Latest news with #DeShields
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
WNBA Team Abruptly Cuts Ties With Former All-Star & Champion One Day Before Season
The 2025 WNBA regular season begins Friday. On the eve of opening night, though, the Connecticut Sun are still finalizing their roster. On Thursday, the Sun announced they have made a surprising roster move, waiving former All-Star guard Diamond DeShields. Advertisement The 2025 season was expected to be DeShields' first with the Sun. Connecticut signed the guard to a one-year contract in February. 'We are thrilled to welcome Diamond to the Connecticut Sun,' said Sun General Manager Morgan Tuck on Feb. 3. 'Her wealth of experience and resilience through her career speaks to her exceptional character, dedication and passion for the game. "As a veteran in our league with championship experience, she brings a level of leadership, versatility, and competitiveness that will be invaluable both on and off the court." Tuck also called DeShields a "great fit" for the Sun. WNBA guard Diamond DeShields© Kirby Lee-Imagn Images DeShields made the WNBA All-Star Team and second-team All-WNBA during the 2019 season with the Chicago Sky. In 2019, DeShields averaged 16.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Advertisement During the 2021 season, she averaged 11.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game for the Sky, who won the WNBA championship. DeShields joined the Phoenix Mercury in 2022 after four seasons with Chicago. She played one season for the Mercury and then missed the 2023 campaign because of a knee injury. Last season, DeShields returned to the Sky, where she averaged a career-low 4.5 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists per contest. The Sky drafted DeShields at No. 3 overall in the 2018 WNBA Draft. During her college career, she starred as a freshman with the North Carolina Tar Heels. DeShields then transferred to the Tennessee Volunteers, where she made the All-conference team twice. Advertisement DeShields comes from an athletic family. Her father, Delino, played 13 seasons in the MLB. Her brother, Delino DeShields Jr., also played Major League Baseball. The 2025 WNBA regular season begins Friday night. The Sun will play their first game Sunday against the Washington Mystics. Related: WNBA Roster Cuts Include Former 14 Points Per Game Award Winner
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
West Branch moving on from 8-time conference champion head coach
BELOIT, Ohio (WKBN) – Veteran girls basketball coach Walt DeShields has been informed that he will not return as the head coach at West Branch High School. According to a source, Coach DeShields was told the district is 'moving in a different direction.' During his 20 years leading the Warriors' program, DeShields led West Branch to 379 victories, as well as eight league titles, 17 sectional championships, seven district titles, and a pair of regional titles. In addition, DeShields led West Branch to the State Final Four in both 2015 and 2020, which was cut short due to COVID. He was recently named the Eastern Buckeye Conference Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season, as well as the Northeast Inland District Coach of the Year. DeShields earned the prestigious Sportsmanship, Ethics & Integrity Award from the OHSAA in 2024, along with the Bob Arzen Award for 20 or more consecutive years at the same school. West Branch finished the 2024-25 campaign with an overall record of 22-3 and claimed back-to-back conference titles. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
18-03-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Diamond DeShields wants a challenge and a fresh start. The Connecticut Sun offered both.
For most of DeShields's basketball life, high expectations were all she knew. She was drafted third in 2018 by the Chicago Sky and made the all-rookie team. She became an all-star and second-team All-WNBA by her second season and won a title with the Sky in 2021. Advertisement That's where she wants coaches, teammates and fans to set the bar after signing with Connecticut last month. 'I just want them to know that they're allowed to have expectations of me,' she said. 'I don't necessarily want the charity of, 'Oh my gosh, we're just happy to have you.' 'It's just a miracle.' 'Whatever you do is good enough.'' She knows what she's had to overcome. In 2020, her life changed, her career changed, her perspective changed. That January, doctors found a benign tumor knotted to nerves in her spine. It posed a tricky proposition: It had to be removed to avoid paralysis, but the process of removing it risked paralysis as well. She went through the surgery — a process that was supposed to take three hours but lasted nine. She worked tirelessly through the recovery, relearning how to walk. At one point, DeShields considered retirement. 'There was this emotional phase that I was going through where I welcomed all the sympathy because it kind of wrapped me up in a soft blanket, essentially,' DeShields said. 'Where I was already beating myself up and feeling defeated, it was really nice to have somebody say, 'Aw, poor you.'' She didn't want to settle into it. 'That can that can put you in a state of mind that is not conducive to competing at a high level as an athlete. That puts you in a state of mind that will have you out the league in the next year or so. Advertisement '... I'm a hooper. Yeah, I went through this terrible thing, like this really hard thing, but I refused to become the pain of that experience. Because if I do that, then I won't be able to accomplish my dreams.' She returned to the court for the 2020 season, playing in the bubble as the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a halt. The next year she won a title. It was when she was at the top of the mountain that she realized she had more to climb. Diamond DeShields (right) celebrates the Sky's 2021 title with Chicago artist Chance the Rapper. Paul Beaty/Associated Press In 2022, the Sky traded her to Phoenix. In 2023, Phoenix traded her to Dallas. She missed the entire season due to a knee injury. In 2024, she signed a one-year deal to return to Chicago. 'I've had a rocky past few years post-surgery,' she said. 'Things have not gone the way I wanted them to in terms of stability on a team. I've learned so much throughout all of those experiences, and I've grown so much as a person and as a player. 'That's part of overcoming hardship, too, is overcoming it, but keep going,' she said. ... I'm looking forward to adding more on to my story because that's just not the end of it.' Going into the offseason as a free agent gave DeShields a chance to choose her own destiny. Advertisement The Sun are rebuilding and DeShields wanted to build with them. Related : 'I knew I needed to come somewhere where I was going to be able to be on the floor and a lot of room opened up here during free agency and it was to my benefit,' DeShields said. 'I see this as a really big opportunity for me. I'm really excited about being able to come here and step into a role that is one that I haven't necessarily had in a while and maximizing on that opportunity as best I can.' As she starts a new chapter, DeShields has the sense, for the first time in a long time, that she's at her strongest. 'I feel like it's all starting to come back to me,' she said. 'Why now? I don't know. But I feel really strong.' Part of DeShields's introduction to New England will come Tuesday when she joins Abby Chin and Zora Stephenson as part of an all-woman broadcast team for the Celtics matchup against the Nets to celebrate Women's History Month. Nerves were the last thing on her mind. 'I'm not worried about it,' she said. 'I'm going to be insulated. I'll be with some Hall of Fame broadcasters, so I'm not even really too concerned about it. It's not a lot of pressure on me.' More than anything, now that she's one step closer to training camp opening next month and the season starting in May, DeShields feels like something good is on the horizon. Advertisement 'I think that I'm due for some good times,' she said. 'And I've been working really hard towards that goal. So I get a sense that this is going to be a good start for me in terms of getting that feeling back.' Julian Benbow can be reached at
