As Derrick Rose was ascending to NBA greatness, 25 minutes away, a young girl in Gary was watching and modeling her game after his. She admired his speed and explosiveness, the way he would drive to the basket. She even would choose the same jersey number as Rose — No. 1 — and later in her career would choose No. 11 to be close to her inspiration.
More than a decade later, that young girl from Gary made her WNBA debut.
“I loved everything he did,” Chicago Sky guard Dana Evans told the Tribune. “I obviously can shoot the 3 well, but I love getting to the basket. I just think he was exciting because of how quick he was.
“He was a shorter player … he was kind of midsize. He just had this edge about him. He had this chip on his shoulder every time he played. He just knew what he wanted to do. And he was so determined and focused. I just loved him.”
By fourth grade, Evans was involved in ballet and nationally ranked in the 400 meters in indoor track but never had played basketball. She saw a sign outside her elementary school’s gym about girls basketball tryouts and decided to give it a shot. Her dad, Damon Evans, thought it was a joke.
“I thought she was going to try out for cheerleading,” he said with a laugh. “And it just came so natural to her. She would follow her older brothers to the gym. She just took to it.”
Dana remembers the moment vividly.
“I didn’t have any basketball pants or shorts,” she said. “I didn’t have any elite socks or nothing. But I was like, ‘You know what, I’m going to just go for it.’ And I told my dad and he was laughing because he’s like, ‘You never practiced,’ and I literally made the team.”
She fell in love with basketball and excelled immediately. Damon and Dana believe her time spent as a ballerina and runner made her a better athlete.
Damon used to take his daughter to Sky games. She was interested in basketball and quite good, and he wanted to encourage her to keep at it. Not only was basketball a way to bond with his daughter, but he believed it was her future and he would tell her how much he wanted her to play for the Sky when she grew up so he could come to every home game.
“She went to her first Chicago Sky game in either fifth or sixth grade,” he said. “And I remember they were playing the Sparks and Candace (Parker) didn’t play that game. I don’t remember what was going on, but … (Dana’s) eyes just lit up. And I knew this was the dream for her. Once we went to one game, we kept going back, and it’s just been a thrill to see her reach her goal.”
Throughout her career, Evans has relied on the advice and counsel of her dad.
“I’m a daddy’s girl,” she said. “My dad really knew my life before it really happened. Honestly, like, he already knew what was going to take place. He knew how I was going to be in college. When he tells me stuff, I always believe it because they always end up coming true. It’s like, OK, well, he already seen that come.”
At 5-foot-6, Evans would go on to become one of the best basketball players in Gary. She was the first girl from the steel town to be selected for the McDonald’s All-American Game.
When Evans was considering her college options, her dad told her Louisville was the best fit for both where she was and the player she would become. She made the ACC All-Freshman team in 2018. Then she went from the ACC Sixth Player of the Year in 2019 to the ACC Player of the Year in her junior and senior seasons. In her senior year, Evans averaged 20.1 points and 3.9 assists and shot 43% from the field and 35.3% on 3s.
Then it was time for Evans to jump to the next level.
A Chicago sports fan his entire life, Damon wanted his daughter to play in Chicago.
“I’ve always been a Chicago fan, whether it was the Bulls, the Bears or the White Sox,” he said. “I mean, we live in Indiana but we’re so close to Chicago. We get all the Chicago stations. So for her to go to Chicago was just a dream come true. Before the draft, we talked about different scenarios and things of that nature, and I told her from day one, Chicago was where I wanted her to go.”
The Dallas Wings selected Evans with the No. 13 pick in the 2021 WNBA draft. The Wings, who had depth at point guard, traded Evans to the Sky in June — just six games into her rookie season. Damon Evans was right once again: Dana would join her idol, Parker, and the Sky in Chicago.
For Damon, it was one of the best moments of his life. For Dana, it was another dream realized.
“I remember watching Courtney Vandersloot and Sylvia Fowles,” she said. “Now I’m playing with them and playing against them. It is pretty cool.”
Evans affectionately refers to Parker as “Mama Candace” because she said the 15-year veteran gives great life advice.
In her first season with the Sky, Evans played 23 games and was named to the WNBA All-Rookie team after leading rookies with an 88.5% free-throw percentage and finishing second in 3-point percentage.
In fact, her 3-point shooting was a highlight of the Sky’s championship season. Evans played 15 minutes in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals against the Phoenix Mercury with the Sky up big. She hit three 3-pointers in a row after not feeling like she had her shot.
When asked if she has revisited the moment, she said: “I really had it on repeat for a while. I was just like, ‘Be you. Why not?’ That was my mindset. So when I shot the first one, I’m like, ‘OK, finally.’ Then I hit the second one. I’m like, ‘OK, you’ve got to shoot it again.’ I just knew I was going to make that one though. I knew that one was good.”
The Sky won by 36 points to take a 2-1 series lead. They won Game 4 for the first championship in franchise history.
Her father wasn’t surprised.
“She’s a workaholic. She is a perfectionist,” he said. “She will not stop until she reaches that greatness level.
“I watched her growth as a woman, as a basketball player and as a person. She’s so inspirational to young women and young men in Gary because you don’t get a lot of feel-good stories out here. So for her to be somebody that they can look to and say, ‘Wow, this is somebody that made it.’ She had a lot of things stacked against her, and for her to make it, it’s a dream come true.”
He said his co-workers at the steel mill where he works 12-hour shifts switch shifts with him so he can get to his daughter’s games as much as possible.
In May, Jordan Brand announced that Evans had become “the first NBA or WNBA player that has won a championship in Chicago to sign with Jordan Brand since MJ.”
And Evans, who also has an endorsement deal with OpulenceMD Beauty, is just getting started. Winning a championship and signing with Jordan Brand had been lifelong goals.
Asked about being seen as part of the Sky’s future, she got quiet for a second.
“I can’t even come up with a word really because it’s mind-blowing to me,” she said. “Seeing that people really believe in you. Because I feel like a lot of times that a lot of people didn’t, but people saying that you’re the future shows that they believe in you. They see something in you.
“And it just makes me want to keep doing more and more and continuing to work hard because I can see it. I can feel it. I feel like I’m getting better every day in practice with great players, great coaches. We’ve got a variety of different coaches with different points of view. So I’m just continuing to grow my game. I think I can really do some good things.”
In addition to Rose and Parker, Evans said her favorite players are Kobe Bryant, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Diana Taurasi and LeBron James.
She hopes one day to be on some little girl’s list, and the Sky is just the beginning.
