Jordin Canada is no stranger to making adjustments. She’s had to do it her whole basketball career, dating back to her time playing at UCLA. “Back when I was in college,” Canada told me, “I was sort of thrust into a starting role as a freshman. [The] starting point guard as a freshman having to lead juniors and seniors.” That required an immense mental shift even from Canada, who was accustomed to high playing time and success prior to her collegiate career. Canada had won an Alpha League title each year of high school at Windward School, just six miles south of UCLA’s campus.
But it wasn’t just adjusting to a familiar yet new role that Canada had to acclimate to in college. She also had to adjust to a new coach, the venerable Cori Close. “When I first got there, me and Coach Cori, we kind of butted heads a little bit,” said Canada. “Mostly it’s me being the immature player that I was, not really understanding my potential. Sometimes we didn’t see eye-to-eye.” If UCLA was to be successful during her tenure, Canada knew she would have to grow up quickly.
“I think my junior year is when I finally turned that corner. [Close] was someone who was hard on me, saw a lot of potential in me, wanted me to be the best. At that point in my junior year, I kind of accepted that responsibility, being one of the team leaders. We knew that if we wanted the team to buy in, I had to be the first one to do so. At that point, we kind of built our relationship from there and continued to grow.”
That kind of maturity didn’t happen overnight. It required Canada to reshape her understanding of what kind of player she wanted to be in her final two years at UCLA. It’s what made her the Seattle Storm’s top pick at number five in the 2018 WNBA draft. And there, early in her second season in 2019, Canada had to adjust again. Starting point guard Sue Bird went down with a season-ending knee injury, and Canada was thrust back into another familiar but massively high-pressured situation.
“Coming into the league, being a role player, coming off the bench, [I was] trying to find myself and figure out what my strengths [were]that I could bring to the team. Then when [Bird] went down, it was like when I was a freshman [at UCLA]having to come in and all of a sudden my second year being thrust into a starting role. [I had] to lead players that have been in the game for so long [who]we’re very established, so it was kind of very similar.”
That second season in Seattle may have put Canada back in familiar territory, but was coming off an up-and-down rookie season in which she scored 5.7 points per game (PPG) on 35.7 percent shooting and 18.2 percent from distance. She was also returning to the back-up role in her third and fourth seasons, which wore away at her mentally.
“Obviously as a rookie I came off the bench and then [to]play that much in 2019 starting, and then in 2020 in the bubble, [I] started half the games then came off the bench. Then [my]fourth year was kind of up and down as well. It’s just a lot that I was having to adjust to, and I’m trying to find myself, and I kind of fell into the space of feeling like [I was] having a hard time enjoying the game again.”
Canada, like so many players, is not impervious to the volatility of the WNBA roster. Even with so many players grinding for their roster spot, the toll on their mental health can be incredibly taxing. It’s no wonder that Canada had lost her love for the game and felt worn down by the ever-shifting demands of a WNBA role. “It just [felt]like a mental lag. I guess you can say it [was]not being confident in my abilities, in my strengths, and what I can actually bring to the team, and obviously that kind of affected my performance when I was in Seattle; I think it was just the adjustment.”
No one would’ve blamed Canada for taking some time away from the league or even leaving it entirely. So many others have come through the league and fizzled out for similar reasons. But for all the stress the constant adjustments placed on Canada early in her career, it was ironically those same adjustments in a different environment that brought her love back for the game.
“[I think] just having to adjust because obviously in my rookie year I didn’t play that much. I played maybe like 12 to 15 minutes a game and then playing overseas [in Poland]I was playing 40 minutes. It was just about adjusting back into the role that I had at UCLA and then getting that confidence back. Then coming in 2019 and just owning it and you know being confident in the world and just playing freely and not feeling like I have this pressure to take over because who was down. I just wanted to play like myself. I just wanted to play freely; I wanted to have fun.”
Canada used another adjustment—this time, overseas—to heal herself mentally and recapture her passion for the game.
After a season back home for the Los Angeles Sparks in 2022, Canada made another adjustment, this time choosing to play domestically for the newly formed Athletes Unlimited (AU). It was there she felt a renewed sense of passion and energy for the game she loves.
“Just about competing and playing amongst your peers and just enjoying the environment in the space—I think that’s what really helped me,” Canada said. “And then also having the opportunity to just work out and train properly that I didn’t really have the last, what, four or five years of my career whether playing overseas or just not having the right resources. I think last year was the first time that I had a chance to just take some time to train properly and to get back to my confidence thing.” For Canada, the AU adjustment, one in which she could return to her roots and feel like she was back in her “AAU days as a kid,” was exactly what she needed. “[It was] going out there and just hooping, and you know, as a little kid that’s exactly what I did. I just went out there.”
After all her adjustments, 2023 was the culminating season that turned the corner for Canada. Each pivot taught her something new about herself, and by relying on each of her past experiences, she knew she could adjust to anything. “I kind of wasn’t really as prepared and focused and [was]going through the motions when I was in Seattle,” Canada said in August. “I think having the time that I did last year and just refocusing and trying to figure out [what I wanted by]looking at my goals and what I wanted to accomplish—I think AU helped me and then going into this season. I got my confidence back like I had at UCLA and just being a person that loves to compete and loves to play hard and the energy that I bring to my team and the spark that I bring. I think that’s something that I proved last year.”
Canada won’t call it full circle, but she has the vision, both on and off the court, to see how far she’s come. “I was really proud of [my 2023 season] because I know that I dealt with a lot internally, and I was just happy to see myself in the space that I deserve to be in, and like I said, I was just really happy that I accomplished what I did last year.”
Canada did accomplish a lot in 2023, finishing on the All-League defensive team for the second time in her career, first in steals per game (SPG), and second in steals percentage. Now having been cored and traded to the Atlanta Dream, Canada is trusting in all the adjustments she’s made throughout her life thus far that a move to the east coast will work out for her. For Canada, it may be Nipsey Hussle crooning in her ears pregame, but her game day preparation begins and ends with her “family over everything” credo. “I’ve learned so much that you know I just want to bring my leadership and my knowledge of the game to this team and just give as much as possible,” Canada said. “I want to be that giver where there’s just being a great teammate and a great person, and I think that’s what we’re developing—[a]family atmosphere.”
Canada will begin the next chapter of her WNBA career soon, and the two-time champion still has plenty she wants to accomplish, including being named to an All-Star team. And as she enters her seventh season, she’s very cognizant of the legacy she wants to leave.
“It is very important to me as a guard [to be]a two-way player and not just relying on offense but just also defense; I value that,” Canada told me. “I guess that’s it. No matter how short you are, how tall you are, it’s all about your passion and your heart and the energy and the effort that you give. That will always be way more important than anything else is—just how hard you play in the effort that you give will outlast anything in this league.”
All stats through the 2023 season. Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of WNBA.com and Basketball Reference.
