{"id":14490,"date":"2026-02-23T09:09:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T09:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/?p=14490"},"modified":"2026-02-23T14:52:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T14:52:33","slug":"two-time-wnba-champion-kara-braxton-tragically-dies-at-43","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/two-time-wnba-champion-kara-braxton-tragically-dies-at-43\/","title":{"rendered":"Two-Time WNBA Champion Kara Braxton Tragically Dies at 43"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/kara-braxton.jpg\" alt=\"Kara Braxton\" width=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-14491\" title=\"Two-Time WNBA Champion Kara Braxton Tragically Dies at 43\" \/><strong>Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kara Braxton, a two-time WNBA champion with the Detroit Shock, has died at the age of 43.<\/li>\n<li>She played 10 seasons in the league after being drafted seventh overall in 2005. <\/li>\n<li>Braxton earned All-Star honors in 2007 and also played for the Phoenix Mercury and New York Liberty.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Kara Braxton<\/strong>, who helped the Detroit Shock win two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/sports-betting\/basketball\">WBNA championships<\/a>, has tragically passed away at the age of 43. The cause of death has not yet been revealed to the public. <\/p>\n<p>However, reports in the media indicate that the iconic player was <strong>involved in a car accident in Atlanta that sadly claimed her life<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It is with profound sadness that we mourn the passing of 2x WNBA Champion Kara Braxton.<\/p>\n<p>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. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0I71xWCWfW\">pic.twitter.com\/0I71xWCWfW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; WNBA (@WNBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WNBA\/status\/2025759313268977686?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 23, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/center><\/p>\n<p>The 6-foot-6 player built her reputation as a strong presence in the paint, playing both center and forward. She first made a name for herself in college with the <strong>Georgia Bulldogs<\/strong>, and she was named <em>SEC Freshman of the Year in 2002<\/em>, quickly becoming one of the program\u2019s top players.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Detroit Shock<\/strong> selected her seventh overall in the 2005 WNBA draft, and her impact was immediate, as she earned a spot on the league\u2019s all-rookie team. She was also <strong>part of championship-winning teams in 2006 and 2008<\/strong> and <strong>earned All-Star honours in 2007<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Later in her career, Braxton played for several other teams, including the <strong>Phoenix Mercury<\/strong> and the <strong>New York Liberty<\/strong>, where she officially ended her career in 2014. Over the course of 10 seasons, she <em>averaged 7.6 points and 4.7 rebounds<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sIbUMOqy9go?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0?ecver=2\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;left:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Off-Court Mentions <\/h2>\n<p>Off the court, basketball remained part of her family\u2019s life. Her son, Jelani Thurman, has been playing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/sports-betting\/american-football\/college\">college football<\/a> and recently transferred from the Ohio State Buckeyes to the North Carolina Tar Heels.<\/p>\n<p>Two decades after Braxton concluded her college career in Georgia, she graduated which was lifelong dream . <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It has always been a goal of mine to come back and finish school, and finish what I started. It\u2019s a very exciting time for me right now<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Braxton will be remembered as a key contributor to Detroit\u2019s success and as a player who carved out a long career in the league.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary: Kara Braxton, a two-time WNBA champion with the Detroit Shock, has died at the age of 43. She played 10 seasons in the league after being drafted seventh overall in 2005. Braxton earned All-Star honors in 2007 and also played for the Phoenix Mercury and New York Liberty. Kara Braxton, who helped the Detroit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","category-usa"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Two-Time WNBA Champion Kara Braxton Tragically Dies at 43<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kara Braxton, a two-time Women&#039;s National Basketball Association champion and 2007 All-Star, has tragically lost her life at the age of 43, with media reports indicating a car accident as the cause of death.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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