Kristen Veal

Kristen Veal (born 24 July 1981) is an Australian basketball player. She won three Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) championships as a member of the Canberra Capitals, and has also played for the Sydney Uni Flames and the Logan Thunder. She was drafted in the first round of the WNBA draft, and was the youngest player to ever play in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She has represented Australia as a member of the Australia women's national basketball team (the Opals).

Personal Veal was born in Adelaide, South Australia on 24 July 1981. She is tall. She spent the 2008 WNBL off season in Tasmania. In 1999, she was awarded the Halls Medal, given to the best young basketball player in South Australia. Her AIS team played in, and won, the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) championship during the 1997/1998 season, with Veal contributing 22 points in her team's Grand Final victory.

Veal went on to play for the Canberra Capitals, winning three WNBL championships with the team. Her coach, Tom Maher, said she was the best point guard in the league that season. and 2007/2008 seasons. She contributed to her team's 112–102 win over the Canberra Capitals in an October 2007 game that went into double over time, scoring eight points in the second overtime period, and finished the game with 16 total points and 6 assists. Following that victory, teammates Natalie Porter and Alicia Poto, along with opposition Capitals player Lauren Jackson, shaved Veal's head as part of a fund raiser for the Leukemia Foundation. Wearing number 32 and playing guard, she was with the team again during their 2011/2012 season.

WNBA Veal was drafted in the first round of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) draft. , she is one of only three Australian players to be drafted in the first round. In 2001, she became the youngest player ever in the WNBA.

National team Veal was a member of the 1999 Australia women's national basketball team (the Opals), and was a member again in 2000. During the 2000 Opals's competition cycle, she played behind Michelle Timms, and was named to the early Olympic selection squads before eventually being cut from the squad that went on to play at the 2000 Summer Olympics. but missed out on representing Australia at the 2002 FIBA World Championship for Women because of a knee injury.

In July 2011, Veal participated in the Olympic qualification competition as a member of the Opals, and played in a three-game test series against China played in Queensland in late July 2011. She was named to the 2012 Australia women's national basketball team, and participated in the national team training camp held from 14 to 18 May 2012 at the Australian Institute of Sport.

Career statistics

WNBA