The Basics
Position: Center
Current Team: Phoenix Mercury | #31
Draft: 2010 | UConn | 1st round (1st overall)
Key Accolades: Rookie of the Year (2010), MVP (2012), Peak Performer—Rebounding (2010-2012, 2016), All-Star (2011, 2013-2015, 2017-2019), All-WNBA (2010-2017)
WNBA Profile | Stats | Instagram | Twitter
The Down Low
Tina is one of the most dominant post players in WNBA history. She's never averaged less than 15 points per game and averaged a double-double for four straight years, include when she won MVP.
She also leads off the court. When the WNBA initially fined players for wearing black T-shirts during warm-ups to support Black Lives Matter rather than league-provided warm-ups, Tina was one of the most vocal players against the fines:
Tina has also started a foundation and an entertainment company, Thirty One Enterprises.
The last thing on her list to achieve is a WNBA championship. She is one of only a few WNBA MVPs yet to win a title. And we are all rooting for her to finally get that ring.
Highlight Reel
Tina notched 34 points against her former team, just 2 shy of her career high. When asked about her motivation, she explained: “They fired me on my day off... I got fired on my day off, so yeah, there was juice.”
Notable Quotables
[A]s someone who knows what it’s like to struggle for breath — as a person who knows the terror and powerlessness that goes along with gasping for air, and having no control over your breathing — I can tell you that what I’ve been seeing on the news has been all the more heartbreaking.
Every time I hear the words “I can’t breathe,” my body has a specific, involuntary response, not just to the words, but to that feeling.
[Source]
More on Tina
- How Maya Moore Is Transforming Player Activism (Tina Charles, Sports Illustrated)
- Change Beyond Surface (The Players' Tribune)
- 7x WNBA All-Star Tina Charles on her career, making documentaries, & philanthropy (Boardroom)
- Tina Charles Has Found a New Way to Dominate in the WNBA (Matt Ellentuck, Uproxx)