Katie Smith

Katie Smith (born June 4, 1974) is an American basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Ohio State Buckeyes women's basketball team. She is the former head coach of the New York Liberty.

A retired professional basketball player, Smith's primary position was shooting guard, although she sometimes played small forward or point guard. She was the all-time leading scorer in women's professional basketball, having achieved over 7000 points in both her ABL and WNBA career. In 2016, she was voted one of the WNBA Top 20@20. On March 31, 2018, Smith was named to the 2018 class of inductees for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In the same year, Smith was also inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

Early life Smith was born in Logan, Ohio,

High school At Logan High School she was named the national Gatorade National Player of the Year during her senior year as she guided the Lady Chieftains to the Division I Ohio Girls' Basketball state championship game. Smith was named a High School All-American by the WBCA.

Professional career

ABL Smith played for the Columbus Quest of the ABL, helping the team to win both League championships in its only two full seasons of existence.

WNBA On May 3, 1999, Smith was selected as part of the league's post-expansion draft player allocation by the Minnesota Lynx. From 1999 to 2005 Smith played for the Minnesota Lynx, where her outside shooting was the central focus of the Lynx offense.

On July 30, 2005, Smith was traded to the Detroit Shock along with the Lynx's 2006 second round pick, for Chandi Jones, Stacey Thomas and the Shock's 2006 first round draft pick. In 2005, she became the first American female basketball player to score 5,000 total points in a professional career.

In 2006, Smith became the first WNBA player to win All Star games as a member of both the Eastern and Western Conference teams. She also became the only player to earn both ABL and WNBA championship rings when the Shock won the WNBA title, defeating the Sacramento Monarchs, the same year.

On August 16, 2007 she became the first professional women's basketball player to score 6,000 career points (ABL and WNBA combined). At the end of her career in 2013, Smith had a total of 7,885 professional career points, including 1,433 from the ABL and 6,452 from the WNBA.

Smith was the MVP of the 2008 WNBA Finals,

On March 16, 2010, Smith signed a contract with the Washington Mystics as a free agent.

On April 29, 2011, Smith was acquired by the Seattle Storm in a three-team trade with the Mystics and Indiana Fever. At the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game, she was announced as one of the Top 15 players in the fifteen-year history of the WNBA as voted by fans. On September 11, 2011 Katie Smith became the third player to score 6,000 points in her WNBA career.

In 2013, Smith was picked up by the New York Liberty and announced that the 2013 season would be her last.

Europe During the 2001–02 season she played for Polish Lotos Gdynia. They reached the final of EuroLeague Women. In 2009, she played for Turkish Fenerbahçe Istanbul.

National team career Smith was chosen to join the team which was invited to the 1993 U19 World Championship (then called the Junior World Championship). The team won five games and lost two, but that left them in seventh place. Smith was the second leading scorer for the team with 9.9 points per game She was the head coach in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, but her contract was not renewed for 2020. Smith then became the lead assistant coach for the Minnesota Lynx.

Coaching record