SIKA KONE got off the bus and went to the outdoor basketball facility. She told herself that she needed to try. This was a big shot for her.
The 14-year-old Kone heard from her friend that a basketball camp was going to be held in town. The best players at the camp would get scholarships to the British academy in Spain. Kone missed the first two days.
Kone was unsure if she would be allowed to participate or if she could make up for lost time. Her mom pressed the money she needed for her bus fare into her hands.
Kone had already achieved a lot in basketball when she arrived at the gate. She was introduced to the game four years before she fell in love. She knew if she got a chance to show her new skills the coaches would be happy. She knew she had a chance to immerse herself in the sport she loved, a chance to train with better coaches, and a chance to make her mom proud.
She told the coaches she was honest. She told them that she only heard about the camp that morning. She said to give her one chance to show her skills. She was waved in by the coaches.
She showed them that their decision was wise. She hit 3-pointers, grabbed a rebound, and dominated on defense.
She said she was not nervous.
After the camp, the coaches deliberated, and that's when nerves set in. Is she done enough? In half the time?
Then came the news that Sika Kone would be going to Spain.
She could hear her heart beat. She had made it.
Kone will be waiting for her name to be called again during the NBA draft in 2022, six years after that life-changing camp. The program is on the cable network, ESPN. Multiple outlets project the 19-year-old to be taken in the first round. If the projections are correct, Kone would become the fourth Malian woman to be drafted by a WNBA team. Her life is filled with stories. Leaving a poor family in Africa to play basketball in Spain at the age of 15 and learning English a few weeks before the draft, losing her mom just a few weeks before the draft, is just some of the things that happened to her.
Although Kone didn't just lead her team to an NCAA championship like South Carolina's Destanni Henderson did, or turn heads in the Final Four like Louisville's Emily Engstler did, she did appear on NCAA player of the year lists.
Kone was 10 years old when his friend invited him. She took Kone to a small indoor basketball court in town and made her stand on the sidelines as she bounced the ball, tucked it between her legs and jumped up to throw it in a basket. Kone watched as her friend played a game.
Kone had widened his eyes. She was interested in this sport but had no idea what it was. Her favorite part of it all was the team sport.
She told her parents where she was. She asked her parents if she could try the sport after explaining what basketball was and asking her friend questions.
The cost to play on that basketball court was $10 per month. Kone's mom nodded her head and said she would support him if he wanted to do it.
The next day, Kone went back to the court and was enamored by the rules and speed of the game. She started to pick up the nuances of the game as her muscles strengthened.
Kone tried out for the Malian national team when she was 12. And made it. Her talent was called raw and authentic by club officials.
She ran home to tell her mom what happened. The news made her burst with energy for the rest of the day and her mother decided she would do everything in her power to make her dreams come true.
The Malian women's national team played on TV in the evenings, and Kone and her family watched. She dreamed of wearing a Malian green jersey. She imagined her family watching her play.
Kone smiled and said that it made him work hard.
Kone was selected to attend a national team training camp when she was 13 years old. She was the only player selected from her club at the end of the camp. She was told by the coaches that she was too young to play for the national team but that she should keep training and eventually be called up.
The capital of Malian is Bamako, which has a population of 2 million. The native language of Kone is Bambara, but she also speaks French, an official language of the country since it gained independence from France in 1960. One of the most impoverished countries in the world is Malian. The women's basketball program won gold at the AfroBasket in 2007, and qualified for the 2008 Olympics, which is one of the bright spots over the past two decades. At the world championships in 2010, Mali finished 15th. The recent allegations of systemic sexual abuse within the program, which led to the arrest of one coach and the suspension of another, have cast that success in a bad light.
It came as a shock to Kone, who didn't have much interaction with the coaching staff during the tournaments.
By the time she was fifteen, Kone's view had expanded beyond the national team. She left the only country she had ever known to pursue a bigger, more ambitious basketball dream.
As soon as the coaches at the 2016 camp announced her name as a scholarship winner, Kone began racing.
She had been so focused on playing basketball that she didn't think about what would happen if she made it. What would her mom think? Would her parents let her go? She had a lot of questions on her way home.
Kone used to play for her local team. Kone had a dream to play for the Malian women's national team. Kone didn't know there was anything bigger to dream for. What if there was something bigger, something that would make her mother even more proud of her, waiting for her outside of Africa?
Her parents were surprised and asked a lot of questions. What would the academy look like? Was it focused on education? How often could she visit?
Kone sought the help of the camp's organizers to alleviate her parents' concerns. She would live in the dorms with other students and have a packed day of studying. Three Malian basketball players who had left to attend the same school a year earlier were able to help her navigate her new life in Gran Canaria.
Her parents were also happy. Their youngest daughter would get to study in a British school in Spain and play basketball for free. That was a big deal to her parents, who had six children.
The decision was easy for Kone. She wanted to play a sport. She wanted to make her parents proud.
I always wondered if this would make my mom proud, she said.
She packed a suitcase and headed to the airport with her family.
At 15, she said goodbye to her family as they huddled around the entrance, waving. She stumbled her way through security and boarded the plane for her first flight.
She could feel the pressure in her ears as she gripped her seats on the plane.
She looked out the window when the pilot said they would land in Spain. Her smile appeared on her face as she came into her bird&s-eye view.
Kone tried to perfect her every move on the court for five hours. She had watched hours of tape of the basketball player and spent hours replicating her moves on the court.
Her agent was watching her. Kone spent her off season in France with her agent and was immersed in her training.
"This woman never stops," he thought to himself.
After six hours on the court, she wiped away sweat and went to the gym to work out.
"Sika, your body needs rest," he said.
Kone smiled and said that it was just a bit longer.
And lifted weights for an hour.
Kone promised to put in that extra hour after moving to Spain. She was the first to arrive at the training complex and the last to leave the court. One more shot on the court, one more rep in the weight room, one more mile on the treadmill. Her mother was the one who put in the extra effort. She had to make them proud. This is what it took.
Jose Carlos Ramos, the head coach of SPAR Gran Canaria, Kone's team for the past three years, had to tell her that the training complex would be closing. She used to open the door of the building, according to the story.
As soon as she arrived at the Canterbury School in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, she began learning English. At night after training, she turned on the television and watched everything from shows to news to sports, repeating sentences, writing down new words and mimicking the accents. She picked up Spanish to get to know her teammates.
She began paying attention to the English commentary and the athletes. A new dream began to take shape as she was only 15.
She wanted to play in the league. It was the best league for basketball. She thought it was a good idea to say to her mother that she was playing in the best basketball league in the world.
After two years at the Canterbury School, she was recruited by a team in the Spanish junior league. She was a topic of discussion among the Spanish basketball league's coaches.
When he met Kone on the island, he thought of a great future for her, and that's when he recruited her to play for his team.
He knew what it took to make it in the U.S. when he was the coach of the reigning WNBA champion Chicago Sky.
She is the heart of the team, according to Ramos. She will get the same rebound if she passes the ball to her teammate. In the same sequence, she can do five, six or even eight different plays such as blocking, rebound, assisting, scoring baskets or coming back on defense.
Her parents and siblings watched from the stands as she played for the national team in the off-season. At the U19 World Cup in Hungary in 2021, Kone was one of three Americans on the all-tournament team after leading all players in scoring and rebound. Kone was part of the team that finished as runner-up at the AfroBasket, losing to Nigeria. After every win, Kone's mom would call her and say "I am so proud of you" and a big smile would appear on her face. It could never get old.
Ramos said that playing for her country was what her first dream was.
She averaged 33.6 minutes and recorded 14 double-doubles in 19 games at SPAR Gran Canaria. She would push herself and sometimes she could tell that she needed a break.
It feels good to see my name in those lists, like I can't believe it sometimes.
She teaches the little things she learned when she moved to Spain to the new recruits at SPAR Gran Canaria. She teaches them what commitment looks like, what sacrifice looks like, and what effort looks like by being who she is.
Adji Fall said in Spanish that Kone came and talked to him if he was alone or sad. We call each other off the court. She is like a sister to me.
Kone showed her silly side to her teammates. Fall convinced Kone to dance in front of people. Fall did the entire routine on video. Fall says that she has a video of Kone dancing when new teammates question her story.
Kone injured her right knee during a game in Spain. Doctors thought she would be out for four months. On March 14, Kone underwent an operation that was simpler than anticipated. She was expected to return in four weeks.
Kone saw the injury as a way to get stronger.
She said that the injury can make her better.
SIKA KONE is wearing a red and black kaftan-esque outfit with golden dots. Her hair is pulled back. Her room is separated from the rest of the house by a curtain made of cream and green African print. Kone went to spend time with her family.
Her smile is bright, it lights up her entire face, and it makes crinkles around her eyes. Even though she is more than 4,000 miles away from the East Coast, I find myself smiling, proving a point her acquaintances had made over and over.
Her smile will make you happy.
She looks away from the screen when I tell her that she is going in the first round of the draft.
My mom wanted me to play in the WNBA. She says that the draft is here but she is not.
In 2021, she sat her mom down and explained to her how the draft worked, how players were selected, and what it meant for her and her family. Her mom said that she had to do this.
Since Kone began playing basketball on that tiny court in Bamako, she has made every decision with one goal in mind: to make her mom proud. When Kone's name is called on Monday, her mom will not be there to hear it, to hug her daughter, to cry tears of joy, to tell her daughter how proud she is.
The mother of Kone died three weeks ago.
Kone has been on the go for a long time, pushing herself to get that extra hour of practice, to do an extra rep in the weight room. Now that she is on the verge of achieving her dream, and finally has the time to stop and think, she is struggling to make sense.
Sometimes she texts her friend. Fall is trying to distract her. She is sad in her messages.
She wanted to take her mother to Mecca. After she was drafted, she wanted to take her mother to see her play.
Kone smiled back at the camera. A determination crosses her face.
Kone, who is back in Spain, will watch her TV on Monday night. Wait for her name to be called. Kone can still feel her presence even though her mom won't be there. Her mom allowed her to be who she is.
Kone hopes she is watching from heaven.
This story was reported by the research chief of ESPN.
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