Back-to-back: Two Trojans drafted to WNBA


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There were only eight names left to be called. After that, any hope to be selected in the 2023 WNBA draft would be lost.

But graduate forward Kadi Sissoko and graduate guard Okako Adika do not have to face that reality: they both will have the chance to play in the WNBA.

Sissoko was the first of the two Trojans to come off the board when the Phoenix Mercury selected her with the 29th overall pick, which was the fifth pick in the third and final round of the draft.

Adika did not have to wait much longer, as the New York Liberty selected her with the very next pick.

USC was not the only school to have players drafted back-to-back in this draft. South Florida and South Carolina had two players selected with consecutive picks. This happens to be a common occurrence with the 2023 draft; it is the 11th draft that has featured players from the same school drafted back-to-back since its inception in 1997.

Sissoko and Adika are the first players drafted to the WNBA under Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s tenure at USC. Gottlieb just wrapped up her second year as the head coach.

“There is NOTHING better than seeing your players happy, fulfilled and living their dreams. Kadi and Koko – let’s go!” Gottlieb wrote in a Twitter post.

Sissoko was the leading scorer for USC this season, knocking down 15.4 points per game. Adika led in 3-point percentage for anyone on the team who appeared in 20 or more games, hitting on 38.7% of her attempts from distance.

This past season was the first and only season with the Trojans for both players, as Sissoko transferred from Minnesota after spending three years there and Adika transferred from TCU, her third college.

The two now former Trojans are the 13th and 14th players from USC to be drafted since the first ever WNBA draft in 1997.

Sissoko and Adika were two of the four USC players who could have been selected in this year’s draft. Graduate guards Destiny Littleton and Rokia Doumbia entered their names into the draft, but neither of them heard their names called.

This comes as a surprise as Littleton was projected to go in the second round of the draft in multiple mock drafts, while Adika and Sissoko were projected to go undrafted.

Despite being drafted, there is no guarantee Sissoko and Adika will make the opening day roster for either squad. From the 2022 draft class, six of the 12 players drafted in the third round were waived by the team that drafted them before the season started. Only three of those six players appeared in any games last year.

Even though it is not a guarantee Adika and Sissoko will play in the WNBA, they have taken the next step toward that goal and have become the newest Trojans to get drafted.