For Chamique Holdsclaw, one of the most decorated athletes to play women’s basketball, the awards and honors have continued to pile up in 2026.
The first woman to appear on the cover of SLAM Magazine, Holdsclaw was a six-time WNBA All-Star, three-time All-WNBA selection, two-time league-rebounding champ and scoring champ in 2002. Selected No. 1 overall out of Tennessee — where she played for the legendary Pat Summitt and won a trio of NCAA championships — she was the WNBA Rookie of the Year in 1999 and helped Team USA win gold at the 2000 Olympics.
Holdsclaw twice averaged a double-double for the Washington Mystics and finished in the top 10 of MVP voting six times in her professional career. In college as one of the great Lady Vols, she was twice named
the Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four, was a three-time All-American and consensus National Player of the Year twice.
This year, in August — 16 years after her WNBA career ended — Holdslaw was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame. Instead of being bitter about the long wait, she’s grateful it came now, where she was in a place in her life where she could cherish every moment.
“Had I not been healthy and in the right mental space, I don't know if I would have really taken it in and enjoyed it as much as I did,” Holdsclaw recently told USA TODAY Sports. “It was something that really touched my heart to just be in that room and just be around so many amazing athletes and contributors to this game that you know I've met along the way.”
Since her playing days ended, Holdsclaw has been an advocate for mental health and has often been honest and vulnerable when speaking about her own personal struggles, discussing her battles with depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
After getting help to manage the things she was grappling with, Holdsclaw has continued to raise awareness. She started her own foundation in 2013 and spends much of her time traveling for speaking engagements with various groups.
“When you're put in a position where people want to listen and you can have just a little bit of influence, you want to do the right thing,” Holdsclaw said. “I know for myself, being someone that has gone through struggles with my mental health, I know how sometimes that felt very alone. It felt really dark.”
Recently, Holdsclaw used her platform to raise more than $5 million for the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis. Holdsclaw was one of several prominent athletes honored at a gala in New York City on Oct. 5. The 41st Annual Great Sports Legends Dinner to raise money for research and treatment of paralysis and other neurological conditions.
Founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti, the Buoniconti Fund is a non-profit organization whose mission helps the Miami Project, which has been conducting research into traumatic spinal cord, brain and peripheral nerve injuries and neurological diseases and disorders including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, Multiple Sclerosis and stroke.
Holdsclaw had an aunt that dealt with a neurological disorder and was impacted by paralysis later in life to the point where she became, Holdsclaw says, “a shadow of herself — a brilliant person trapped inside this body.” Holdsclaw also had a friend recently suffer from a stroke.
“It’s a tremendous honor, there’s greatness around the room, but it’s really the cause that impacts me,” Holdsclaw said. “Paralysis is something that, at any given time, can really impact any one of us. Whenever you get the chance to come together with people that have name recognition and do something bigger for a cause, it’s really impactful.”
Chamique Holdsclaw invests in Upshot League, pivots to broadcasting
For Holdsclaw, 2026 has also been the year where she’s finding new ways to stay close to the game of basketball.
Holdsclaw is involved with the newest domestic professional women’s basketball organization, becoming an investor in the Upshot League. Often described as an “opportunity league” by co-founder Donna Orender, the Upshot Leaguecompleted its first season in 2026. The league aims to be the equivalent of the NBA’s G-League for the WNBA.
Next year, the Upshot League will grow to six teams with expansion franchises launching in Baltimore and Nashville.
“They can go and practice on their game and get seen and get called up from the WNBA. I just think it's going to grow because you have a lot of communities that don't have access to professional women's basketball,” Holdsclaw said. “I just really like the model.”
No stranger to public speaking, Holdsclaw flexed that muscle in a different way this year when she joined USA Network as an analyst for its WNBA broadcasts. When the opportunity to do television work first came her way, she was nervous and a bit hesitant to say yes.
But then she ended up loving it. What was supposed to be five games of broadcasting turned into more.
“I was kind of in my world and the world of healing and peace, and just locked into what I was doing. This was me taking a chance,” Holdsclaw said. “Just to work with another group of people, the people who are in the studio with me to the camera people — it was just such a great energy. I'm just grateful to step out of my comfort zone.
“So now, I have a new story to tell some of my kids. I can tell them I did something that was really, really scary for me, and I actually liked it. You know?”
USA Network will carry Games 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 of the WNBA Finals this season, so fans can expect to see more of Holdsclaw.
“I'm a fan, man. I'm a fan of these players. There’s just so much talent,” Holdsclaw said. “I really like the Valkyries. They play as a unit, cohesive, and Gabby Williams is really stepping up. And then A’ja Wilson — wow, that’s just greatness.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Broadcaster, advocate, investor: Chamique Holdsclaw does it all in women's basketball
