Kara Braxton, a two-time WNBA champion and ten-season veteran of the league, died Saturday in a car accident in Cobb County, Georgia. She was 43 years old.
The WNBA announced her passing on X:
"It is with profound sadness that we mourn the passing of 2x WNBA Champion Kara Braxton. A 10-season veteran, Kara played with the Detroit Shock, Tulsa Shock, Phoenix Mercury, and New York Liberty. Our thoughts are with her family, friends, and former teammates at this time."
According to USA Today, Braxton is survived by her husband, Jarvis Jackson, and two sons, Jelani Thurman and Jream Jackson. Cobb County Police confirmed she resided in College Park, Georgia.
No further details about the accident have been released.
Born February 18, 1983, in Jackson, Michigan, Braxton stood 6-foot-6 and played power forward with a physical presence that shaped every team she joined. She attended high school in Jackson her freshman year before transferring to Westview High School in Portland, Oregon, where she earned Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year honors as a senior.
Her college career at the University of Georgia lasted two and a half seasons before she was dismissed from the team by then-coach Andy Landers for undisclosed reasons.
Whatever happened behind closed doors, it didn't derail her trajectory. The Detroit Shock selected her with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2005 WNBA Draft.
Braxton made an immediate impact. She averaged 6.9 points and 3.0 rebounds as a rookie and earned a spot on the WNBA All-Rookie team. By 2006, she had her first championship ring. By 2008, she had two.
Her career carried her from Detroit to Tulsa, Phoenix, and New York. She extended her playing days overseas, competing in Poland, Turkey, China, and Italy through the 2017-18 season. After retiring, she worked for Nike in Oregon before eventually settling in the Atlanta area.
Braxton's athletic legacy runs through her family. Her son Jelani Thurman played tight end on the 2024 Ohio State national championship football team. He recently transferred to North Carolina, where he will play for Bill Belichick's Tar Heels.
For a woman who earned two championship rings, competed across four countries, and rebuilt her life after basketball in corporate America, the arc of Braxton's story was one of persistence.
A college dismissal that might have ended a lesser athlete's career became a footnote in a decade-long professional run.
She was 43. She leaves behind a husband, two sons, and a career that spanned continents. The details of what happened on that road in Cobb County remain sparse.
What isn't sparse is the record she left behind.