Nika Mühl expected to make WNBA debut on Wednesday

Nika Mühl is expected to make her WNBA debut on Wednesday after missing four games due to a visa issue, the Next’s Howard Megdal reported.

After graduating from UConn, Mühl needed a work visa instead of a student one. For reasons unknown, the process of changing it over got delayed and prevented her from playing. According to Megdal, Mühl needed to travel to Canada to get the status change approved. Since Monday was a holiday north of the border — Victoria Day — she can’t get that approval until Tuesday at the earliest.

If all goes well, Mühl will finally eligible to play in the Seattle Storm’s matchup against the Indiana Fever on Wednesday. The team is looking forward to finally having her on the court as planned.

“It’s going to be good to have Nika in the mix, just to have another point guard on the floor,” Storm coach Noelle Quinn said. “Talking about the leadership, the presence that she has, what she can do defensively… She’s very tough and strong and physical.”

The visa issue has dogged Mühl ever since Seattle selected her with the second pick in the second round (14th overall) of the 2024 WNBA Draft. She couldn’t travel with the team to an exhibition in Canada because of the pending change and only got in one preseason game — which she was allowed to play in because she was still on her student visa. After Mühl’s graduation became official during the second weekend of May, she couldn’t take the court until her status change received approval.

The other international rookies haven’t dealt with this issue. Aaliyah Edwards (Canada) has been on the floor since day one, as has Kamilla Cardoso (Brazil).

Assuming everything goes to play, Mühl will make her debut on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video or WNBA League Pass.

Other headlines from the first week of the season for Huskies in the WNBA.

Aaliyah Edwards gets her first start

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