Nika Muhl's boyfriend Nahiem Alleyne cheers as she nets first Besiktas basket in showdown against Fenerbahce

Modified Oct 03, 2024 03:46 GMT

Nika Muhl's boyfriend Nahiem Alleyne celebrated her debut and first basket at the Women's Turkish Super League with Besiktas JK Istanbul on Wednesday. He took to Instagram and shared a video clip of the Seattle Storm rookie early in action against Fenerbahce S.K.

The video shows the Croatian guard receiving the ball from the top of the key and then weaving her way through the defense for a midrange basket, which she drained. Alleyne cheered for the made basket, captioning his Instagram story:

"@nika_muhl Middyy"

Checkout screenshots of his post below:

23-year-old Muhl signed with the Besiktas following a WNBA rookie season that saw her play limited minutes with the Storm. She was selected in the second round (14th overall) in the draft after a successful collegiate career at UConn. She played in just 16 games and saw under four minutes of play each time.

Nika Muhl went up against Storm teammate Gabby Williams, who played for Fenerbahce, in her Turkish league debut. The game incidentally was postponed for the safety of the players after foreign objects were thrown by spectators onto the court early in the contest.

Nika Muhl grateful to make it to the WNBA despite seeing limited minutes

Nika Muhl hardly played in her WNBA rookie season but was still grateful for the opportunity given to her to be part of the league as a member of the Seattle Storm. The former UConn standout shared this after they were eliminated by the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces in the opening round of the playoffs last week.

Muhl, who averaged less than four minutes of play in the 16 games, struggled to find minutes playing behind All-Star gurads Skylar Diggins-SMith and Sami Whitcomb.

She spoke about her rookie campaign with the media, saying (via the Seattle Times):

"I was very grateful. I was thankful that I was put in this situation. I could have easily not been on the team. I could have easily went home and not being able to to be part of this environment, this team, the competitiveness and the playoffs."

Nika Muhl added:

"People look at it [limited minutes] negatively so many times this year, and it's easy to fall into that loop and a mindset or whatever. But I just didn't let myself do that ever."

Despite being selected 14th overall in the WNBA draft, Muhl was not assured of a roster spot but proved her worth during training camp. She, however, missed the Storm's first four games because of work visa issue.

Nika Muhl is now playing in the Turkish women's league, where she hopes to further hone her game as a pro and return as a better player to the WNBA.