Former UConn star Nika Muhl loving basketball 'more than ever' in first WNBA season with Seattle Storm

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — After spending months on the West Coast, Nika Muhl’s first professional basketball game back in Connecticut was a family affair.

The former UConn women’s basketball point guard was selected No. 14 overall in the 2024 WNBA draft by the Seattle Storm, and her new team returned to Muhl’s old stomping grounds for the first time this season on Sunday to face the Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Almost every member of the Huskies’ current roster was in attendance, including superstar Paige Bueckers sitting courtside wearing Muhl’s No. 1 Storm jersey. Sun center Olivia Nelson-Ododa, who played with Muhl at UConn from 2018-22, joined in on the reunion for a group photo.

“I miss everything, just like day-to-day stuff, hanging out with them,” Muhl said. “I mostly miss the stupid stuff, going after practice and just hanging out in the room, doing nothing, making stupid jokes and laughing. It’s really the little things that I miss sometimes, but that’s why I’m happy that I have this opportunity to play here and see all of them. And I’m so excited for the next (college) season. I can’t wait to maybe come to one of their games; that’s gonna be super cool.”

Muhl had a legendary career at UConn, graduating as the program’s all-time assists leader and a two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year. She played all 40 minutes for the Huskies to help secure the Big East championship over Georgetown the last time she was on the court at Mohegan Sun Arena in March, but her role has been limited in her first WNBA season after she landed on a roster loaded with veteran stars hoping to contend for a championship. She didn’t play a single minute in Seattle’s 93-86 loss to the Sun on Sunday, and she has yet to score her first points in the league across 13 game appearances.

But although she hasn’t had the immediate impact of some of the bigger stars in her rookie class, Muhl is still approaching basketball the way she always has: With gratitude and joy.

“I still don’t think I have basketball as my job necessarily in my head. I feel like it’s still just the thing that I enjoy doing, but now you get paid for it,” Muhl said. “When people say a job, you automatically think of like something hard to do, or something that you don’t feel like doing every day. I still love doing it every day, more than ever I would say … Even though I don’t get many minutes, it’s still a huge blessing to be a part of this program … I’m lucky that I get to wake up every day and go to practice every day and play with these women.”

Being back in Connecticut was surreal for the former UConn star, who spent nearly all of her life growing up in Zagreb, Croatia, before committing to the Huskies. Though Mohegan Sun wasn’t a home court for UConn, it was the site of all four Big East championships and several nonconference games during Muhl’s college career. The Sun’s crowd was firmly rooting for Muhl as much as their own team on Sunday, chanting her name in the fourth quarter as a plea to Storm coach Noelle Quinn to bring her in off the bench.

“It’s weird (being here). It’s kind of scary,” Muhl said with a laugh. “I’m just getting flashbacks of things that happened here. It’s funny, in the locker room where I usually sit, that’s where my seat is right now, accidentally, which I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ It was just a whole flashback. But I’m happy. It’s super cool to see all the people that are working here too that have treated us so nicely for the last four years, so just saying hi to everybody.”

Muhl has stayed in regular contact with Geno Auriemma throughout her rookie season, but she said the longtime UConn coach prepared her well to handle the WNBA. And though she doesn’t feel like she’s had a true ‘welcome to the league’ moment that veterans warned her about, a collision with Huskies legend Diana Taurasi during a preseason game in May gave her a taste of what to expect.

“We’re always in touch just talking about the difference between college and the pros, things that I have to do better, things I have to do in general, but I feel like he doesn’t have to tell me much because that’s what he does in his four years,” Muhl said. “That’s why UConn always has so many pros coming out, because we already have and idea of what’s coming.

“When Diana bumped into me a couple of times, I don’t think I had a classical ankle-breaker or shot-block moment, but that was like, ‘Oh my god, the refs are not even watching.’ They don’t even care. She’s just doing whatever she wants.”