Lara Sanders

Lara Sanders — Biography

Lara Sanders, born LaToya Antoinette Sanders (née Pringle) on September 11, 1986, in Nuremberg, Germany, played college basketball at the University of North Carolina before being drafted by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2008 WNBA draft. Over a seven-season WNBA career she also played for the Minnesota Lynx, Los Angeles Sparks and Washington Mystics, winning a championship with the Mystics in 2019, her final season as a player. She additionally competed professionally in Israel, Russia and Italy, and after gaining Turkish citizenship in 2012 she joined the Turkey women's national team, representing the country at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

After retiring as a player, Sanders moved into coaching, serving as an assistant and later associate head coach for the Washington Mystics before joining the Atlanta Dream's coaching staff in 2025. Standing 1.91 m tall and known for her work at power forward, she remains a recognizable figure in American-Turkish basketball through both her playing legacy and her coaching career.