Walker-Kimbrough a big hit
Ex-Hopewell star adapts to pros, is on all-rookie team
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough didn’t get much time off after concluding her stellar four-year career at the University of Maryland.
Less than three weeks after the Terrapins season ended in an upset loss against the Oregon Ducks in the Sweet Sixteen of the 2017 NCAA tournament, the Washington Mystics selected Walker-Kimbrough with the sixth overall pick in the 2017 WNBA draft. That meant it was time for Walker-Kimbrough — who was still finishing her last semester at Maryland — to get to work.
“Honestly, [the Mystics] called me literally two minutes after I got drafted,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “I was about to talk to the media, and I was already talking to the coach.”
Mystics coach Mike Thibault already was familiar with Walker-Kimbrough, having watched several of her practices and games because College Park, Md., is a short trip from Washington.
“There’s the good and the bad of that — you nitpick them a little bit more maybe,” Thibault said.
Three days later, WalkerKimbrough was in between classes when she got another phone call from the Mystics. Time for her first workout.
“And, on top of that, my first workout was with Elena Delle Donne,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “It wasn’t like I was nervous, but it was like, ‘Wow, I’m really here.’ It was so surreal. I’m not only driving to my first workout, but I’m going to work out with one of the best players in the league.”
Delle Donne is a 6-foot-5 guard/forward for the Mystics, and she is just one of several skilled veterans on the team.
For the first time in her career, Walker-Kimbrough had to accept the fact that she wouldn’t be the star player.
A basketball, volleyball and track star at Hopewell High School, Walker-Kimbrough was the Post-Gazette’s Female Athlete of the Year as a junior and senior. She led her teams to five WPIAL championships in the three sports and compiled a Hopewell-record 2,427 points.
“Shatori’s drive far exceeded any athlete that I had coached and probably will ever coach again,” Hopewell coach Jeff Homziak said.
The success continued at Maryland, where she scored 2,156 points and set a school and Big Ten Conference record with a career .459 3-point shooting percentage. Walker-Kimbrough helped Maryland to a 127-17 record and two Final Four trips.
Once she got to Washington, Walker-Kimbrough knew she had to embrace her role as a rookie on a team stacked with talent, saying she “just took a step back and tried to observe and be a sponge and learn.”
But, when guard Tayler Hill went down with a midseason injury, Thibault moved Walker-Kimbrough into the starting lineup.
“I had conversations with her like, ‘Hey, I’m going to be hard on you right now. We need you and you need to lock in on some things because we don’t have time for you to be a rookie,’” Thibault said.
Walker-Kimbrough appeared in 27 games and started eight, averaging 4.4 points in 12.4 minutes per game on 37.1 percent shooting. She helped the Mystics earn a playoff berth and advance to the WNBA semifinals.
Her performance was good enough to earn a spot on the WNBA All-Rookie team.
“It means a lot,” WalkerKimbrough said of the honor, adding that she was surprised to make the team.
“It definitely gives me a lot of confidence going into the overseas season.”
Though the Mystics didn’t advance to the WNBA Finals, Walker-Kimbrough still didn’t get much time off. After her WNBA season ended, she joined the Turkish basketball club Orman in Ankara, and the Turkish club gave her a week to fly out to Ankara and join the team. The clock started as soon as the Mystics played their final game — all of which was just fine with Walker-Kimbrough.
“I’m playing basketball for my job, and that was always one of my top goals,” she said.
“Sometimes I stop and just say, ‘Wow, I’m getting paid to do this.’”