Kenya international Madina Okot, who plays for the University of South Carolina in the United States of America, is on the verge of joining the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
The 21-year-old centre is among three South Carolina women's basketball players who made it in the first round of selection to the 2026 WNBA Draft scheduled for Monday at The Shed, New York City.
If successful, Okot will be the third Kenyan to play in the WNBA after Josephine Owino and Olivia Nelson-Ododa, who also went through the WNBA draft.
The WNBA draft is an annual event in which teams in that league select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players.
The WNBA draft was first held in 1997 and requires players to be aged at least 22, to have completed their college eligibility, and to have graduated from a four-year college or spent four years in high school.
The league considers anyone scheduled to graduate in the three months after the draft to be a "graduate" for draft purposes.
Okot, who was named the most promising girl at the Sports Personality of the Year awards (Soya) in 2022, joined South Carolina last year from Mississippi State University, where she played for the team at the 2024-25 NCAA Division I season.
Okot joined the University of South Carolina in April last year to play for coach Dawn Staley in between her junior and senior years citing her admiration for the coach, who has produced top WNBA players.
South Caroline has had 22 players drafted to the WNBA in its programme’s history. Staley has coached all but four of those players.
If Okot, Johnson and Latson are selected in the first round, it will be the third time Staley has produced three first-round selections in a single draft.
Madina Okot (right) of the South Carolina Gamecocks dominates in the paint against a Tennessee Lady Volunteers player during their Southeastern Conference match at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina, on February 8, 2026. South Carolina won 93–50 with Okot delivering 10 points, 15 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 1 block.
Photo credit: Pool
Okot played volleyball at Bishop Sulumeti High School before shifting to basketball when she joined Kawa Tiwi under coach Philip Onyango
She got her maiden international call up at just 17, featuring for Kenya’s 3x3 team in the FIBA Under-23 in 2022.
After her intended move to Eastern Michigan University in the USA failed due to visa issues, Okot joined Zetech University to study for a Diploma in Business Accounting while playing basketball for the college team.
She then signed for Kenya Ports Authority later in 2023, winning the women’s national title with them the same year.
Kenya basketball player Madina Okot at NTV studios at Nation Centre on September 20, 2024.
Photo credit: Pool
Born to Jacquiline Sikuku and Musa Mulah Masai in Mumias, Kakamega, and a fifth-born in a family of eight, Okot joined Mississippi in 2024 and played in all 34 games of the 2024-2025 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division season, averaging 11.3 points and a team-high 9.6 reboundsShe thereafter transferred to South Carolina in April 2025.
South Carolina was in the process of securing another year of eligibility for Okot when she got to the WNBA Draft.
The Kenyan girl, who is studying nursing, has made her presence felt at the South Carolina Gamecocks during the 2025/2026 collegiate season.
She averaged 12.8 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, shot 57.5 per cent from the field, and converted 44.8 percent of her three-point attempts.
She recorded 22 double-doubles, the joint-highest among players in Power Conference programmes, and helped lead her team to the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship final, becoming the first Kenyan to feature in the last four of the tournament.
Owino, now 42, was the first Kenyan to be drafted in the WNBA, getting picked in the third round in 2009.
Nelson-Ododa, 25, was drafted to the WNBA in the second round, 19th overall, in 2022. She played for the Los Angeles Sparks in 2022 before moving to Melbourne Boomers in Australia Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) for the 2022-2023 season.
The following year, she transferred to Guangdong Vermilion Birds in the Women's Chinese Basketball Association, then signed with Shanxi Flame in the same league in 2024.
