Kiah Stokes

Personal Information

Full Name	Kiah Stokes
Date of Birth	May 30, 1993
Age	31
Nationality	American
Height	6 feet 3 inches (191 cm)
Weight	191 lb (87 kg)
Father	Greg Stokes
Mother	Julie Saddler

Kiah Stokes: A Brief Biography

Kiah Stokes is a professional women’s basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces and plays as a Center in the WNBA. She was picked by the New York Liberty with the 11th pick in the first round of the 2015 WNBA Draft. Apart from WNBA, she has also played for international leagues in Korea and Turkey as well. She played 39 games during the 2024 WNBA regular season; and averaged 1.4 points and 4.7 rebounds along with 0.7 assists. She was also a WNBA Champion in the 2022 and 2023 WNBA seasons with the Aces.

Kiah Stokes also has family ties to basketball. Her father Greg Stokes was an All-American at the University of Iowa and played for the Philadelphia 76ers. In addition to her career, she has a podcast called “Hangtime” on the Underdog Sports Podcast Network and is the first WNBA player to host a podcast.

Kiah Stokes Early Life

Kiah Stokes was born on 30 March 1993 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States to Greg Stokes, her father and Julie Saddler, her mother. Greg Stokes was an All-American at the University of Iowa majoring in basketball and was a player for the Philadelphia 76ers. At age four, Stokes joined a track team for YMCA children who are older than her, and in the 60-yard dash, she left all her competitors behind showing her potential at this tender age. This led her father to believe that she had a genuine chance at becoming a professional athlete.

She also played high school basketball at Linn-Mar High School in Marion, Iowa. She was also part of the USA Basketball U16 National Team that won the FIBA Americas U16 Championship and the gold medal. Her success at this early stage prompted her to join the University of Connecticut where she excelled and later joined the professional teams in WNBA and other leagues in other countries.

Kiah Stokes Personal Life

Kiah Stokes was raised in a basketball-oriented household as her father, Greg Stokes played basketball for the University of Iowa and professionally for the Philadelphia 76ers. She also likes to occasionally post her family on her social media pages like Instagram and X. Apart from this, not much is known about her love life as she has been very private in that regard.

Kiah Stokes Family Background

Kiah Stokes was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to parents Greg Stokes and Julie Saddler. Her father, Greg Stokes, is a former professional basketball player who played for the Philadelphia 76ers and was an All-American at the University of Iowa. He also received a gold medal with the 1983 USA Pan American Games Team. Stokes’s mother, Julie Saddler, has not been very active in the media.

Stokes has one brother, Darius Stokes, who also played basketball. Darius was a college basketball player for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes and Fairleigh Dickinson University. He retired from playing and moved to coaching and has worked in different capacities such as an assistant coach at Elon University.

Kiah Stokes Social Media

Kiah Stokes is seen often on her social media pages, where she likes to post about her life updates and also some of her workouts and daily routines. She is occasionally seen posting vacation pics after a long season and features her teammates and family from time to time. Her Instagram account has a following of about 76.5K and is under the handle @kstokes41. She also has an X (formerly Twitter) account with the username @kstokes41.

Kiah Stokes Career Stats

Kiah Stokes was picked 11th overall in the 2015 WNBA Draft by the New York Liberty and she was a defensive player. In her rookie year, she proved her potential by scoring 5.8 points, including 6.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game, and was named to the WNBA All-Rookie Team and the All-Defensive Second Team.

Stokes’ best performance to date was in the 2022 WNBA Finals where she was instrumental in the Las Vegas Aces’ first WNBA title. In 2023, she played for 30 minutes in Game 2 of the 2023 Finals and although she did not score much, she was instrumental in deterring offence around the rim and grabbed 7 rebounds and scored 8 points, which was crucial to give her team the win. Stokes has been great in defence and rebounding which helped her teams clinch the championships especially the two successive championships of the Aces in 2022 and 2023. Below mentioned are her yearly stats since she entered the WNBA:

Season	Team	GP	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	FG%	3P%	FT%
2015	NY	34	5.8	6.4	0.8	0.7	2.0	54.7	0.0	68.8
2016	NY	27	6.9	7.4	0.7	0.7	1.4	64.1	0.0	62.7
2017	NY	34	4.8	6.3	0.9	0.4	1.1	53.1	0.0	79.6
2018	NY	30	3.1	4.5	0.4	0.4	0.6	54.5	0.0	53.3
2020	NY	22	5.7	6.7	1.2	0.5	1.2	37.2	23.5	57.1
2021	NY	9	1.7	4.2	0.6	0.4	0.7	54.5	50.0	100.0
2021	LV	15	1.5	6.1	1.0	0.4	0.7	58.8	0.0	50.0
2022	LV	31	2.3	4.4	0.6	0.5	0.8	42.6	20.8	81.3
2023	LV	40	2.2	5.9	0.6	0.7	1.0	43.4	18.5	50.0
2024	LV	39	1.4	4.7	0.7	0.5	0.8	32.3	22.5	66.7

Kiah Stokes Achievements

Stokes has consistently been a defensive presence, helping her team out around the rim. Below are some of the most memorable moments in her basketball career:

WNBA Championships

Kiah Stokes has been a WNBA Champion twice with the Las Vegas Aces. She won the title in 2022 and 2023 and was instrumental on the defensive end, to help the team win back-to-back championships in the WNBA.

WNBA All-Defensive Team Honours

During her first year in the WNBA in 2015, Stokes was selected to the WNBA All-Defensive Second Team, as she averaged a remarkable 2.0 blocks and 0.7 steals per game as a rookie while playing 34 games for the New York Liberty.

WNBA All-Rookie Team

Stokes also enjoyed a good first season as well as was voted to the WNBA All-Rookie Team in 2015. She produced averages of 5.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per contest and cemented her mark as a promising player in the league.

WNBA Commissioner’s Cup

Stokes is also a WNBA Commissioner’s Cup winner with the Las Vegas Aces in 2022, which is an in-season tournament used to decide the seeding order for the WNBA playoffs.

EuroLeague Championship

Other than her WNBA accomplishments, Kiah Stokes was also on the roster for Fenerbahçe which clinched the EuroLeague title in 2023 and 2024. She was instrumental in the team’s success due to her defensive versatility.

Turkish Super League championship

Kiah Stokes has won the Turkish Super League 4 times including a 3-peat, in the years 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Turkish Cup

Kiah Stokes has won the Turkish Cup twice in her career in 2019 and 2020.

Turkish Presidential Cup Champion

Stokes also won the Turkish Presidential Cup in 2019, which is a Turkish club Super Cup competition that takes place every year between the winners of the Turkish Women’s Super League winners and the winners of the Turkish Cup.

AAC Defensive Player of the Year

Stokes won the AAC Defensive Player of the Year award after her final year of college as she averaged a career high 3.8 blocks per game with 0.5 steals per game playing in 39 games for the University of Connecticut.

NCAA Championships

Before professional basketball, Stokes was on the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team that won the NCAA tournament thrice from 2013 to 2015. This marks a big achievement as few players manage to win the NCAA double tournament multiple times, let alone thrice.

Big East All-Rookie Team

Stokes was nominated to the Big East All-Rookie team in 2012, following a promising rookie season at the University of Connecticut. She averaged 4.5 points, 1.4 blocks, 0.5 steals, 0.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game in the 2011-12 season.

McDonald’s All-American

Kiah Stokes was nominated as a McDonald’s All-American after her high school career in 2011 which is given to some of the most promising collegiate basketball candidates.

International experience

Kiah Stokes was selected into the first ever U16 team for USA Women’s Basketball. They competed in the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Mexico City in August 2009. She averaged 5.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game and helped the USA team to clinch a 5-0 record at the competition, ultimately securing the gold medal.

Kiah Stokes contract

Kiah Stokes is on a 2-year, $203,000 deal with the Las Vegas Aces, which includes a guaranteed amount of $203,000 as per Spotrac. The deal also encapsulates an average annual salary of $101,500. In 2024, Stokes earned a base salary of $100,000, while carrying a cap hit of $100,000 and a dead cap value of $100,000. Before this deal, Stokes had signed a 1-year $81,000 deal with the Las Vegas Aces in 2023 as a free agent and the deal included an average annual salary of $81,000.