LAS VEGAS — Jordin Canada emits nothing but calm and poise. A warm smile, her soft voice, and the type of demeanor that much of society could learn from.
An eight-year WNBA veteran with the Atlanta Dream, the Los Angeles native and former UCLA standout has learned to live in the moments presented to her.
Even if that means embracing an interruption to her best stretch of basketball.
As the WNBA world converged on Indianapolis for what turned into a wild 72 hours of orange carpets, Stud Budz and basketball, Canada took advantage of an opportunity to settle into her mental health at home in Las Vegas while preparing mentally and physically for the second half of what she’s hoping can be a run to her third championship ring.
“There are a lot of things that I’ve been dealing with off the court, and I’m just trying to make sure that I stay focused,” Canada said before Tuesday night’s 87-72 loss to the Aces. “And I think I was able to just come back here, decompress, be in my comfort zone and be in my home and be at peace. Just get that time to rejuvenate. I think that really did help.
“In the second half of the season, I’m just trying to make sure I’m locked in and focused now that we’re back, and just trying to maintain the things that I was doing in the end of the first half of the season to keep it going.”
Canada, who won two titles with the Seattle Storm and spent some time with the Los Angeles Sparks, has become an integral piece for the Dream.
After missing the start of the season with a knee injury, Canada took some time to find a groove through her first eight games, averaging 5.8 points and 3.6 assists. But as Atlanta opened a four-game homestand in late June, the 5-foot-7 point guard kicked into overdrive and has turned in some of her best basketball ever, averaging 15.1 points and 7.0 assists over her last nine games.
“She’s really smart, she’s really competitive, she’s going to throw her body around, she’s going to defend as hard as she possibly can, she’s going to push it in transition,” Atlanta coach Karl Smesko said. “And she’s somebody we also look to, to settle us down when we need it.
Former Seattle teammate Jewell Loyd, now with the Aces, said she’s watched Canada improve since her rookie year, and been impressed by how she’s navigated her career, becoming what she says is one of the hardest people in the league to guard.
“We definitely have a special connection,” Loyd said. “We were trying to build something (in Seattle) and seeing her grow as a person, as a player, she has such a tender soul. She’s quiet, and I think it’s cool to see her be a leader on the floor, being vocal, that’s something she definitely grew into.
“Her poise is something that kind of stands out all the time. She’s gotten better with understanding her reads and what she is able to do as a point guard.”
When Canada’s knee buckled and she had to be helped off the floor during a preseason game against the Mystics, déjà vu vibes overwhelmed her after dealing with a broken finger early last season.
“That’s exactly what I said, ‘Here we go again,” she said. “I was feeling healthy going into training camp. I felt like I was in the right mindset. Everything happens for a reason, though, I believe that. It’s unfortunate that I went down in preseason, but I was thankful that I was still able to come back, and it wasn’t a season-ending injury. Very grateful and thankful for that.”
Employing her poise and using the same mindset from last year, Canada approached her recovery progressively without dwelling on the injury, keeping a positive mindset.
“Coming back from injury is never easy, and I think that I was a little slow to start coming back from injury,” Canada said. “But just trying to give myself grace and just trying to do what I can for the team and do what’s required of me and what’s needed of me, and trying to just bring my strengths every night and just trying to help my team win.”
What may have been even more difficult than watching her teammates open the season 5-2 and put the rest of the league on notice was finding her role upon returning, with several new pieces having adapted to Smesko’s system.
She admitted that it was something she had to relearn, gaining chemistry with her teammates while taking it game by game and figuring out where to fit in alongside the likes of Allisha Gray, Rhyne Howard, Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones – four of the most dominant players in the league.
“Not only do we have a great core group, but a great team, all the key pieces that we need,” she said. “Anyone could go off on any given night. So I think it’s us just trying to make sure that we’re doing the things that we need to do to win games.”
As calm as Canada might be, it’s a different story in the heat of competition. An absolute menace on the court, as her aforementioned statistics would indicate, she’s one of the smartest players and one of the best defensive guards in the league.
“She’s the head of the snake both offensively and defensively,” Dream guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough said after Canada finished with 14 points and six assists in Wednesday’s 90-79 win in Phoenix. “She’s the first line of defense coming down. And we feed off her energy, because she’s pressuring the ball. For the rest of us on offense, she makes things easier for us. If she sees an angle, she’ll get the right angle for us guards, getting it to the bigs. I just know I got to have my hands ready, because I know she’ll find me. She makes us go.”
And while Smesko credited Canada’s IQ and basketball savvy, Griner agreed with Walker-Kimbrough when it comes to leadership abilities and court presence.
“I wish I had her motor,” Griner said. “Every night she’s going to do whatever coach assigns her to do for that game, no questions asked. She’s going to go her speed with what she’s doing out there, getting us set up, getting us in the right positions. That just shows her leadership, her ‘vetness.’ She’s a big part of this team.”
Leaning on her championship pedigree, Canada believes Atlanta has the wherewithal to make a late-season run.
“Our team is really good, and I think we’re definitely ready to make that run in the second half of the season,” Canada said. “I think every team is ready for that run in the second half of the season. It’s really important. But I think our team, like I said, we’ve had the key pieces that we need to really get this thing done.
“We just have to lock in and make sure we’re improving each game and make sure we’re doing the little things and the details that our coaches are asking of us to come out and play hard, every night and try to win as many games as possible.”