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Blueminx point guard Kianna Smith eyes WKBL success and national team spot

Published: 26 Dec. 2024, 14:17 Updated: 26 Dec. 2024, 17:32

Yong In Samsung Life Blueminx point guard Kianna Smith, right, plays in a WKBL game against Asan Woori Bank Woori Won at Yongin Gymnasium in Yongin, Gyeonggi on Nov. 25. [NEWS1]

Yong In Samsung Life Blueminx point guard Kianna Smith is ready to succeed in the WKBL and is also eyeing a spot on the Korean national team for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Smith, 25, is half Korean, with an American father and Korean mother, and competes in the WKBL, where she has still yet to showcase her best performance due to injury. Although she made her WKBL debut with Blueminx in 2022, she only played the first part of the 2022-23 campaign and the second half of the 2023-24 season.

But Smith is ready to show off her skills on the court this season, she said during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, earlier this month. She says now is the time to display her true potential after recovering from injury.

She has set her sights set on leading Blueminx to a title and also winning the MVP award this season.

Smith has inherited basketball DNA from her family, which has deep roots in the sport. Her father John Smith coached an NCAA team, her grandfather played for the NBA team Milwaukee Bucks and her uncle coached the WNBA team Los Angeles Sparks.

Her talent was visible before she made her pro debut. When she played for the Louisville Cardinals women’s basketball team, she averaged 12 points and 2.7 assists in her senior year and led her side to the final four of the NCAA tournament in the 2021-22 season.

Following that performance, she joined the Los Angeles Sparks in 2022, but failed to establish herself as a regular pick and disappeared from the roster.

But she was able to start a new chapter of her career in Korea, following an offer from Bluemix.

She said that competing for Korea had been her mother’s long time wish, adding that the pressure is on to play well for her parents who watch her games live despite the extreme time difference.

Yong In Samsung Life Blueminx point guard Kianna Smith [YONG IN SAMSUNG BLUEMINX]

Smith has capitalized the skills she has honed in the WNBA to establish herself as one of the top point guards in the WKBL. Her next goal is representing Korea, and she has already rejected a call to play for the American 3x3 national basketball team due to the rule that a player cannot represent two countries.

She said playing on the court with a Taeguk mark is her dream, and winning a medal as a member of the Korean national team in her hometown of Los Angeles, the host city for the 2028 Olympics, would make her proud.

The Korean women’s basketball team has only medaled once, with a silver medal at the 1984 Olympics remaining its best finish. The team has struggled at the Olympics since then and even failed qualify for the Paris Olympics this summer.

The country has seen better results in the Asian Games, where it has collected 14 medals.

If Smith earns a place in the national team after her naturalization process is approved, she could represent Korea at the 2026 Asiad in Japan, before the 2028 Games.

BY PI JOO-YOUNG [[email protected]]