Janiah Barker
American basketball player
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Janiah Barker (born November 8, 2003) is an American basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association. She played college basketball for the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, Texas A&M Aggies and UCLA Bruins. She attended Montverde Academy in Montverde, Florida, where she was ranked the number 3 recruit in her class by ESPN. Barker was drafted by the Aces with the 14th pick in the second round (29th overall) of the 2026 WNBA draft.
| No. 2 – Las Vegas Aces | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position | Forward | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | WNBA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | November 8, 2003 Marietta, Georgia, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 185 lb (84 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| High school | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WNBA draft | 2026: 2nd round, 29th overall pick | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Drafted by | Las Vegas Aces | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Stats at Basketball Reference | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medals
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Early life and high school career
Barker was born in Marietta, Georgia but grew up in Tampa, Florida.[1] Barker started her high school career Tampa Bay Technical High School in Tampa, Florida before transferring to Montverde Academy her senior year.[1] As a freshman in 2018–19, Barker helped Tampa Bay Technical High School team to a 24–3 record and a state title.[1] Barker led Montverde Academy (Tampa, Florida) to its first-ever GEICO High School National Championship in 2022.[2][3] Barker scored eight points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds in the national championship game.[3] Barker averaged 17.6 points and 8.9 rebounds during her senior campaign, while shooting 50% from the field and 35% from deep.[3] In her senior year Barker was named in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association high school All-American team.[4] She also played in both the McDonald's All-American Game and Jordan Brand Classic.[1]
Recruiting
Barker was considered a five-star recruit and was ranked third in the 2022 class by ESPN.[5] Barker committed to playing college basketball for Texas A&M Aggies over offers from Georgia Lady Bulldogs, becoming the highest ranked recruit in program history.[5][6]
College career
In her freshman season at Texas A&M, Barker started seven games for the Aggies, averaging 22.8 minutes a game.[3][7] She put up a career-high 24 points against Georgia, shooting 10-of-11 (90.9%) from the field in 20 minutes of action after missing the previous 10 games due to injury.[8] As a freshman, Barker averaged 12.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per match.[9] In her sophomore season, Barker recorded eight double-doubles, averaging 12.2 points and 7.6 rebounds in 30 games played as a sophomore.[7] Barker was named to the Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll and was on the 2023 Katrina McClain Award watchlist.[10] For her junior season, Barker transferred to UCLA.[11][12] After being on a Final Four team at UCLA, Janiah Barker, Londynn Jones, and the entire previous UCLA freshman class entered the transfer portal.[13] Janiah went to the University of Tennessee, which had a poor 16-14 season record.
National team career
Barker won a gold medal with the United States under-16 national team at the 2019 FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship in Chile.[1] Barker played for the senior national team at the 2023 FIBA AmeriCup in Mexico, helping her team win a silver medal.[1] Barker was also a part of the team than won the gold medal at the 2021 FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup.[1]
Career statistics
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | RPG | Rebounds per game |
| APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
| TO | Turnovers per game | FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| Bold | Career best | ° | League leader |
College
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022–23 | Texas A&M | 19 | 7 | 22.7 | 45.6 | 40.7 | 58.1 | 5.9 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 12.7 |
| 2023–24 | Texas A&M | 30 | 27 | 26.5 | 47.9 | 34.3 | 63.0 | 7.6 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 12.2 |
| 2024–25 | UCLA | 36 | 3 | 17.5 | 46.5 | 18.2 | 65.3 | 6.0 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 7.4 |
| 2025–26 | Tennessee | 27 | 21 | 23.9 | 46.5 | 36.5 | 73.0 | 6.6 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 14.3 |
| Career | 112 | 58 | 22.3 | 46.8 | 33.8 | 65.3 | 6.5 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 11.2 | |
| Statistics retrieved from Sports-Reference.[14] | |||||||||||||