Who is the best female basketball player ever?

I’m going to say Cheryl Miller.

Cheryl Miller was a dominant basketball player.

-She was the first player, male or female, to be named an All-American by Parade magazine four times.

-Averaging 32.8 points and 15.0 rebounds a game, Miller was Street & Smith’s national High School Player of the Year in both 1981 and 1982

– In her senior year she scored 105 points in a game against Norte Vista High School.

-She set California state records for points scored in a single season (1156), and points scored in a high school career (3405)

-She was a four-year letter winner, scored 3,018 career points (tenth all-time in NCAA history), and was a four-time All-American

-Her career rebounding mark of 1,534 ranks her third all-time in NCAA history

-Miller was named Naismith College Player of the Year three times and earned the Wade Trophy (Player of the Year) once

-At USC, Miller led the Trojans to a 112–20 record and NCAA champion titles in 1983 and 1984 and was named NCAA Tournament MVP both years

-In her senior season, Miller picked up her third Naismith Award, the Broderick Award as the Female College Basketball Player of the Year and Sports Illustrated named her the best player in college basketball, male or female

-Miller still holds numerous Trojan career records, including points (3,018, 23.6 ppg), rebounds (1,534, 12.0 rpg), field goals made (1,159), free throws made (700), games played (128), and steals (462)

-Miller led the U.S. team to the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and was also part of the gold medal team at the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela.

-Miller also led the U.S team in scoring at the 1983 World Championships (Silver medal), 1986 Goodwill games and 1986 World Championships (Gold medal)

-After graduating from USC in 1986, she was drafted by several professional basketball leagues, including the United States Basketball League, a men’s league

Imagine how dominant a female player you have to be to be drafted to male basketball leagues, have a NBA Hall of Famer (Reggie Miller) say that you were better than them, and be universally recognized as the best female player of your era.

Now, Cheryl Miller never played in the WNBA because she had knee injuries which ruined her career in the late 80s, but to show you just how dominant she could have been.. her USC teammate Cynthia Cooper debuted in the WNBA and proceeded to win 4 championships (4-peat), 4x FMVP, 2x MVP, 4x WNBA first team, 3x WNBA scoring champion.. and is the all time PPG leader of the WNBA. She was basically the Michael Jordan of the WNBA. On top of that, she achieved all these things despite being 34 years old when she debuted. And she wasn’t even the best player on her USC team. Cheryl Miller was. So imagine if Cheryl had the chance to play in the WNBA in her prime. Jesus.