Elena Delle Donne
(Born 1989)
Hall of Fame Induction: 2026
Card Shown:
2018 Rittenhouse WNBA
Position: F/G
Height: 6’5″
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Elena Delle Donne was a 6’5″ basketball player who starred in high school at Ursuline Academy in Wilmington, Delaware where she led the school to four consecutive state titles and once sank 80 consecutive free throws to set a record. Elena continued her basketball excellence in college at Delaware and then in the WNBA. She was an incredible shooter, becoming the first player in WNBA history to achieve the 50-40-90 mark in a season. Delle Donne was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2026 by her presenters Sylvia Fowles and coach Marianne Stanley.
Awards and Honors
- Delle Donne played college basketball for four years at Delaware and was a three-time All-American. She led the Blue Hens to two thirty-win seasons.
- Elena was the 2013 WNBA Rookie of the Year, a seven-time WNBA All-Star, and four-time WNBA First Team during her ten-year career. She played four years for the Chicago Sky and six years for the Washington Mystics.
- Delle Donne won two WNBA Most Valuable Player awards in 2015 with the Sky and in 2019 with the Mystics.
- In 2019, Elena led the Mystics to the WNBA championship, becoming the first player in league history to shoot better than 50% from the field, 40% from behind the three-point line, and 90% from the free-throw line.
- Delle Donne won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. That star-studded team included Hall of Famers Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings, Maya Moore, Sylvia Fowles, Lindsay Whalen, and Seimone Augustus. Elena had a 29-0 record in games played for USA Basketball, including winning the World Cup in 2018 with Team USA.
Points of Interest
- Elena originally signed to play college basketball with UConn, but decided she wanted to stay closer to home to be with her family, especially her sister Lizzie who was born blind, deaf and has cerebral palsy and autism. She stepped away from basketball for a year and played volleyball before returning to college basketball and starring for Delaware.
- Delle Donne was the second overall pick by the Sky in the first round of the 2013 WNBA Draft. She was selected one pick after Brittney Griner and one pick before Skylar Diggins.
- Elena is the greatest career free throw shooter in WNBA history, making an incredible 93.7% of her attempts from the charity stripe.
- Delle Donne had career averages in the WNBA of 19.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.4 blocks per game.
- Elena is a published author, having written her memoir, My Shot: Balancing It All and Standing Tall as well as a five-book Hoops Series written for children aged 8-12 years old.
Statistics
Elena Delle Donne Statistics
provided by Basketball-Reference.com