Before coach Kim Mulkey ever saw her new Russian center practice, she threw out the word “special” and compared her to the greatest basketball player ever born in Eastern Europe.

Mulkey calls Anna Minaeva “baby Jokic.” As in, Nikola Jokic – the three-time NBA MVP who led the Denver Nuggets to a league title in 2023. Both players are tall and strong, after all, with a soft touch, refined footwork and a knack for setting up teammates with open looks.

“She’s really, really going to be special,” Mulkey said.

And it’s easy to see why Mulkey thinks so. Minaeva – a 6-foot-5 17-year-old who’s played professionally in Russia – flashed those Jokic-esque skills on Monday, when the LSU women’s basketball team held its first practice of the 2026-27 season in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The retooled roster that took the floor for the Tigers is a perimeter-oriented bunch. Mulkey and her staff lost Flau’jae Johnson to the WNBA and a pair of rotation guards to the transfer portal in the offseason. But they brought back both Mikaylah Williams and MiLaysia Fulwiley, then added one of the portal’s top players in former Iowa State point guard Jada Williams.

Kate Koval, a 6-5 junior from Ukraine, was supposed to anchor the group down low. But once LSU announced it had signed Minaeva in August, she left the team, obtained an NCAA waiver and landed with Baylor, citing the Minaeva signing as the reason why she chose not to return to the Tigers. Her father fights in the Ukrainian military.

Now, without Koval, Mulkey and her staff may need to rely more on Minaeva than they had initially planned to. The 17-year-old is expected to play at least a rotational role in the LSU frontcourt this coming season, alongside the 6-2 sophomore Grace Knox and Noa Morro, the 6-3 Spanish sharpshooter who will miss the start of the season with a stress fracture.

Is Minaeva ready for that responsibility?

Mulkey said Monday that it “remains to be seen” how much the teenaged center can really play for a title-contending college basketball team this season. It’s clear that Minaeva has potential, but she won’t turn 18 until January.

“Her body is very mature,” Mulkey said. “She’s fundamentally sound. She has tremendous footwork. She is a young lady that understands English very well. She is a big 6-5.

“I think Bob (Starkey’s) probably most excited. Because he works with post players.”

The problem, though, is that Mulkey and Starkey don’t have very many experienced post players to work with. Because Koval left the team, they have only 11 players on the roster, and because Morro is out until at least mid-to-late November, they’ll begin the season with just 10 active players. Knox and fellow sophomore ZaKiyah Johnson are the only two who have played significant frontcourt minutes in the SEC.

Mulkey said Monday that LSU plans to station the 5-11 Johnson both on the perimeter and down low. She practiced with the guards on Monday, while the 6-2 freshman Lola Lampley worked with the post players.

Minaeva spent most of the practice on the low block, where she flashed her touch, vision and footwork. She stepped into short baseline jumpers. There was one moment in which she sealed one of LSU’s male practice-squad players down low, spun past him and finished a layup at the rim.

But Minaeva also had her struggles. The practice squad players would frequently poke the ball free as she dribbled toward the rim or break up one of the passes she tried to slip through the paint.

Minaeva kept trying to find her teammates, though, which allowed her to deliver one of the practice’s top highlights in a full-court scrimmage against the practice squad.

The 6-5 center caught an entry pass in the mid-post and quickly noticed in the corner of her eye that Fulwiley had started a baseline cut from the corner. So Minaeva flipped her a no-look pocket pass, giving the dynamic senior guard a wide-open look at the rim.

It was a true Jokic-style pass, the kind of play he’s made a Hall-of-Fame career out of. It’s easy to forget that he was once just a young, but promising second-round draft pick.

Mulkey hopes Minaeva’s career can follow a similar trajectory.

“He adjusted, didn’t he?” Mulkey said. “She’ll figure it out. That’s what ballplayers do.”