Kia Nurse - Up To Something

She grew up idolizing Mike and now she’s officially part of the Jordan Brand family. New York Liberty guard Kia Nurse has already made history—and she’s only getting started.

- Max Resetar

"I was actually just at home in Canada,” New York Liberty guard Kia Nurse “ remembers. She’s sitting on the basketball court at Nike’s New York headquarters, decked out in head-to-toe Jordan Brand gear all the way down to a pair of Air Jordan XXXIIIs on-feet. “I got a phone call from my Nike Canada rep and we were just having a conversation like we usually do, and then he was like, I have to tell you something but I want you to sit down first. He presented me with the opportunity [to sign with Jordan Brand] and I was like, ‘Are you sure you’re talking to the right person?’”

Nurse and her teammate Asia Durr have formally joined the ever-exclusive Jordan Brand family, following Maya Moore as the only other women’s basketball players to officially rep the Jumpman. For all of Nurse’s humility in that initial moment, this is a distinction that she’s earned.

Nurse made it from Hamilton, Ontario, where she dominated for St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School, winning three straight OFSAA high school championships. She destroyed the competition outside of high school too, capturing five consecutive Provincial Championships with her Hamilton Transway team.

She was such a problem that she got noticed by the best program in college basketball. When Geno Auriemma came calling, Nurse moved down to the States, helping the UConn Huskies win a pair of titles. And she’s just the latest member of her family to have played sports at a high level. Her father played professionally in the Canadian Football League and both her mother and sister played basketball in college. Her brother and one of her cousins are pro hockey players and her uncle is Donovan McNabb, the former NFL quarterback.