{"id":823932,"date":"2026-07-26T00:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T00:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/823932\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T00:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T00:40:12","slug":"jewels-sign-wnba-draft-pick-gianna-kneepkens-for-wnbl-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/823932\/","title":{"rendered":"Jewels sign WNBA draft pick Gianna Kneepkens for WNBL debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tasmania Jewels have landed one of the biggest names available for their inaugural WNBL season, signing WNBA 15th draft pick Gianna Kneepkens as their first import player.<\/p>\n

Kneepkens, a 23-year-old guard, is in her rookie season with the Connecticut Sun after going viral in her debut against New York with a long three-pointer.<\/p>\n

She won a national championship with UCLA this year and is widely considered one of the most efficient scorers and three-point shooters in the game, boasting a 94% free throw rate.<\/p>\n

She is the highest ranked international WNBA draft pick to sign for the WNBL27 season, with the Jewels still holding one import spot.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Tasmania Jewels signed their first import player for the WNBL season<\/p>\n

Jewels head coach Claudia Brassard said the signing was a statement of intent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re building a team that Tasmanian fans are going to love,\u201d Brassard said.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Minnesota-born guard said she credited thousands of hours in the gym<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a roster of players who work hard and will play harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGianna is a tremendous shooter and wait until you see our final import, she\u2019s also brilliant,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuality players want to play for Tasmania and that speaks volumes about us as a team, Tasmania as a home and our incredible fans too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Minnesota-born Kneepkens has not yet visited Australia but said her approach fits right in.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Tasmania Jewels are preparing for their inaugural WNBL season<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not always the fastest or the strongest, but I like to put in the most work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy strengths are shooting. I want to rebound. I want to defend hard. I want to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

She credited thousands of hours in the gym for her shooting ability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m able to get those runs up by myself, then when I\u2019m in the game, I\u2019ve already felt it, so I have the confidence to do it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her signing is subject to WNBL review and approval.<\/p>\n

The Jewels open their season on October 15 at MyState Bank Arena in Hobart, with their first Launceston Silverdome game on October 31.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tasmania Jewels have landed one of the biggest names available for their inaugural WNBL season, signing WNBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-823932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}