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Monica Wright
Monica Wright.jpg
Wright with the Lynx in 2010
Phoenix Mercury
Assistant General Manager
Personal information
Born (1988-07-15) July 15, 1988 (age 35)
San Antonio, Texas
Nationality American
High school Forest Park (Woodbridge, Virginia)
Listed height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Listed weight 182 lb (83 kg)
Career information
College Virginia (2006–2010)
NBA Draft 2010 / Round: 1 / Pick: 2nd overall
Selected by the Minnesota Lynx
Pro career 2010–2016
League WNBA
Career history
As player:
2010–2015 Minnesota Lynx
2010–2011 Lotos Gdynia
2011–2012 Botaş SK
2012–2013 Dandenong Rangers
2013 Shinsegae One FX
2015–2016 Seattle Storm
2015–2016 Bnot Herzliya
2016 Keflavík
2016 Perth Lynx
As coach:
2018–2019 Liberty (assistant)
2019–2021 Virginia (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
  • 2× WNBA champion (2011, 2013)
  • WNBA All-Rookie Team (2010)
  • ACC Player of the Year (2010)
Career WNBA statistics
Points 1,293 (7.3 ppg)
Rebounds 388 (2.2 rpg)
Assists 292 (1.6 apg)
Medals
Women’s Basketball
Representing  United States
U18 and U19
Gold 2007 U19 Bratislava, Slovakia Team Competition

Monica Ashante Wright Rogers (née Wright; born July 15, 1988) is an American basketball coach and former player. She played college basketball for Virginia and was selected second overall by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2010 WNBA draft. Outside of the WNBA, she played professionally in Poland, Turkey, Australia, South Korea and Iceland. She is currently the assistant general manager for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA.

Early life and high school career

Wright was born to Garry and Lynette Wright in San Antonio, Texas. She has an older brother named Gerard. Her family later moved to Woodbridge, Virginia, where she attended Forest Park High School. At Forest Park, she averaged 22.6 points, 9.0 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 4.0 steals per game. She was also the Gatorade Virginia Player of the Year and was ranked No. 2 guard and No. 11 player overall in the nation.

Wright was named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the 2006 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored eleven points, and earned MVP honors for the White team.

College career

Wright attended the University of Virginia. In her freshman year as a Cavalier, she was named the ACC Rookie of the Year. As a sophomore, she was named to the ACC All-Defensive Team and also notched her 1,000th point. She missed being named to the All-ACC first team by two points that season. As a junior, Wright was named to the All-ACC defensive team and was also rewarded with a spot on the All-ACC first team as the league's top scorer. As a senior, Wright was named ACC Player of the Year, ACC Defensive Player of the Year, and National Defensive Player of the Year. She was also the 2010 WBCA NCAA Division I Defensive Player of the Year.

College statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2006–07 Virginia 34 512 41.2 24.0 76.3 6.0 2.2 2.3 0.4 15.1
2007–08 Virginia 34 598 46.8 36.0 73.7 5.0 2.5 2.4 0.6 17.6
2008–09 Virginia 34 696 42.0 28.5 74.5 5.6 3.1 2.8 0.2 20.5
2009–10 Virginia 31 734 44.6 31.3 81.1 6.5 2.5 3.7 0.6 23.7
Career 133 2540 43.6 30.1 76.8 5.7 2.6 2.8 0.4 19.1

Professional career

WNBA

Wright was selected by the Minnesota Lynx with the second overall pick in the 2010 WNBA draft. She went on to be named to the WNBA's all-rookie team. In 2011 and 2012, Wright played off the bench, backing up at both guard and forward. She expanded her role in 2013, becoming the primary backup at shooting guard and point guard, averaging 9.0 points per game. She won WNBA titles with the Lynx in 2011 and 2013.

On July 20, 2015, Wright was traded to the Seattle Storm in exchange for Renee Montgomery and a 2016 second-round draft pick. She missed the rest of the 2015 WNBA season due to a right knee injury. After recovering from the injury, she debuted for the Storm in 2016.

Overseas

For the 2010–11 season, Wright played in Poland for Lotos Gdynia. For the 2011–12 season, she played in Turkey for Botaş SK. For the 2012–13 season, she played in Australia for the Dandenong Rangers of the WNBL.

In 2013–14, Wright played in Korea for Shinsegae One FX, but left the team in December 2013, reportedly without permission. For the 2014–15 season, she re-joined the Dandenong Rangers, but was released prior to the start of the season after complications with a troublesome knee arose. She started the 2015–16 season with Bnot Herzliya of Israel before signing with Keflavík of the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild kvenna in January 2016. On 22 March 2016, she scored a season high 29 points in a loss against Grindavík. In 6 games for Keflavík, she averaged 16.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.

On July 14, 2016, Wright signed with the Perth Lynx for the 2016–17 WNBL season. She played in the Lynx's first four games of the season, but due to complications with a long-term knee injury, she was released by the team on October 19, 2016.

WNBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career high ° League leader
† Denotes seasons in which Wright won a WNBA championship

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2010 Minnesota 34 24 25.5 .370 .340 .819 2.9 1.5 1.0 0.2 2.0 11.1
2011† Minnesota 29 0 13.6 .379 .259 .740 1.6 1.1 0.8 0.2 1.0 5.1
2012 Minnesota 34 7 19.4 .458 .364 .740 2.4 1.9 1.0 0.2 1.9 8.6
2013† Minnesota 33 3 22.5 .428 .256 .791 2.9 2.3 1.0 0.2 1.8 9.0
2014 Minnesota 24 9 18.4 .419 .278 .738 2.2 2.1 0.7 0.3 1.5 5.8
2015 Minnesota 7 0 11.4 .200 .167 .857 0.9 1.1 0.3 0.1 1.0 2.1
2016 Seattle 16 0 6.1 .308 .100 .600 0.5 0.7 0.4 0.1 0.9 1.3
Career 7 years, 2 teams 177 43 18.5 .402 .303 .771 2.2 1.6 0.9 0.2 1.6 7.3

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2011† Minnesota 8 0 10.6 .360 .250 .333 1.3 0.6 0.8 0.3 0.8 2.5
2012 Minnesota 9 0 19.3 .386 .286 .700 2.3 1.1 1.6 0.2 1.2 5.6
2013† Minnesota 7 0 21.1 .472 .222 .667 2.6 1.1 0.9 0.1 1.6 9.1
2014 Minnesota 5 0 15.4 .391 .400 1.000 1.2 1.2 0.6 0.2 1.0 4.6
Career 4 years, 1 team 29 0 16.7 .414 .280 .682 1.9 1.0 1.0 0.2 1.1 5.4

National team career

Wright was selected as a member of the USA Women's U19 team which won the gold medal at the FIBA U19 World Championship in Bratislava, Slovakia. The event was held in July and August 2007, when the USA team defeated Sweden to win the championship. Wright averaged 9.8 points per game and led the team in steals.

Coaching career

After injuries ended her playing career, Wright turned to coaching. She was an assistant coach at Liberty University during the 2018–2019 season. In May 2019, she was hired as an assistant coach for the Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball team.

In January 2023, Wright was hired as an assistant general manager to the Phoenix Mercury.

Personal life

In 2013, Wright became engaged to NBA superstar Kevin Durant, though the two eventually ended their relationship. She is married to Michael Rogers.

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