Green In Vegas For SALA: Student-Athlete Summit

University of Tennessee basketball alum Keyen Green is in Las Vegas, where she has been invited to participate in the first-ever SALA: Student-Athlete Summit at the National Basketball Association (NBA) Summer League. The event runs Wednesday through Friday.

The focus of the event is to connect two worlds: the best and brightest collegiate women's basketball players, who aspire to work in sports, with NBA team and league executives as well as broadcast partners who are interested in filling future roles across their respective organizations. Several senior-level executives with various teams (and the league) and media properties support the program and will visit with the student-athletes.

A sampling of senior-level executives with the league and various teams who are supportive of the program and willing to speak with the student-athletes includes Tara August, Senior Vice President, Turner Sports; RC Buford, CEO, Spurs Sports & Entertainment; Lawrence Epstein, COO, UFC (based in Las Vegas); Kelly Flatow, EVP & Head of Events, NBA; Willie Green, Head Coach, New Orleans Pelicans; Rich Gotham, President, Boston Celtics; Mark Tatum, Deputy Commissioner & COO, NBA; and Eric Woolworth, President, Miami Heat.

Programming in Las Vegas will include panel discussions, networking events and behind-the-scenes tours of the NBA Summer League. Additionally, the event will celebrate these leading young women at a banquet that connects them with team, league and broadcast executives.

Green, a 6-foot-1 forward from Philadelphia, joined the Lady Vol program as a graduate transfer from Liberty prior to the 2020-21 season. She played in 23 games and started four, averaging 7.0 points and 3.1 rebounds while shooting 55 percent from the field during her time on Rocky Top. She was a starter her first season and a key reserve in her second year, but she unfortunately suffered season-ending injuries in both 2020-21 and 2021-22.

In 2021-22, Green saw action in 19 contests, putting up 7.0 points and 3.2 rebounds and helped UT to an 18-1 start and No. 4 national ranking before being injured at Georgia. As she did in her first season at Tennessee, she kept her head up and was an encouraging voice of encouragement and leadership from the sideline for the remainder of the campaign.

Green was a member of the 2020-21 SEC Academic Honor Roll and was chosen for the WBCA's "So You Want To Be A Coach" program. She traveled to the 2022 NCAA Final Four in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to take part in that two-day workshop in April.

She also was bestowed with the NCAA Ethnic Minority and Women's Enhancement Graduate Scholarship in April, earning $10,000 toward her post-graduate studies, and was named the Student-Athlete of the Year at the Black Student-Athlete Summit in May.

During the 2020-21 school year, Green completed requirements for a master's in agricultural leadership, education and communication. She then began work on a Ph.D. in leadership studies, becoming one of the very few Division I college student-athletes to tackle that curriculum while actively participating in a sport. Her dissertation concerns the under-representation of women of color in athletic administration.

University of Tennessee Athletics

Players Mentioned

Keyen Green

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