Background and career
Kelsey Christine Plum (born August 24, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for the Phantom of Unrivaled. Nicknamed "Plum Dawg", she is a five-time WNBA All-Star and was named the WNBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2022. Plum won gold medals with the United States in 3x3 basketball in 2020 and in 5x5 basketball in 2024. She is also the founder of the Dawg Class basketball camp. Born in Poway, California, Plum attended La Jolla Country Day School, where she was named a McDonald's All-American. She played college basketball at Washington, where she left as the NCAA Division I women's all-time leading scorer. In her senior season, Plum was named national player of the year and set the Division I single-season scoring record. She was selected first overall in the 2017 WNBA draft by the San Antonio Stars, who relocated in 2018 to became the Las Vegas Aces. With the Aces, she won back-to-back WNBA championships in 2022 and 2023 and earned her first All-WNBA First Team selection in 2022.
Plum is the daughter of Katie and Jim Plum. Her mother was an accomplished volleyball player for the University of California, Davis. Her father earned All-American football honors and set the CIF San Diego Section career passing yardage mark at Helix High School in La Mesa, California, and went on to play football and baseball collegiately at San Diego State. Plum has two older sisters and a younger brother. Her sisters both followed in their mother's footsteps and played volleyball. Her oldest sister Kaitlyn played for UC Davis, while Lauren played for the University of Oregon and for USA Volleyball's Junior National Team. Her younger brother Daniel played football at UC Davis. Plum is dyslexic and felt like an outsider during her school years, repeating the fourth grade and enduring bullying. She has also experienced anxiety and depression, even as the WNBA’s No. 1 draft pick. Plum says she shares her situation to help others going through challenges understand that they are not alone and the importance of advocating for themselves. “You just don’t want to feel alone,” Plum says. “At the end of the day, we’re human beings. We want connection.” Plum played volleyball at first, excelling in the USA Volleyball junior system, but when it came time for high school, she chose La Jolla Country Day School over Poway High School, where her sisters had attended, choosing basketball over volleyball. La Jolla Country Day School is where Candice Wiggins played during her high school years as well.
During the course of her high school career, Plum scored a total of 2,247 points, averaging 19.9 points per game. She recorded 677 rebounds, assisted on 381 baskets, and had 370 steals. Over her four years, her team had a record of 103–22, which led to four section titles and the 2012 CIF Division IV state championship (32-1). Plum also played AAU basketball for San Diego Sol. Plum was selected to the 2013 WBCA High School Coaches' All-America Team. She participated in the 2013 WBCA High School All-America Game, hitting six of her eight field goal attempts, scoring 14 points. When it came time for college choices, Plum considered Maryland and Virginia on the east coast, and Cal, Gonzaga, Oregon and Washington on the west coast, then decided to accept the offer from Washington. Plum was named a McDonald's All-American. This qualified her to participate in the 2013 McDonald's All-American Girls Game. She was named Ms. Basketball by CalHiSports, an honor bestowed upon the best female high school basketball player in California. Prior winners include Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Courtney Paris, Candice Wiggins, and Diana Taurasi.
After Plum helped the USA basketball team to win the gold medal in Lithuania, she flew directly to Seattle rather than heading home to San Diego. A teammate at the University of Washington picked her up at the airport and they were in the gym by the end of the day. By going directly to campus, Plum was able to sign up for summer school classes and get acquainted with the university and her teammates before the fall quarter began. Her head coach Mike Neighbors noticed her desire to get started, which helped him with his decision to name her the team captain before the season started, a rare event for a freshman. During her freshman year, she set six Washington freshman records. Her total points scored (695) were the most ever by a freshman, and her single game high of 38 points is a freshman record. She earned freshman of the year honors for the Pac-12 conference. She averaged almost 21 points per game during the regular season. One of the highlights of the year was a victory over the fourth ranked team in the country, Stanford. Plum was the high scorer with 23 points.
Washington opened their regular-season with a game against Oklahoma. Washington lost the game 90–80 but Plum set a new school record with 45 points. In her sophomore year, she was named to the "Wade Watch" a list of 25 players who are viewed as having the potential to win player of the year honors. She was also named to the list of 30 players to be considered for the Wooden Award. Plum helped the Washington Huskies earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. In a coincidence, they faced Miami, coached by Katie Meier, who had been Plum's coach while on the USA Basketball U19 team. Plum scored 17 points in the game, but Miami prevailed 86–80.
For the week of January 11–17, Plum was named both the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week and the Pac-12 Player of the Week. By scoring 25.9 points per game, she ranked first in the Pac-12 and fourth in the nation. Plum also led the Huskies on an improbable NCAA Tournament run, highlighted by their first Final Four appearance in program history. Unfortunately, the magical run ultimately ended in the Final Four as Plum and the Huskies lost to a deeper, more talented Syracuse Orange team (who also clinched their first Final Four berth in program history), 80–59. The Orange would go on to lose to the undefeated 37–0 and three-time defending women's national champions Connecticut Huskies, 82–51.
