The red pinstripe suit was deliberate. So was the diagonally stripped tie. And the whole look?
That was inspired by Kamilla Cardoso’s legacy.
“I was motivated by how Kamilla dressed up for her draft day (back in 2024),” Okot said on the Orange Carpet. “I had to look for the same person that did her outfit.”
At 21, sitting inside The Shed at Hudson Yards in New York City. Madina Okot has learned one thing – looking parts that matters. Because even she would not have expected to be here six years ago.
Her fingers stayed crossed, her breath tight in her chest as the 2026 WNBA Draft unfolded on Tuesday, April 14 2026.
And according to the news outlets projection, the Kenyan-born star was predicted for the 10th, 13th or 15t pick.
That meant waiting, Three to four commercial breaks, an hour of silence. An hour of hoping.
The 10th pick came and went. Her former South Carolina teammate, Raven Jonson closed out the top ten picks as she went to Indiana Fever.
Madina Kept waiting.
When the commissioner Cathy Engelbert stepped up to announce the 13th pick, the conversation that day at the ESPN barely mentioned her. Host Ryan Ruocco, analysts Rebecca Lobo and Andraya Carter leaned toward other prospects in this pick.
ALSO READ: Kenyan-born star Madina Okot makes history with WNBA Draft selection, joins Atlanta Dream
Okot was not the obvious choice. And then Cathy said the team name. And she said the name select.
Madina Okot from University of South Carolina.
For a split of second, it did not feel real. The girl from Mumias, Kakamega County, sat a bit frozen in disbelief before it sank in, she had been selected in the first round of the WNBA Draft 2026.
She turned right away to hug the two Kenyans sitting beside her. Peter Kiganya, the first Kenyan ever to go pro in the United States and his wife Jacquie.
The man who built the road was now sitting next to the girl about to take it further than anyone ever had.
She is going to Atlanta Dream, a three-time WNBA finalist.
The man who would not take NO for an answer
None of this happens without coach Philip Onyango.
Back in 2018, at the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) National games in Eldoret, Onyango spotted a towering girl walking across a football pitch. She was supposed to be a volleyball player. He saw something else.
“After our netball match, I saw this tall girl walking on the football pitch,” Onyango told Nation.
“I tried to get her contact, but she dodged me and gave me wrong numbers that wouldn’t work. The whole year I tried reaching her parents – I couldn’t get them.”
In 2019, fate dragged them together again but this time in Kisumu County. Madina had helped her school qualify in the volleyball. Onyango waited until her team was eliminated, then followed her to the games in the lower division.
“I convinced her to give me her parents number,” he says.
Then Onyango had to convince them. He pulled out his coaching CV with his over 30 players sent to America on basketball scholarships. He showed them faces on the social media. Her father, Musa Mulah, was persuaded and he finally said yes.
But the volleyball people were not buying it. They were furious.
Her school did not want her to leave and teachers said she was better at volleyball.
“They were planning to lynch me,” Onyango with the last laugh now – though at the time it was not funny.
“Then Kenya’s volleyball vice president, Paul Bitok, went on the WhatsApp group and told them: ‘If Madina has joined Philip, the girl is in safe hands.'”
That was the beginning.
Learning everything from scratch
Madina knew nothing about basketball. Nothing. Onyango started from zero – footwork, dribbling, shooting, defensive slides. Everything.
She learned fast.
Within a year, she was playing for Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in the Kenyan League while still in high school.
“Honestly, it was not really hard for me to transition,” she said.
“I fell in love with the game so quick. It didn’t take me long to learn, and in a short time I’ve been able to accomplish a lot.”
At 17, she made the Kenyan national 3×3 U23 team. They won the FIFA National League African in Nairobi and punched a ticket to the World Championships in Romania.
A fortnight later, she played for the senior team at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and here is when States College coaches started paying attention.
That same year, she was named the Kenya’s most promising female athlete at the Sports Personality of the Year Awards (SOYA Awards).
She also led KPA to the FIBA Africa Women’s Champions Cup in Maputo and left as the tournament’s top rebounder with 12.3 boards per game.
The next year in Alexandria, Egypt, she guided Kenya to a silver medal, the country’s best finish ever in that continental showcase. She made the all-tournament team.
And still, the hardest part had not even started.
Four visa denials
Troy University came first, right after the Commonwealth Games. They wanted her. They wanted a roster spot. Visa denied.
Eastern Michigan reached out ahead of the 23/24 season for another chance. Visa denied again.
She got a scholarship to join Zetech Sparks in Kenya instead, turning them into title contenders under coach Maurice Obilo.
Her Zetech family urged her to try one more time. Third denial.
Then a fourth.
Devastating does not quite cover it. But she kept fighting.
“I get my motivation from my home,” she told Sport On back in 2024. “The people around me that my coaches because they have been like parents. I have been pushing hard for it.”
Mississippi State came calling for the 24/25 season. This time, by some grace of paperwork and persistence, the visa worked.
She arrived in America with something to prove, just to grind.
One year in States to change everything
After Mississippi, she transferred to South Carolina in April 2025 as a senior. And then she went to work.
Averaged a double-double with a 12.8 points, 10.6 rebounds per game. Led the SEC in rebounding. Piled up 22 double-doubles, the most in the conference and third-most in the entire country.
She helped the Gamecocks reach the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship final.
She made the All-SEC second team. She was a finalist for the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award named after one of the greatest bigs to ever play the game.
She had hoped for one more year under coach Dawn Staley to develop further. She wanted to achieve more. Maybe become one of the best in the SEC.
The NCAA said no.
“I really wanted another year of college just for development,” she admits. “I’ve been here for two years or less, and I’ve achieved and grown well. But if I could have gotten another year, I could have been developed better.”
The WNBA was not going to wait.
The call that changed everything
When her name echoed through The Shed at Hudson Yards, Madina Okot did not just hear it. She felt it.
The Atlanta Dream – three-time WNBA finalists, just added a Kenyan center who was not even “supposed” to be here.
She joins a roster with stars like Angel Reese.
“First of all, I’m just so excited to be drafted,” Okot said, still catching her breath.”It’s a dream come true. I’m going to compete against the players I’ve been watching my whole life.
And the fact that I’m going to be beside Angel Reese? That’s a blessing. She plays the same position as me. She’s already a vet. I know she’s going to teach me a lot.”
Okot will sign a four-year deal worth up to $1.3 million (about KES 168 million). Her rookie salary alone: $289,133 in the first year, rising to $373,768 by year four.
But that’s not what she talked about afterward.
“I honestly did not see myself being here today,” she said again, as if she needed to say it twice to believe the fate.
“Six years ago, I had to act like I was behind. I had to be obsessed with the little things putting in extra hours, asking questions, learning from experienced players around me. Thank you so much for believing in me.”
Then she looked past the cameras, toward a country thousands of miles away.
“This isn’t just about me. It’s for all of us. I’m carrying our flag to the next level. I want to show that we belong on any stage.”
A door that finally opened
Okot becomes the third Kenyan ever drafted into the WNBA. Josephine Owino went in the third round in 2009. Kenyan-American Olivia Nelson-Ododa went in the second round in 2022.
But no Kenyan-born player had ever heard her name called in the first round. No one from Mumias.
No one who started as a volleyball player at Bishop Sulumeti High School, who had to be convinced by a persistent coach, who faced four visa denials and still showed up.
She wanted that extra year of college. She wanted to develop more. But the door opened.
The Atlanta Dream is counting on her. So is every girl back home who stayed up late to watch.
Okot the daughter of Musa Mulah and Jacqueline Sikuku, finally let herself breathe.
Not because the work is done – it never is.
Not because the contract is signed – that comes later. Not even because she made history – though she did.
But because somewhere back in Kakamega County, in a small town called Mumias, a 16-year-old girl just watched someone who looks like her walk across that stage.
A girl who might be playing volleyball right now. A girl who might have been told to stay in her lane.
And now she knows: the lane is wherever you want it to be.
That is the whole point.