The Washington Mystics selected Kaylynne Truong, whose Vietnamese name is Truong Thao Vy, from Gonzaga University to play in the 2024 U.S. Women’s National Basketball Association, the world’s largest basketball league for women, on Tuesday.

This selection marks Truong as the first Vietnamese-American player to join the prestigious league.

Truong, a 1.77-meter-tall point guard who played college ball at Gonzaga, was taken off the board with the 21st overall pick, according to the Houston Chronicle.

She had a storied career at Gonzaga, where she was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year and earned Associated Press All-American honorable mention for 2022-23. 

She was a first-team all-conference pick this past season, averaging 11.4 points, 5.8 assists, and 2.3 rebounds per game while shooting 42 percent from the floor and 42 percent from 3-point range. 

She knocked down 282 3-pointers during her career and started 78 games for the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Born in 2001 in Houston, Texas to Vietnamese parents who have long resided and worked in the U.S., Kaylynne Truong and her twin sister, Kayleigh Truong, whose Vietnamese name is Truong Thao My, returned to Vietnam in 2022. 

Here, they joined the national team and secured Vietnam’s first championship at the ASEAN Basketball League 3x3 International Champions Cup.

During the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia in May 2023, Kaylynne Truong made history by scoring the championship-winning point for Vietnam in the 3x3 basketball category, marking the country’s maiden basketball victory at the regional sporting event.

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