The Basics
Position: Forward
Current Team: Washington Mystics | #21
Draft: 2013 | Maryland | 1st round (6th overall)
Key Accolades: WNBA Champion (2019)
WNBA Profile | Stats | Instagram | Twitter
The Pets
(I really relate to only being able to get one pet to pose correctly at a time)
The Down Low
If Tianna Hawkins were not a WNBA player she would be a Secret Service agent. No, that's not just a whim. She literally declined the next stage of the application process to join the WNBA instead and continues to take cybersecurity courses. This is the very best fact I have learned in putting together this database and I'm truly so overwhelmed by this information. I can now only picture 6'3 Tianna as a badass super spy. She once faced Candace Parker's wrath after lightly bumping her, so you know she can take on anyone.
When Tianna is not preventing cyberattacks, she is making an impact on the court. Here is a great article about what you might miss from Hawkins' game if you are just glazing over the stat sheet. She's also made an impact on her teammates. She was one the mothers in the wubble, bringing her son Emanuel. When the Washington Mystics decided not to play following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in August 2020, her teammate Ariel Atkins referenced Baby E directly in the decision not to play:
We got this little guy [Emanuel] right here that we see everyday. His life matters. He needs to know that he can do what he wants to do whenever he leaves his house when he grows up, within reason … He matters.
I encourage you to read Jenn Hatfield's whole article on Tianna and Emanuel's impact on the team. Of course, they bring a lot of joy too. Here is Emanuel with Elena Delle Donne in her iconic Jack Skellington fit.
Notable Quotables
Tianna's speech after winning Athletes Unlimited MVP in 2022 had me fired up just as much as her fellow athletes:
More on Tianna
- A ‘late bloomer’, Tianna Hawkins putting it all together for the Mystics (Lindsay Gibbs, the Athletic)
- Tianna Hawkins' son is a visible reminder of what the Washington Mystics are fighting for (Jenn Hatfield, the Next)
- How the Mystics keep pushing for racial justice (Jenn Hatfield, the Next)