South Carolina Basketball: Former Gamecock signs new professional contract

Dawn Staley’s South Carolina basketball program is one of, if not the, best programs in all of college basketball. The Gamecocks produce more pros than any other team in the country in recent years, and that was best illustrated during April’s WNBA Draft when five different South Carolina basketball alums were selected to join the top women’s professional league in the world.

Aliyah Boston (1st-overall to the Indiana Fever), Laeticia Amihere (1st-round pick of the Atlanta Dream), Zia Cooke (1st-round choice of the Los Angeles Sparks), Brea Beal (2nd-round selection of the Minnesota Lynx), and Victaria Saxton (3rd-round draft pick of the Indiana Fever) all were drafted and joined a league that was already littered with former South Carolina Gamecocks.

The most notable of these WNBA veterans include the two-time league MVP A’Ja Wilson (who won the award in both 2020 and 2022) and star guard Allisha Gray.

One of the former Gamecocks in professional basketball is combo guard Destiny Littleton. Littleton won a national championship at South Carolina in the 2021-2022 season but left the program to return home to California for one season as a graduate transfer at Southern Cal where she led the Trojans to their first NCAA Tournament since 2014.

Now, after not being selected in the 2023 WNBA Draft, Littleton will have another opportunity to continue her basketball career as she will be taking her talents overseas.

Last week, Littleton signed a contract with the TV 1872 Saarlouis (Saarlouis Royals) of the German Damen Bundesliga, and that deal was made official on Saturday. The German professional league is one of the top women’s basketball leagues in Europe.

During her South Carolina playing career, Littleton did not put up many big numbers but played an important role on two of the best teams in South Carolina basketball history, including the program’s second national championship squad from the 2021-2022 season.