Truong Thao Vy missed out on the American professional basketball league.

 

Kaylynne Truong was not registered by the Washington Mystics on the official roster for the 2024 National Basketball Association (WNBA).

On April 16th, Thao Vy was selected by the Mystics in the second round, 21st pick of the 2024 WNBA Draft – the event that selects athletes for the WNBA. Vy became the second Vietnamese-American athlete to join a professional basketball club, after Jaylin Williams – the center born in 2002 who was selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 34th pick.

However, after a month of training, the Mystics announced the removal of Thao Vy (Kaylynne Truong), along with Jakia Browne-Turner and Elissa Cunane. Besides the fierce competition among the players, Thao Vy’s exclusion from the 12-player roster for the 2024 WNBA season was partly due to injury. During preseason training, Vy had to compete with 12 players from the 2023 roster, two newly drafted players, Edwards Aaliyah and Nastja Claessens, and several other players who had already played professionally. Thao Vy attended all practice sessions, played one exhibition game for nine minutes, and scored three points.

The Mystics only retained one rookie from the draft, Aaliyah. At the same time, the team successfully traded point guard Jade Melbourne from the Seattle Storm, thus closing the door on Thao Vy’s participation in the 2024 WNBA season.

“We are disappointed that Thao Vy is on the list of those dropped,” stated an article on Bullets Forever – a website specializing in Mystics. “However, Thao Vy suffered a minor ankle injury during training, so she didn’t have many opportunities to prove herself in recent games.”

Furthermore, Bullets Forever highlights the reality that American basketball clubs have to release many talented players because each team is only allowed to register 11 to 12 players, depending on salary allocation. At the same time, new players like Thao Vy face fiercer competition due to the high entry requirements. Even though she’s no longer with the team, Thao Vy could always be called back by the Mystics, or any team in the WNBA, in the middle of the season. League regulations stipulate that players like Thao Vy can be signed to short-term contracts to replace other injured players. Alternatively, she could move to other high-quality basketball leagues such as Australia or European countries.

Thao Vy was selected by the Mystics in the Draft thanks to her impressive performance in the 2023-2024 season of the American Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). After 36 games for the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Thao Vy averaged 11.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game. Thao Vy is 1.77 meters tall and is considered to have a playing style similar to NBA superstar Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.

Thao Vy and Thao My, nicknamed the “Truong Twins,” impressed by helping Vietnam make history with a silver medal at the 31st SEA Games and then a gold medal at the 32nd SEA Games in 3×3 basketball. Both demonstrated a different skill level thanks to their professional training in the United States – the birthplace of basketball.

Vy and My were born in 2001 in the United States, with both parents being Vietnamese. Their father taught them basketball from the age of five, and they trained seriously from the eighth grade. Both play well as point guards or shooting guards, with Thao Vy having a slight edge in skill. While playing at Jersey Village High School, Thao Vy was selected by the American television channel ESPN as one of the 28 best high school guards in the United States. Since 2019, the two sisters have attended Gonzaga University, home to the Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball team, one of the best in the American collegiate athletic league (NCAA), becoming key players in the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons. Thao Vy has 629 assists – the second-highest in the team’s history – while Thao My ranks fourth with 484 assists.

The WNBA is the world’s most prestigious club basketball league, established in 1997 with four teams. Currently, the league has 12 teams, with six teams in each of the Eastern and Western conferences. The Washington Mystics, founded in 1998 and based in the Eastern Conference, have only won one championship, in 2019. In the last four seasons, their best performance has been reaching the first round of the playoffs in 2020, 2022, and 2023.

The WNBA Draft is an annual event, taking place before each professional season and after the NCAA. Twelve clubs have at least three draft picks from a pool of talent both domestically and internationally. Clubs can exchange draft picks through a trade agreement. Eligible players must be at least 22 years old and meet one of three criteria: have graduated from college, have received a bachelor’s degree, or are expected to receive one within three months of being selected, at least four years prior to graduating from high school.

The 2024 WNBA season will run from May 14th to September 19th. Each team plays 40 matches in the regular season to determine their ranking, which then leads to the playoffs for the championship.