Zia Cooke

This 23-year-old American point guard Zia Cooke, standing at 5 foot 9 inches, currently plays for the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA. She was born in Toledo, Ohio. Cooke attended Robert S. Rogers High School, where she led her team to the Division II state title two times and earned The Blade Player of the Year award both times. She was also selected for the McDonald's All-American Game in 2018. In 2019 Cooke joined the South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team, where she continued to excel in her game. In 2022, she won the NCAA championship and was awarded a Second-team All-SEC selection.

Cooke's college success led to her being the 10th overall pick in the 1st round of the WNBA Draft 2023 by the Los Angeles Sparks. During the 2024 season, Cooke played as 2nd backup point guard for the Los Angeles Sparks, averaging 3.6 points, 0.7 assists, and 0.7 rebounds per game in the first half of the season. Currently, her team Los Angeles Sparks standing in 10th position in the WNBA and bottom in the Western Conference.

Zia Cooke's Early Life

Cooke was born in Toledo, Ohio where she started playing basketball on the roadside but basketball was not the first love of Cooke. In the early time, she was interested in football because of her elder brother but after seventh grade, she was fully involved in basketball and took this sport seriously. She joined Robert S. Rogers High School and then shifted to the University of South Carolina for college basketball.

Zia Cooke's Personal Life

Cooke's love for underprivileged children is another example of who she is in real life. Outside of basketball when she gets a chance to come back to Columbia she came to the Johnsonville Charity Cornhole where she joined her college coach Dawn Staley and donated $10,000 for the betterment of children's life.

Zia Cooke Family Background

Zia Cooke’s parents are Michelle and Stratman Cooke III. Neither of Cooke's parents is involved in sports, but they are her greatest support system. She always admires her brother's passion and love for sports. Stratman IV, brother of Cooke played football in college but for some reason, he dropped playing and was involved in the gym and boxing field. He is the CEO of Killer Bee Boxing as per his Instagram profile.

Zia Cooke Social Media

Zia Cooke is active on major social media platforms such as Instagram. She has a significant fan following. On Instagram, she has 281K followers under the handle @z.loading_.

Zia Cooke Brand Ambassador

Zia Coole was the highest-paid college basketball player in women's categories in the year 2021-22 season and all of this is because of sponsorship deals and NILs. The most common deals were Bojangles deals, Fenty Skin, Rihanna's line, etc. In the 2022 season, she deals with H&R Block which was the biggest contributor to her financial support. She did ads for DoorDash which is the fastest-growing delivery company as per the CBS report.

Zia Cooke Career Stats

WNBA stats

College stats

Zia Cooke Achievements

As a college basketball player, Zia Cooke won the NCAA title in 2022 playing for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Her achievements include being a two-time First-team All-SEC in 2021 and 2023, Second-team All-SEC in 2022, and SEC All-Freshman Team in 2020. During her high school years at Robert S. Rogers High School, she was named The Blade Player of the Year back-to-back and participated in the McDonald's All-American Game in 2018. After college, she received the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award 2023 which was given for best shooting guard of the country, and was named Third-team All-American by both the AP and USBWA in 2023.

Zia Cooke Contract

Currently, Cooke is on her rookie contract with the Los Angeles Sparks as she signed a 3-year deal at $214,588 contract including an average guaranteed annual salary of $71,529 according to Spotrac. This contract expired in 2026.