- The Atlanta Dream selected Stanford superstar Haley Jones with the 6th pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft.
- Jones missed a call from her new head coach, Tanisha Wright, in the aftermath of the pick.
NEW YORK — Just minutes after achieving her hoop dreams as a top pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft, Haley Jones was afraid she had just made "the worst first impression" on her new coach.
The Atlanta Dream selected the Stanford superstar — who earned Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors after leading the Cardinal to the 2021 NCAA championship — with the sixth pick in this year's draft. Jones, who was on hand at New York City's Spring Studios for draft night, immediately hugged her family and headed up to the stage after hearing the commissioner read her name.
—TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 10, 2023
But in the excitement of the moment — arguably the biggest of her career thus far — the point-forward left her cell phone behind. And she missed at least one very important call as she made her way through the media circuit.
Dream head coach Tanisha Wright tried and failed to get in touch with her newest star after helping the franchise make Jones its first pick of the draft. Once she realized the Santa Cruz, California, native wasn't picking up, Wright took to Twitter to try to get her attention:
"Hey Girl!! Just trying to reach ya to congratulate ya on coming to the A! #PickUpYourPhone," Wright shared.
—Coach Tanisha Wright (@coachtwright_) April 11, 2023
It wasn't until Jones addressed the media, roughly 40 minutes after Wright sent the tweet, that she caught wind of what was happening. After the 21-year-old mentioned earlier in the press conference that her "phone is blowing up right now — probably lots of missed calls," Insider explained that "one of those is from your new coach."
"Oh! So sorry, Coach! Goodness," Jones said.
Then Insider proceeded to read Wright's full tweet to Jones, who laughed and covered her face in apparent embarrassment.
"Oh my God!" she said. "Well, Coach, if you're listening or if you're going to see this interview, I'm so sorry. I literally got called, didn't even think to grab my phone. I hugged my mom and dad, my brother. So when I get to my phone I will call her back immediately.
"That is like the worst first impression to have is missing a call from your new boss," Jones added with a smile. "The second I get to my phone, no matter how many missed calls I have, missed texts, [I'm] calling her immediately."
Wright quickly forgave her new Atlanta rookie, tweeting "we will make an exception today" after seeing a clip of the press conference exchange. Jones, meanwhile, tweeted back to say "i left my phone at the draft table!!!! i called you back! #phonetag."
Eventually, the two managed to connect over video call along with Dream General Manager Dan Padover, per The Athletic.
"I hope she knows how excited I am to get to the A, make an impact, get to training camp, just get ready to work," Jones said at the end of her press conference. "I will tell her profusely all of that as soon as we get on the phone."
Check out the now-viral moment below:
—WNBA (@WNBA) April 11, 2023