Released by Sparks, Te’a Cooper finds spot in SI’s Swimsuit Issue

Former McEachern High School standout Te’a Cooper has had an eventful couple of weeks.

Last week, the 5-foot-8 guard was a surprise release by the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. This week, she is being celebrated as one of five players from the league highlighted in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

While Cooper seemed to be ready to take the next step on the court heading into the 2022 season, off the court is where her star is really on the rise. She has broken into both the modeling and fashion industries, and she is the leading WNBA influencer with more than 3.5 million followers on social media, including 1.5 million followers on Instagram alone.

According to Sports Pro Media, Cooper is the 17th-most marketable athlete in the world.

That popularity is one of the main reasons Cooper joined other WNBA standouts Didi Richards, Nneka Ogwumike, Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands for the Sports Illustrated photo shoot. The issue is scheduled to be released Thursday.

“(The photo shoot) says ‘sports,’ but (the athletes) always looked like models, so I would have never thought one day I would be one,” Cooper told the magazine. “It was very empowering to be a part of this because of the people I did it with.”

While Cooper enjoyed being with the other WNBA stars in the Caribbean, she now needs to find a new home on the court.

After two seasons with the Sparks, Cooper, 25, was released less than a week before the WNBA season started, and less than four months after she signed a new contract with the team.