This Iowa Hawkeye Is Going Pro And One NBA Legend Is Thrilled

The fantastic news for Iowa basketball has continued to roll in after last night's (April 10) WNBA draft. There were three ladies drafted from Iowa State, in which two ended up being drafted to the same team. One Hawkeye was drafted and received high praise from one of the greatest NBA basketball players of all time.

The University of Iowa's 5th-year senior, Monika Czinano, was taken with the 26th overall pick in the WNBA draft by the Los Angeles Sparks. This makes her the 3rd Hawkeye to be drafted since 2019, according to a press release from Iowa Women's Basketball.

Czinano had an incredible collegiate career that ended with her playing in an NCAA championship game. She finished her career with 2,413 points, 787 rebounds, and shot a massive 67% from the floor for the past 4 seasons. She was also the 5th Hawkeye to score more than 2,000 points in her career.

Czinano scored 10 or more points in 28 games this past season and in 11 of those contests, she scored more than 20. She received First Team All-Big Ten honors and was also voted into the All-Big Ten Tournament team.

Magic Johnson is regarded as one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the NBA. He's also a partial owner of the Los Angeles Sparks basketball team and he shared his excitement on social media about adding Monika to their roster. The NBA legend said,

Monika responded to Magic by saying "Thank you so much!! Excited to get to work!!" If one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA is excited about adding you to his team...you were probably doing something right in college. Congratulations to Monika! Iowans can't wait to see what you do next.