NBA Basketball | Lusia Harris, the only woman selected in the NBA draft, dies

Lusia Harris He has died at the age of 66. The former player trained in Delta State He has died unexpectedly as the family announced in a statement: “We are deeply saddened to share the news that our angel, matriarch, sister, mother, grandmother, Olympic medalist, the queen of basketball, Lusia Harris, passed away unexpectedly today. in Mississippi.”

Harris went down in history by becoming the first woman to be officially selected in the NBA draft. It was in 1977, after having dominated in his university stage at Delta State: he won three titles with almost 30 points per game and 20 rebounds in the finals, figures that caught the attention of the, at that time, New Orleans Jazz, who decided to select her in the seventh round, in position 137. Despite wanting her in their ranks, Harris could not play because at that time she was pregnant, and in the end he ended up developing his professional life in teaching.

Harris and the possibility of playing in the NBA

This election, and the possibility of playing in the NBA was possible since there was still no professional league for women, in such a way that if the teams wanted it, they could count on women in their teams. Harris’s case was not the only one, as in 1969, the San Francisco Warriors drafted Denise Long 13th overall, although the franchise’s attempt to incorporate it directly from the institute and not from the university made the NBA commissioner, then Walter Kennedy, veto the election.

Denise Long and Ann Meyers, the other women who came close to playing in the NBA

For its part, Ann Meyers also dazzled during his university period in UCLA, where he was from 1974 to 1978 averaging 17.4 points per game and 8.4 rebounds. After playing with the women’s franchise of New Jersey Gems, in 1980 Indiana Pacers they signed a contract for $500,000, although finally he was not part of the definitive template.