Kalani Brown could not have "dreamed" up a better destination for her basketball journey.
A first-round pick and seventh player taken overall in last year's WNBA Draft, the former Baylor All-American center averaged 5.1 points and 3.5 rebounds as a rookie with the Los Angeles Sparks. But on Monday, Brown was traded to the Atlanta Dream in a 2-for-1 swap that sent 6-5 center Marie Gulich and 5-9 guard Brittney Sykes to Los Angeles.
"It's a new journey," said the 6-foot-7 Brown, who has been back in Waco working out while on a break from playing in the Women's Chinese Basketball Association. "I'm really excited about the move, first and foremost. I think Atlanta is a great fit for me. I'm back at home with all of my family."
Brown hails from Slidell, La., but her mother and father, Dee and P.J. Brown, had moved to Atlanta. Now, they can watch their daughter play in their back yard instead of three time zones away in L.A.
"I don't want to say it's home for her, because she grew up in Louisiana," Mulkey said. "But, it is kind of going back home for her. L.A. was a great experience for her, but anytime somebody wants you, you're excited."
In a rebuilding mode after finishing last in the WNBA last season at 8-26, the Dream see Brown as a "key piece to the puzzle," Atlanta coach Nicki Collen said.
Team President and General Manager Chris Sienko said the trade to acquire Brown was a "question of giving to get, and we need the size and skill that Kalani brings to the Dream."
"We are in the midst of making changes to compete with the best in the league," Sienko said, "something our fans and this city deserve."
A three-time All-American at Baylor, Brown averaged 15.8 points and 8.2 rebounds last season in leading the Lady Bears to a 37-1 record and the program's third national championship.
Ironically, one of her best games during an up-and-down rookie season came in a Sparks' win at Atlanta, when Brown was 6-of-10 from the floor and scored 12 points.
Surrounded by a veteran cast that included Candace Parker, Alana Beard and sisters Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike, Brown said she spent her first year in the WNBA "just learning how the game is played."
"I feel like I was a freshman again," she said. "The game is a lot quicker than the college game was, so now I'm 'OK, now I have to adjust to this.' But, they were there every step of the way whenever I had road questions: 'What do we do on the road?' Because it's quite different. We don't have charter flights, different changes. I think I'm really spoiled. But, they helped me through that. They were just great vets all the way around."
This is Brown's first break from basketball in almost two years. She went straight from Baylor to Los Angeles and then to China in November to play for the Xingjiang Magic Deer. Because of the Coronavirus outbreak in Asia, she is back in the States and waiting to see if she'll get to go back to finish the season in China before the WNBA season tips off in May.
Expecting to return to Los Angeles for her second year, Brown got a call from her agent the day before the trade went through.
Derek Fisher, the Sparks' head coach, told Brown, "Family is important to me. I want to put you somewhere where you're comfortable, somewhere where you can get better."
"I can't thank L.A. enough for that, because not many coaches or (general managers) are that generous," Brown said. "For them to put me in a spot where I can truly get better, I can't thank them enough."
While her first season overseas was cut short, Brown was averaging 24.8 points and 11.2 rebounds per game for the Xinjiang Magic Deer.
In Atlanta, where Brown is by far the tallest player, "I think they can really work with me and I can get better at my craft and at my game."
"When I talked to them, they seemed really interested in me shooting the mid-range and possibly the trail (3-pointer)," said Brown, who attempted just one 3-pointer in his four years at Baylor. "(Mulkey) would never let me shoot it. But, they're really ready to pour into me. It's a positive start, a great start."
Watching mostly from afar, Brown has been impressed by how the second-ranked Lady Bears (22-1, 11-0) have just picked up where they left off at the end of last season, when they hoisted the national championship trophy in Tampa, Fla.
"I'm kind of like a proud parent," she said. "Them doing some of the things that I used to yell at them at practice about just shows their growth as a team. This team is special, still, and still dangerous. I have no doubt that we can get to another Final Four. I've applied the pressure that we need this Final Four because it's in New Orleans, it's in my city. So, if you're not going to do it, do it for me."
Baylor, coming off an 81-62 win over second-place TCU, goes on the road for its next two games. The Lady Bears play Oklahoma State (14-10, 5-7) at 7 p.m. Saturday in Stillwater and then Texas Tech (15-7, 4-7) at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Lubbock.
