To be a professional athlete, you need guts and mental strength. Kalani Brown is no exception, having been in and out of the WNBA for the past four seasons.
Brown played at Baylor University from 2015 to 2019. In her junior year, Brown averaged a double-double with 20.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.
Recently, LSU head coach Kim Mulkey has surfaced in the media as unable to develop players or a coach that players don’t respect.
Kalani Brown Defends Kim Mulkey
During her collegiate career, Brown spent all four seasons with the Basketball Hall of Fame coach. However, she quickly fired back at the negativity surrounding her former coach.
“So tired of the ‘Kim doesn’t develop players narrative’,” said Brown on her Twitter post. “It’s on the player to elevate their game to the next level, and quite frankly sometimes you don’t end up in a system beneficial to your game. So, there’s a lot more to being in the W than just your college coach not “developing” you.”
& Let me say this.. Kim Mulkey DID prepare me for the league. I was out of the league because of no one but ME. I had to reflect & make that choice to “want it”. In all honesty, I needed thicker skin & some mental toughness to be in the W. Which is why I think God sat me down…
— 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐈. (@kalanibrown21) April 15, 2025
Brown was drafted by the LA Sparks with the seventh overall pick in 2019. Unfortunately, she didn’t immediately flourish and was traded to the Atlanta Dream just a year later.
Brown spent two years with the Dream and then missed a year before going back to play for the Dallas Wings in 2023, where she revived her career, averaging a career-best 7.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, shooting nearly 63% from the field.
Rather than blaming Mulkey for her not being prepared for the WNBA and feeding into the negative narrative, Brown blamed herself for her struggles.
“Let me say this…Kim Mulkey DID prepare me for the league,” said Brown. “I was out of the league because of no one but ME. I had to reflect and make that choice to ‘want it.’
“In all honesty, I needed thicker skin and some mental toughness to be in the W. Which is why I think God sat me down those two years. So stop playing on me and my coach name. Kimberly did what she had to do, I didn’t. and I can only speak for myself.”
KEEP READING: Top 10 Highest-Paid Women’s Basketball Coaches: Kim Mulkey, Geno Auriemma, Dawn Staley Are the Big Three
Mulkey has been portrayed negatively for most of her career despite all her accomplishments. In 2013, Mulkey defended Griner from the media but also told her to cover her tattoos and remove all posts on her social media that showed her girlfriend.
In 2022, Mulkey didn’t comment on Griner being in Russia, and in 2024, she criticized articles from The Washington Post that she believed were trying to defame her image and a Los Angeles Times article as sexist for calling her LSU team “dirty debutantes.”
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