03) 3 February 1995 (age 29)
Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria
NationalityNigerian
Listed height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
College
WNBA draft2017: 1st round, 3rd overall pick
Selected by the Dallas Wings
Playing career2017–present
Career history
2017–2018Dallas Wings
2017–2018WBC Dynamo Novosibirsk
2018–2019Besiktas
2019CB Avenida
2019–2022Flammes Carolo
2022–2023Basket Landes
2023–presentLanderneau Bretagne Basket
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
AfroBasket
Gold medal – first place 2017 Mali
Gold medal – first place 2019 Senegal

Osaretin Evelyn Akhator (born 3 February 1995) is a Nigerian professional basketball forward/center for Landerneau Bretagne Basket of the Ligue Féminine de Basketball. She was drafted by the Dallas Wings of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as the 3rd overall pick in the 2017 WNBA draft.

WNBA career

Evelyn was drafted as the 3rd overall pick in the 2017 WNBA draft by the Dallas Wings. She played 15 games in her rookie season for the Dallas side[1] where she averaged 0.9 points per game, 0.2 blocks per game, 0.1 steal per game.[2] She was waived by the Dallas Wings on 13 May 2018.[3]

On 13 February 2019, Akhator returned to the WNBA by signing for the Chicago Sky on a training camp deal.[1][4]

International career

Evelyn Represents the Nigerian national basketball team. She made her first appearance for the team during the 2017 FIBA Afrobasket tournament in Mali.[5] Evelyn averaged 15.3 points and 9.5 rebounds per game during the tournament and also made the top 5 players list.[6] Evelyn was part of the Nigerian national basketball team at the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup where she averaged 12.6 points,9 rebounds and 1.4 assists during the tournament.[7]

Overseas career

Akhator signed with the Russian side WBC Dynamo Novosibirsk in 2017. She averaged 12.4 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.[8][9]

On 22 August 2018, Akhator signed with the Turkish Besiktas basketball team.[8][10] She averaged 15 points and 11 rebounds per game in the Turkish league, and she averaged 15 points and 11 rebounds in the Eurocup tournament, having played more than 30 minutes per game in both competitions.[11]

Ahkator signed with the Spanish side CB Avenida on 15 May 2019.[12][11]

In November, 2019, Ahkator signed with the French side Flammes Carolo basketball team.[13][14][15]

Akhator signed with Basket Landes for the 2022–2023 season.[16]

In June 2023, she signed with Landerneau Bretagne Basket.[17]

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

College

Source[18]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2015–16 Kentucky 33 380 51.0% 100.0% 57.8% 9.2 0.7 1.1 1.0 11.5
2016–17 Kentucky 33 526 56.8% 0.0% 68.9% 10.8 1.0 1.4 0.9 15.9
Career 66 906 54.1% 33.3% 64.5% 10.0 0.8 1.2 0.9 13.7

WNBA regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2017 Dallas 15 0 4.1 .250 — .833 0.6 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.9
Career 1 year, 1 team 15 0 4.1 .250 — .833 0.6 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.9

Source:[19]

Awards and recognition

In the 2018 Nigerian Sports Awards, Akhator won the Best Sportwoman award and the Basketball player award.[20]

Personal life

Akhator is from a family of three. her parents and her older sibling reside in Nigeria.[21] Her mother Benedicta died in a road accident.[22]

References

  1. ^ a b "Evelyn Akhator". WNBA.com – Official Site of the WNBA.
  2. ^ "Evelyn Akhator WNBA Stats". Basketball-Reference.com.
  3. ^ "Dallas Wings Waive Evelyn Akhator and Ruth Hamblin". Dallas Wings.
  4. ^ "WNBA news: Chicago Sky Re-Sign Jamierra Faulkner, Add Evelyn Akhator". highposthoops.com.
  5. ^ "2017 Afrobasket: Akhator urges D'Tigress to remain focused". 22 August 2017.
  6. ^ "Top 10 players from FIBA Women's AfroBasket 2017". FIBA.basketball.
  7. ^ "Evelyn AKHATOR at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2018". FIBA.basketball.
  8. ^ a b Usenekong, Gold (22 August 2018). "D'Tigress Forward Akhator Joins Besiktas on One-Year Deal – Complete Sports Nigeria". Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  9. ^ Oriaku, Peter (17 October 2017). "Basketball: Akhator Joins Russian Women's League Club Dynamo Novosibirsk". Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  10. ^ "D'Tigress Forward Evelyn Akhator Joins Besiktas on One-Year Deal – FOW 24 NEWS". www.fow24news.com.
  11. ^ a b Horas, Salamanca 24 (14 May 2019). "El CB Avenida ficha a Evelyn Akhator". Diario Noticias Salamanca 24 Horas.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ "Perfumerias Avenida will improve my game says Akhator". 16 May 2019. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  13. ^ "Evelyn Akhator sale del Perfumerías Avenida rumbo al Flammes Carolo". www.lagacetadesalamanca.es.
  14. ^ "Basket-ball (Ligue féminine). Cette fois, c'est la bonne, Evelyn Akhator arrive aux Flammes Carolo". L'Union. 26 November 2019.
  15. ^ "Evelyn Akhator (ex Avenida) is a newcomer at Flammes". www.afrobasket.com.
  16. ^ "Basket Landes engage Evelyn Akhator et Clarince Djaldi-Tabdi". BeBasket (in French). Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  17. ^ "LFB : Evelyn Akhator, de Basket Landes à Landerneau". BasketEurope.com (in French). 30 June 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  18. ^ "NCAA Statistics". web1.ncaa.org. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  19. ^ "Evelyn Akhator". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  20. ^ "Akhator, Musa, Quadri win at NSA". 17 November 2018.
  21. ^ "I first fell in love at 17 – D'Tigress star Akhator". 9 August 2019.
  22. ^ "Evelyn Akhator: Basketball will allow me to help the less fortunate in Nigeria and around the world".