_(cropped).jpg) Jefferson with thePhoenix Mercury in 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Free agent | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Point guard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1994-03-08)March 8, 1994 (age 31) Dallas, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 130 lb (59 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| High school | Texas Home Educators' Sports Association | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College | UConn (2012–2016) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WNBA draft | 2016: 1st round, 2nd overall pick | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Drafted by | San Antonio Stars | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 2016–present | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016–2018 | San Antonio Stars /Las Vegas Aces | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016–2017, 2018–2019 | Galatasaray | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2019–2022 | Dallas Wings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | Minnesota Lynx | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | CB Avenida | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | Phoenix Mercury | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | Connecticut Sun | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024–2025 | Chicago Sky | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Stats at WNBA.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stats atBasketball Reference  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medals
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Moriah Jefferson (born March 8, 1994) is an American professionalbasketball player who is currently a free agent. She was drafted second overall by theSan Antonio Stars in the2016 WNBA draft. Jefferson played point guard forUConn women's basketball team, where she won four consecutive national championships. She finished her UConn career ranked first in assists, second in steals, and as a two-time winner of the Nancy Lieberman Award as the top point guard in the nation.
Jefferson is the daughter of Robin and Lorenza Jefferson. She has two brothers, Joshua and Jeremiah, and one sister, Danielle Noble.[1]
Jefferson played five varsity seasons with the Texas Home Educators Sports Association (THESA) Riders as a homeschooled athlete. Jefferson began playing with THESA's varsity squad as an eighth grader and compiled 509 points, 85 rebounds, and 87 assists. In her freshman year, she started in 50 of 51 games played and averaged 19.5 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists. and 2.8 steals per game to help THESA to a 42–10 record. As a sophomore, Jefferson averaged 17.5 points to help her team to a 42–9 record. During her junior year, she started all 50 games and averaged 21.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 4.0 steals per game in aiding her team to a 42–8 record. As a senior, she averaged 17.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 5.1 steals per game to lead her team to a 41–6 record. Jefferson helped lead the Riders to five National Christian Homeschool Basketball Championships (NCHBC) titles and five NCHBC Texas Region titles and finished her career with 3,354 points, 825 rebounds, and 728 steals.[1]
Jefferson was selected to the 2012 WBCA High School Coaches' All-America Team. She participated in the 2012 WBCA High School All-America Game, scoring four points.[2][3]
Jefferson was recruited by many schools; she visited Baylor, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M, and was also considering Kentucky and Tennessee before cutting her list down to Baylor, Connecticut and Texas A&M. She ended up choosing Connecticut.[4][5] She is the first recruit from the state of Texas to play for UConn.[6]
Jefferson was named to theUSA Basketball U18 team, coached byKatie Meier, the head coach of theUniversity of Miami. Among Jefferson's teammates were Connecticut-bound playersBreanna Stewart andMorgan Tuck. The team played in the Ninth Women's FIBA Americas U18 Championship For Women, held inGurabo, Puerto Rico during August 2012. The USA team won all five games to win the championship and the gold medal. After winning the first four easily, with winning margins of 40 points or more, USA fell behind by double digits in the gold medal game against Brazil. The team came back from the deficit, and went on to win the game 71–47. Jefferson averaged 5.6 points per game, and, although the shortest player on the team at 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m), she tied for third in blocks with five over the course of the event.[7]
Jefferson continued with the team as it became the U19 team, and competed on behalf of the US at the FIBA U19 World Championship, held inKlaipėda andPanevėžys,Lithuania, in July 2013. The team won all nine games, with an average winning margin of 43 points per game. Jefferson scored 4.0 points per game, and was third on her team with 31 assists over the course of the event.[8]
Jefferson was a member of theUSA Women's Pan American Team which participated inbasketball at the2015 Pan American Games held inToronto from July 10–26, 2015.
Jefferson led UConn to a 151–5 record over her four-year career, which included four consecutive National Championships. She finished her career in 22nd place on the UConn scoring list with 1,532, all-time leader in assists with 659, and second in steals with 353. Her 195 assists in 2013–14 is the fifth-highest single-season mark in school history, while her 191 assists in 2014–15 is the sixth-best single-season total. She became the second player in UConn history to dish out 200 assists.[citation needed] She became only the second Husky all-time to record back-to-back years with at least 100 steals. Jefferson's 191 assists during the 2014–15 season were the most by a UConn junior, while her 204 assists in 2015–16 is the best single-season total. Jefferson was named the 2014–2015 American Athletic Conference and WBCA NCAA Division I Defensive Player of the Year, and Consensus first team All-American for the second straight season.[9] Jefferson is the third UConn player to earn the Nancy Lieberman Award (nation's top point guard) and one of only four players in the award's history to claim the honor twice.
After being drafted second overall by theSan Antonio Stars in the2016 WNBA draft, Jefferson immediately became a starter on the team. During her rookie season, Jefferson scored a game-winning putback to beat the buzzer as part of her career-high 31 points to help San Antonio defeat theIndiana Fever 87–85 in overtime on July 1, 2016.[10] She was named to theWNBA All-Rookie Team by the end of the season. She missed 13 games during the2017 season due to a knee injury. On September 27, 2017, she had a surgery to fix the cartilage in her right knee. After rehabilitating for nine months, and missing the first 17 games of the2018 season, she returned to practice on June 21, 2018.
On May 16, 2019, Jefferson was traded to theDallas Wings but chose to sit out the 2019 season to continue with rehabilitation. She made her debut for the Wings during the 2020 season but suffered another season ending injury to her right knee.[11]
On May 9, 2022, Jefferson was waived by the Wings.[12] Four days later, on May 13, Jefferson joined theMinnesota Lynx.[13]
On February 3, 2024, Jefferson was traded to theConnecticut Sun in exchange forRebecca Allen.[14]
On July 17, 2024, Jefferson was traded to theChicago Sky alongsideRachel Banham, a 2025 1st round pick and the rights to swap 2026 first round picks, in exchange forMarina Mabrey and a 2025 2nd round pick.[15]
On July 28, 2025, Jefferson was waived by the Sky.
In August 2016, Jefferson signed withGalatasaray of theTurkish Women's Basketball League (KBSL) for the2016–17 season.[16] For the season, she averaged 18.5 points and 4.9 assists,[17] and helped it reach the KBSL semi-finals. She returned to Galatasaray for the2018–19 season where she averaged 13.4 points and once again helped the team to the semi-finals.[18]
In September 2016, Jefferson was featured in theAdidas "Sport Needs Creators" ad[19] alongside athletes includingVon Miller of theDenver Broncos,Paul Pogba ofManchester United, andJames Harden of theHouston Rockets.
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | RPG | Rebounds per game |
| APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
| TO | Turnovers per game | FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| Bold | Career best | ° | League leader |
| * | Denotes seasons in which Jefferson won anNCAA championship |
Stats current as of game on July 24, 2025
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | San Antonio | 34 | 34 | 30.4 | .426 | .375 | .775 | 2.1 | 4.2 | 1.6 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 13.9 |
| 2017 | San Antonio | 21 | 9 | 24.5 | .523 | .450 | .741 | 1.8 | 4.4 | 1.5 | 0.1 | 2.0 | 9.1 |
| 2018 | Las Vegas | 16 | 0 | 15.7 | .379 | .200 | .810 | 1.3 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 5.4 |
| 2019 | Did not play (injury) | ||||||||||||
| 2020 | Dallas | 9 | 6 | 16.4 | .409 | .333 | .583 | 3.1 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 5.0 |
| 2021 | Dallas | 29 | 28 | 17.2 | .449 | .460 | .600 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 5.4 |
| 2022 | Dallas | 1 | 0 | 4.0 | — | — | — | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Minnesota | 30 | 30 | 26.8 | .452 | .474 | .815 | 2.5 | 4.9 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 10.8 | |
| 2023 | Phoenix | 39 | 36 | 24.9 | .434 | .355 | .820 | 2.0 | 3.6 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 10.5 |
| 2024 | Connecticut | 9 | 0 | 6.8 | .375 | .333 | 1.000 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 2.1 |
| Chicago | 14 | 0 | 8.9 | .115 | .100 | .833 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.9 | |
| 2025 | Chicago | 5 | 1 | 7.0 | .375 | .333 | — | 1.0 | 1.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 1.4 |
| Career | 9 years, 6 teams | 207 | 144 | 21.5 | .435 | .388 | .785 | 1.9 | 3.3 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 8.3 |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Dallas | 1 | 1 | 25.0 | .571 | .333 | .000 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 9.0 |
| Career | 1 year, 1 team | 1 | 1 | 25.0 | .571 | .333 | .000 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 9.0 |
| Year | Team | GP | Points | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012–13* | UConn | 39 | 182 | .424 | .266 | .760 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 4.7 |
| 2013–14* | UConn | 40 | 400 | .575 | .418 | .768 | 3.4 | 4.9 | 2.7 | 0.2 | 10.0 |
| 2014–15* | UConn | 39 | 485 | .587 | .496 | .843 | 2.9 | 4.9 | 2.6 | 0.1 | 12.4 |
| 2015–16* | UConn | 37 | 465 | .557 | .431 | .894 | 2.5 | 5.5 | 2.6 | 0.2 | 12.6 |
| Career | 155 | 1532 | .550 | .420 | .818 | 2.6 | 4.3 | 2.3 | 0.2 | 9.9 | |
· Basketball Reference 
Media related toMoriah Jefferson at Wikimedia Commons
