WNBA DRAFT

April 13, 2026

Madina Okot

Atlanta Dream

MADINA OKOT: I want to thank my school and everybody that I've been in their hands before I got here and everybody that was involved in my journey getting here.

Shout-out to coach Philip Onyango. He's the first person that introduced me to play basketball. He's the one that showed me the court and how the game is played and everything. I'm so grateful to my parents, my family for being there to support me, even though we are far away from each other.

I'm grateful to God.

Q. You ranked third in the nation in double doubles with 22 this year. How do you translate that nose for the ball to the WNBA, where the size, the strength, the length is comparable to yours?

MADINA OKOT: So I feel like it's just a desire to get things done and I'm going to bring the same spirit, just being able to keep working hard and going for what I want. I know it's going to be different, a little bit different. It's not college anymore. But I'm still going to be present, physical as I've been. I feel like our conference is so physical.

Q. If you can just take me through what the few days have been finding out the decision, knowing that your future was decided but also knowing you had an opportunity to come obviously to the WNBA.

MADINA OKOT: Honestly, the past few days or the past few weeks, or maybe the past one month, has been so hectic to me. There's just been so much going on and going to, being in the tournament, going all the way to the Final Four, moving from the Championship Game, coming back home, planning to travel to New York for the draft and just doing all this, you really don't know where you're going and I was a little bit nervous.

Right now, I'm just so excited for the moment, and I'm glad that where I once planned to be or prayed to be.

Q. Were you able to have conversations before the draft with Atlanta? And if so, what were they like? What did they speak about in terms of your skill set for what they were looking for?

MADINA OKOT: Yeah, I had a meeting with a couple teams. I was still confused. I really didn't know I was going to go to Atlanta. Yeah, we had a meeting. They talked about my skills, my versatility, just being able to contribute to the team, maybe rebounding, playing defense, finishing, doing some little things to help my team win.

Q. You went from not touching a basketball until you were 16 years old and now you're a first-round pick in the WNBA draft. If you could go back and tell your 16-year-old self one thing about this journey, what would it be?

MADINA OKOT: Just being here today, it means so much to me. Just like you say, six years ago I didn't see myself being here today or I never dreamed of myself being here today. I mean, my dream was to play pro or play in the W but I didn't know it was going to be after six years.

If I would go back, I would tell my younger self, just so proud of her. She never gave up. She had to go through a lot and keep moving forward.

Q. Kind of wanted to get your thoughts on how excited you are now that you get to play alongside Angel Reese, obviously another prominent big in the WNBA, and what do you think you can learn from a player like her?

MADINA OKOT: Yeah, first of all, I'm so excited to be here today, just getting drafted. It's a dream come true. I'm so excited that I'm going to be able to compete against the greatest players that I've been watching or I've been looking up to growing up. And just the fact that I already know that I'm going to be beside Angel Reese, I feel like that is a very big blessing to me, I'm just so excited to learn so much from her, where she plays the same position as me.

So I'm just sure that she's going to teach me a lot. She's already more experienced in basketball. And I feel like she's right now a vet. And she's more experienced with the level that I'm going already.