Kansas State women’s basketball star Ayoka Lee announced on Instagram on Thursday that she will not enter the WNBA Draft and will step away from the game for a year.
Lee did not have any eligibility remaining after seven seasons with the Wildcats, which included redshirt and medical redshirt seasons, along with a COVID waiver season.
But the expectation was that Lee would enter the WNBA Draft and continue her professional career. Instead, she’ll take a break.
“I’ve decided to forgo the [WNBA] draft and explore this next season of life apart from basketball,” she wrote in a long post on the social media site.
She just wrapped up her career, helping the Wildcats reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA women’s tournament for the first time in more than two decades. Kansas State lost to USC in the Sweet 16.
In her last season with the Wildcats, she averaged 15.4 points, 6.5 rebounds and nearly two blocks per game.
Any WNBA team would certainly take a chance on the 6-foot-7 Byron, Minn., native should she decide to take on a professional career at some point.
Lee leaves Kansas State as its greatest all-time player. Earlier this season she became the program’s all-time leading scorer and finished her career with 2,533 points. She is the only player in K-State history with 2,000 or more points, 1,000 or more rebounds and 300 or more blocks in a career.
She was named an all-American three times, a second-team selection in 2022 and an honorable mention in 2024 and 2025. She was also named a four-time WBCA All-Region 3 selection.
During her 2022 second-team all-America season, she set the NCAA Division I record for points in a single game, scoring 61 points against Oklahoma.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
