Vanessa de Jesus
Filipino-American basketball player (born 2002)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vanessa Ongkeko de Jesus[1] (born January 17, 2002) is a Filipino-American professional basketball player for the Busan BNK Sum of the Women's Korean Basketball League (WKBL). She previously played for the Duke Blue Devils and Notre Dame Fighting Irish
_21.jpg)
De Jesus with Duke in 2025 | |
| Busan BNK Sum | |
|---|---|
| Position | Point guard |
| League | WKBL |
| Personal information | |
| Born | January 17, 2002 Northridge, California, U.S. |
| Listed height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Sierra Canyon (Los Angeles, California) |
| College |
|
| WNBA draft | 2026: undrafted |
| Playing career | 2026–present |
| Career history | |
| 2026–present | Busan BNK Sum |
Early life and education
Vanessa de Jesus was born on January 17, 2002, in Northridge, California, with Valencia considered as her hometown.[1] Her parents Phillip and Maria de Jesus,[1] are both Filipinos.[2] She would attend Sierra Canyon School in Los Angeles before entering Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, for her collegiate studies.[1] She transferred to the University of Notre Dame for the 2025–26 season.[3]
Career
College
De Jesus committed to play for the Duke Blue Devils in the NCAA Division I in May 2019 which was then under coach Joanne P. McCallie. De Jesus would only be the player who had committed to remain with the Blue Devils after McCallie left.[4]
She debuted for the team now coached by Kara Lawson[4] in November 2020, becoming the first Filipino in Duke University's women's basketball program.[5][6][7]
In April 2025, De Jesus announced that she will transfer to Notre Dame and play for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.[8] She played for Notre Dame in the 2025–26 NCAA season.[9]
Professional
De Jesus declared her entry to the 2026 draft for the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) in April 2026.[9] She was left undrafted during the event.[10]
In June 2026, De Jesus was signed in by Busan BNK Sum for the 2026–27 season of the Women's Korean Basketball League.[11]
National team
De Jesus has expressed interest to suit up for the Philippines national team as early as 2020.[12] She would obtain her Philippine passport in May 2023 at age 21, making her eligible to play as a "naturalized player" according to FIBA eligibility rules.[13] She debuted for the Philippines at the 2023 FIBA Women's Asia Cup.[2][14][15]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | Duke | 4 | 4 | 33.3 | 54.5 | 50.0 | 60.0 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 12.0 |
| 2021–22 | Duke | 30 | 13 | 19.5 | 36.7 | 27.1 | 62.1 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 4.2 |
| 2022–23 | Duke | 32 | 1 | 15.5 | 42.7 | 34.8 | 89.2 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 5.0 |
| 2024–25 | Duke | 36 | 0 | 12.4 | 47.6 | 36.1 | 68.0 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 3.1 |
| 2025–26 | Notre Dame | 36 | 36 | 34.2 | 40.2 | 40.0 | 90.0 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 8.4 |
| Career | 138 | 54 | 20.9 | 41.7 | 36.8 | 78.0 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 5.4 | |
| Statistics retrieved from Sports-Reference.[16] | |||||||||||||
