Madina Okot may be a pro, but she’s still new to basketball. She only started playing in 2020 and left Dawn Staley’s South Carolina program after just two seasons of college basketball in the U.S. Nevertheless, her WNBA career is off to a solid start. She is averaging 5.1 points and 3.8 rebounds for the Atlanta Dream and just recorded her second double-digit scoring game with 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 steal against the Washington Mystics.
Dream head coach Karl Smesko has big expectations for Okot and her future in the WNBA.
“She’s good right now,” Smesko said in the postgame media availability after the win over the Mystics, “but she has so much potential. I just think that she has the ability to be one of the best players in the league. She’s just physical, she’s strong, she has skills, and she’s still learning the game.”
Okot herself gave teammate Angel Reese a lot of credit for pushing her and giving her the confidence to be her best self on the court.
“She [Reese] keeps telling me to do things that I think that I’m not able to do, and I feel like she just does a very good job of being a big sister to me, bringing out what I don’t really see myself doing,” Okot said in the postgame media availability.
Of course, Okot is the only person who can truly make Smesko’s prediction come true, but if Reese continues to pour into her younger teammate, it could make a huge difference for Okot. Knowing that you have the talent to play with the best is one thing. Knowing that other people believe it, too, builds a whole other kind of confidence. Plus, Okot will benefit from the knowledge that people who have been around the game for much longer can share with her.
Okot is off to a good start, but still needs some time
With her size, interior presence on both ends of the floor, and newly discovered 3-point shot, Okot has all the tools to become one of the premier bigs in the WNBA. But she is also one of the youngest players in the WNBA at 21. Awa Fam and Nell Angloma are 19, and Cassandre Prosper, Dominique Malonga, and Juste Jocyte are still 20. Okot is one of seven 21-year-olds in the league—younger and less experienced than most players coming out of college.
So, it will take some time for her to realize her potential. Atlanta is a great place to start her career. She gets to be around All-Star bigs in Angel Reese and Brionna Jones and a two-time WNBA champion in Jordin Canada. With Jones still sidelined after having knee surgery in the offseason, Okot gets to play real minutes, but she’s not asked to do a whole lot outside of her comfort zone because Reese and Naz Hillmon still play the brunt of the frontcourt minutes.
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