Culture · Seattle
Jordin Canada’s Seattle Beginning Helped Launch a Championship Career
Before becoming a standout guard for Atlanta and Unrivaled’s Laces, Jordin Canada began her WNBA career with the Seattle Storm, where she won a championship as a rookie and established herself as one of the league’s most dynamic young playmakers.
By KLGBT News Desk ·
Jordin Canada’s professional basketball story began in Seattle with an immediate taste of championship success. The Storm selected the Los Angeles native fifth overall in the 2018 WNBA Draft, bringing a quick, creative guard to a team that would soon become the league’s champion.
Canada entered the WNBA after a decorated career at UCLA, where her speed, court vision and crossover ability made her a central part of the Bruins’ attack. Those same qualities translated quickly to the professional game. In her rookie season with Seattle, Canada helped the Storm sweep the Washington Mystics in the WNBA Finals, earning the first championship of her career.
Her path to the league started at Windward School in Los Angeles. There, she played for Vanessa Nygaard, a former WNBA player and coach involved with USA Basketball. Canada earned first-team all-league, league MVP and first-team All-CIF recognition in each of her four high school seasons. She was also named the Los Angeles Times’ All-Area MVP in 2013 and played in the McDonald’s All-American Game as a senior in 2014.
At UCLA, Canada continued to build a reputation as an energetic and versatile guard. The research record identifies her as a player known for playmaking, speed and her ability to create space with the crossover—skills that helped define her transition from college basketball to the WNBA.
Canada later won a second WNBA championship in 2020. Following that title, she signed an endorsement deal with Air Jordan, adding a major footwear partnership to a career that had already included two league championships.
She now plays for the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA and for the Laces in Unrivaled. For Seattle, however, Canada remains part of the Storm’s recent championship history: a fifth overall pick who arrived from UCLA and won a title during her first professional season.
Her Seattle chapter also reflects the importance of a strong first opportunity. Canada entered the league with a high-level résumé, but the Storm gave her a place in a championship rotation immediately. That combination—elite preparation, explosive guard play and a winning team—made her rookie season a memorable starting point for the career that followed.
Source and reuse information This backgrounder adapts factual material from “Jordin Canada” on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordin_Canada The adapted text is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-SA 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. This story has not been independently reviewed or fact-checked.
Further links listed by the Wikipedia page (not independently checked): - https://www.sbnation.com/2018/4/11/17215820/wnba-draft-2018-jordin-canada-ucla - https://www.wnba.com/player/jordin-canada - https://uclabruins.com/sports/2014/11/14/Stats_10072.aspx - https://uclabruins.com/news/2015/4/4/210001544.aspx - https://uclabruins.com/news/2016/3/22/210822792.aspx - https://uclabruins.com/documents/2019/10/21/Records.pdf?id=21790 Image rights Photograph description: Seattle Storm guard Jordin Canada in a game against the Minnesota Lynx Creator: Lorie Shaull. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). Original image page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AJordin_Canada_(cropped).jpg. The image was resized for display; no other changes were made.