Queens-raised Tina Charles, an All-American and Gatorade National Player of the Year at Christ the King High School, announced her retirement on May 5 after an outstanding basketball career. The top pick in the 2010 WNBA Draft, Charles has been WNBA Rookie of the Year, 2012 WNBA MVP, a five-time All-WNBA First Team selection, a four-time All-WNBA Second Team honoree, and a member of the league’s 25th Anniversary Team.
The 37-year-old future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer also won two NCAA championships when starring for the UConn Huskies, three Olympic gold medals, and three World Cups. She has also been a vibrant presence in the New York City basketball community.
“Growing up in Queens, New York, basketball wasn’t just a game, it was a language, a rhythm, its survival, its expression,” wrote Charles in announcing her retirement. “It pulled me in early, and I gave myself fully to it. It shaped me into the woman I am today and for that, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
While New York City is home to the mecca of basketball, Madison Square Garden, not many of the city’s natives have played in the WNBA. In addition to Charles, there were Chamique Holdsclaw and Nancy Lieberman from Queens, Kia Vaughn from the Bronx, Epiphanny Prince from Brooklyn, Shannon Bobbitt from Manhattan, and Nicky Anosike and Jennifer Derevjanik from Staten Island. NYC basketball has a certain grit and determination, which now falls to Emily Engstler from Queens, the only New Yorker currently in the WNBA.
(For this article, we’re not including players from Long Island such as the legendary Sue Bird or players from Upstate New York. First-year New York Liberty forward Satou Sabally is also not part of the group, despite being born in New York City as she was raised in Gambia and Germany.)
Charles’s retirement came as a moderate surprise because she has been busy in 2026. She played in the Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball league, ranking among its most productive performers, and afterward played in China for several weeks. “Like my mom always taught me, don’t stop at what you’ve done, keep going toward what you still see. And I see so much,” Charles wrote.
Drafted by the Connecticut Sun in 2010 as the WNBA’s No. 1 overall pick, she was traded to the Liberty in 2014. Those last four years that the team spent at the Garden with Charles at the forefront were electric. The team memorably stood together in protest in 2016 (https://www.theeduledger.com/sports/article/15098914/wnba-players-readily-step-up-into-activist-role) in the face of fines from the league for their T-shirts with #BlackLivesMatter. Another indelible moment was a man and his family meeting Charles in the Liberty locker room to thank her for the defibrillator that saved his life, which came from her Hopey’s Heart Foundation.
Charles’s final WNBA back with the Sun season was last year, coming full circle. “Beyond the accolades, records, and All-Star appearances, Tina brought heart to the organization,” noted the Sun in a statement. “We’re all going to miss that.”