{"id":620352,"date":"2026-02-23T18:34:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/620352\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T18:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:34:15","slug":"wnba-champ-kara-braxton-dead-at-43-following-fatal-car-crash-in-georgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/620352\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA Champ Kara Braxton Dead At 43 Following Fatal Car Crash In Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                          Kara Braxton<br \/>\n                          2X WNBA Champ<br \/>\n                          Dead At 43<\/p>\n<p>\n                                                                        Published<br \/>\n                              February 23, 2026<br \/>\n                            6:34 AM PST<br \/>\n                                                                      |<br \/>\n                                                                Updated<br \/>\n                                  February 23, 2026<br \/>\n                                10:27 AM PST\n                                    <\/p>\n<p>                  <a class=\"js-click-image js-track-link image-lightbox-preview\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:image-asset:image_jpg_20260223_8a43b3061edb42099c7c19021ac6d711\" data-container-ref=\"tmz:article:e3df411b-3e5b-4adc-971c-0bc86bbbb452\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p>                          <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/8a43b3061edb42099c7c19021ac6d711_md.jpg\" alt=\"Kara Braxton getty 1\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>The WNBA world is mourning the sudden loss of former star center Kara Braxton, a two-time champion and one of the league\u2019s fiercest paint presences, who died at the age of 43.<\/p>\n<p>The league confirmed the heartbreaking news Sunday, sending condolences to her family, friends and former teammates.<\/p>\n<p>The Cobb County Police Department confirms to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/sports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">TMZ Sports<\/a> that Braxton was involved in a fatal car crash on Saturday on I-285 &#8212; when her 2023 Ford Mustang Mach E collided with a concrete median wall.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"continued\" class=\"continued-anchor\"\/><\/p>\n<p>They said Braxton &#8220;failed to maintain her lane,&#8221; leading to the crash. She was transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced deceased.<\/p>\n<p>                  <a class=\"js-click-image js-track-link image-lightbox-preview\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:image-asset:image_jpg_20260223_77716998071d462d86ee2831253c57b9\" data-container-ref=\"tmz:article:e3df411b-3e5b-4adc-971c-0bc86bbbb452\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p>                          <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/77716998071d462d86ee2831253c57b9_md.jpg\" alt=\"Kara Braxton getty 2\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Braxton was a force during her decade-long pro career &#8212; best known for her championship runs with the Detroit Shock, where she helped bring home titles in 2006 and 2008. She later suited up for Tulsa, Phoenix and New York \u2026 earning an All-Star nod along the way.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"continued\" class=\"continued-anchor\"\/><\/p>\n<p>At 6-foot-6, Braxton wasn\u2019t just tall &#8212; she was tough. She carved out a reputation as a physical, high-energy big who never backed down and did the dirty work inside.<\/p>\n<p>Off the court, she was a proud mom and wife, leaving behind her husband and two sons. One of her boys, Jelani Thurman, went on to make a name for himself in college football and is now at North Carolina after three years at Ohio State.<\/p>\n<p>                  <a class=\"js-click-image js-track-link image-lightbox-preview\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:image-asset:image_jpg_20260223_14912bf2c4bb404eb703ae4a91ac8a07\" data-container-ref=\"tmz:article:e3df411b-3e5b-4adc-971c-0bc86bbbb452\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p>                          <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/14912bf2c4bb404eb703ae4a91ac8a07_md.jpg\" alt=\"Kara Braxton getty 3\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tributes from across the basketball community are already pouring in \u2026 with former teammates and fans remembering her competitive fire and larger-than-life personality.<\/p>\n<p>RIP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kara Braxton 2X WNBA Champ Dead At 43 Published February 23, 2026 6:34 AM PST | Updated February&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,67,66,83,2228],"class_list":{"0":"post-620352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-sports-news","12":"tag-tmz-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116121389710543145","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}