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Celeste Taylor

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Celeste Taylor
Taylor with Ohio State in 2024
No. 0 – Sydney Flames
PositionGuard
LeagueWNBL
Personal information
Born (2001-06-20) June 20, 2001 (age 23)
Queens, New York, U.S.
Listed height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Listed weight167 lb (76 kg)
Career information
High school
College
WNBA draft2024: 2nd round, 15th overall pick
Selected by the Indiana Fever
Playing career2024–present
Career history
2024Indiana Fever
2024Phoenix Mercury
2024Connecticut Sun
2024–presentPhoenix Mercury
2024–presentSydney Flames
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing the  United States
FIBA Under-19 World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2019 Thailand Team
FIBA Under-17 World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2018 Belarus Team
FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship
Gold medal – first place 2017 Argentina Team

Celeste Yvonne Taylor (born June 20, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for the Sydney Flames of the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). She played college basketball at Texas, Duke, and Ohio State.

Early life

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Taylor is from Queens, New York and is the granddaughter of Colombian immigrants. She grew up living with her maternal grandparents in a three-bedroom apartment in Astoria, Queens, where a total of nine people lived. Taylor became fluent in Spanish and visited Colombia once as a child. Her athleticism was already noticed in elementary school, and in addition to basketball, she was a talented softball player.[1]

High school career

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Taylor played varsity basketball for Valley Stream South High School in Valley Stream, New York in seventh grade. One year later, she transferred Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School in Brookville, New York, where she became a starter as a freshman.[2] As a senior, Taylor was named New York Gatorade Player of the Year. She was selected to play in the McDonald's All-American Game and Jordan Brand Classic.[3] Taylor was named Newsday Long Island Player of the Year in her final two years.[4] Rated a five-star recruit by ESPN, she committed to playing college basketball for Texas over offers from Stanford, Notre Dame, Ohio State and South Carolina, among other programs.[5]

College career

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As a freshman at Texas, Taylor averaged 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, leading the team with 31 three-pointers. She was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team.[6] She averaged 12.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game as a sophomore, earning All-Big 12 honorable mention. For her junior season, Taylor transferred to Duke and averaged 11 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.[7][8] In her senior season, Taylor was named Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-ACC, while averaging 11.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game. She set a program single-game record with 10 steals in a second-round loss to Colorado at the 2023 NCAA tournament.[9] Taylor transferred to Ohio State for her fifth season.[10]

Professional career

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WNBA

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Indiana Fever (2024)

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On April 15, 2024, Taylor was selected in the second round as the fifteenth overall pick of the 2024 WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever. She made the roster and played in five games for the Fever before being waived on June 25, 2024.[11]

Phoenix Mercury (2024)

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On July 12, 2024, Taylor signed a seven-day contract with the Phoenix Mercury.[12]

Connecticut Sun (2024)

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On August 16, 2024, Taylor signed a seven-day contract with the Connecticut Sun.[13]

Second stint with Phoenix (2024–present)

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After two games with Connecticut, Taylor signed a second seven-day contract with the Mercury on August 23, 2024.[14] A week later, she signed a third seven-day contract and eventually secured a rest-of-season contract with the team. During her two stints with Phoenix, Taylor was a valuable part of the rotation, playing in 15 regular-season games, starting 4 of them, and averaging 20 minutes per game.[15]

WNBL

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Taylor signed with the Sydney Flames for the 2024–25 WNBL season.[16]

National team career

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Taylor won a gold medal with the United States national under-16 team at the 2017 FIBA Under-16 Women's Americas Championship in Argentina. She started in all five games and averaged 4.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.[17] Taylor played at the 2018 FIBA Under-17 Women's Basketball World Cup in Belarus, averaging 6.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game en route to a gold medal.[18] She won a third gold medal with the national under-19 team at the 2019 FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup in Thailand, where she averaged five points and 2.6 rebounds per game.[19]

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage
 FT%  Free throw percentage  RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high ° League leader

WNBA

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Regular season

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Stats current through end of 2024 season

Celeste Taylor WNBA statistics[20]
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2024 Indiana 5 0 3.2 1.000 – .500 0.2 0.2 — 0.2 0.2 0.6
Connecticut 2 0 5.4 1.000 – – – – – – – 1.0
Phoenix 15 4 20.0 .317 .200 .563 1.8 1.8 1.0 0.6 1.4 3.5
Career 1 year, 3 teams 22 4 14.9 .339 .200 .556 1.3 1.3 0.7 0.5 1.0 2.6

Playoffs

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Celeste Taylor WNBA Playoff Statistics
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2024 Phoenix 2 0 14.0 .667 .500 — 1.0 2.5 0.0 0.5 0.0 2.5
Career 1 year, 1 team 2 0 14.0 .667 .500 — 1.0 2.5 0.0 0.5 0.0 2.5

College

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Celeste Taylor NCAA statistics[21]
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2019–20 Texas 30 26 27.9 34.0 28.4 70.8 4.8 1.5 1.4 0.7 2.8 9.3
2020–21 Texas 28 26 32.0 35.3 29.7 58.9 4.9 2.0 2.1 0.6 2.5 12.3
2021–22 Duke 23 22 28.5 38.8 33.3 69.0 5.5 2.1 1.8 0.5 2.8 11.0
2022–23 Duke 33 33 28.9 39.4 32.1 67.5 4.8 2.5 2.2 0.6 2.2 11.4
2023–24 Ohio State 32 32 28.7 40.9 32.0 64.3 4.1 3.4 2.5 0.9 2.4 10.1
Career 146 139 29.2 37.6 31.1 66.3 4.8 2.3 2.0 0.7 2.5 10.8

Personal life

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Taylor graduated from college with a degree in child psychology and became the first person in her immediate family to graduate from college.[22]

References

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  1. ^ Ortiz, José de Jesus (August 8, 2024). "Colombian roots set foundation for Celeste Taylor". Our Esquina. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  2. ^ DeJohn, Kenny (April 13, 2019). "Newsday's All-Long Island girls basketball team". Newsday. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  3. ^ DeJohn, Kenny (March 10, 2019). "LI Lutheran's Celeste Taylor named Gatorade New York Girls Basketball Player of the Year". Newsday. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  4. ^ Sarra, Gregg (April 13, 2019). "LuHi's Andre Curbelo, Celeste Taylor did it all en route to Newsday Player of the Year honors". Newsday. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  5. ^ Amato, Laura (November 14, 2018). "Long Island Lutheran basketball star Celeste Taylor commits to Texas". Newsday. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  6. ^ Moyle, Nick (June 7, 2020). "Back in New York, UT's Celeste Taylor still grinding". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  7. ^ Adler, Em (April 10, 2021). "Duke women's basketball adds another former 5-star recruit in transfer Celeste Taylor". Duke Chronicle. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  8. ^ Adler, Em (November 2, 2022). "Duke women's basketball 2022-23 player preview: Celeste Taylor". Duke Chronicle. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  9. ^ Backstrom, Andy (April 21, 2023). "Scarlet Sunrise: Duke guard Celeste Taylor transfers to Ohio State". On3. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  10. ^ Philippou, Alexa (April 20, 2023). "Former Duke star Celeste Taylor transferring to Ohio State". ESPN. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  11. ^ Peterson, Chloe. "Indiana Fever activate Damiris Dantas' contract; waive rookie Celeste Taylor". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved July 13, 2024.
  12. ^ "Just hours after being signed by Mercury, Celeste Taylor faces former Indiana Fever team". Yahoo Sports. July 12, 2024. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  13. ^ "Connecticut Sun Signs Celeste Taylor". Connecticut Sun. August 16, 2024. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  14. ^ "Celeste Taylor miraculously returns to Mercury 1 week after short stint with Sun". Burn City Sports. August 23, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  15. ^ Moreno, Connor (September 12, 2024). "Behind Celeste Taylor's journey to finish season with Phoenix Mercury". Cronkite News. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  16. ^ cward (July 11, 2024). "Sydney Flames sign WNBA import Celeste Taylor on one-year deal - Sydney Flames". Sydney Flames. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  17. ^ Olson, Dan (December 3, 2017). "Elite junior Celeste Taylor gives verbal commitment to Texas". ESPN. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  18. ^ Taylor, Myah (September 15, 2019). "Celeste Taylor is a 'perfect fit' at Texas". The Daily Texan. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  19. ^ "Women's Basketball's Taylor, USA win gold medal at FIBA U19 World Cup". University of Texas Athletics. July 28, 2019. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  20. ^ "Celeste Taylor WNBA Stats". Basketball Reference.
  21. ^ "Celeste Taylor College Stats". Sports-Reference. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
  22. ^ Ortiz, José de Jesus (August 8, 2024). "Colombian roots set foundation for Celeste Taylor". Our Esquina. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
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