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Jordan King’s knee ached. Constantly. But sitting out her final season at Marquette was not an option last year.
“A lot of nights, I was not getting more than four hours sleep because of the pain,” said King, who broke the NIC-10 career scoring record at Hononegah and finished as the only Marquette women’s basketball player in history with more than 1,700 points and 500 assists. “It was definitely the hardest season of my basketball career. I knew for three months, I was going to have knee surgery after the season. I had to learn how to battle through things and play hurt.
“I spent an entire basketball season playing in pain. I learned a lot about myself. But I don’t have any regrets of what I did to be where I am now.”
Where she is now is in Peja, Kosovo. Playing again after going through eight months of rehab to recover from meniscus surgery. The 5-foot-11 guard averaged 12.7 points, 3.6 assists and 1.3 steals during the 2024 season at Marquette, down from 15.9 points, 4 assists and 2 steals the year before. But she always figured she would get a chance to play pro ball, hopefully in Europe. As soon as she was healthy again, she signed with KBF Peja03 in Kosovo. Her team is currently in fourth place in the Liga Unike at 7-6, a half-game out of second.
King signed in mid-January and joined the team on Feb. 1 when KBF Peja03 was on break. Peja03 plays only one game between Feb. 2 and Feb. 23 and has six games remaining before the playoffs start.
“I don’t know how all of it works,” King said. “There’s been a lot of other things to get used to. Adjusting to a new country, a new team, new girls, a new culture.
“For awhile, the only thing I was focused on was getting healthy. After pushing through last season, I wanted to feel strong again. I was released to play again in December, but I didn’t get my feet under me until mid-January. Then I started working with my agent every day. He has connections all over Europe.
“I knew I was going to have an opportunity. it was just a matter of when and where. If it wasn’t going to be Europe, there were so many other options in Australia, Mexico, Puerto Rico — something was going to be out there for me.”
King has enjoyed her first two weeks in Europe.
“It’s been pretty cool,” she said. “My roommate is from here. She’s been able to take me around the city, show me around and teach me about the large Albanian culture here. There is a lot of time during the day to go out and about with my teammates, explore the city, try different foods and different traditions in the country.”
This is the just the start for King. She will come home at the end of April, enjoy the summer with her family and train in Rockford through the summer. After that, she plans to return to a pro league. Or two pro leagues. Or maybe even three. Women’s pro basketball leagues have fairly short seasons — at different times of the year. Australia in the summer. Mexico and Puerto Rico in the fall. Europe in the winter. King is considering them all.
“There are a lot of ways and varieties to go about professional basketball,” King said. “Getting my feet wet for three months here (in Kosovo) is a good experience for me. It is a really cool opportunity to see the world and play a different type of basketball. In college, you always knew when there was a European player, just by their style of play. They have a lot more finesse while America is more of a power game. It’s just a different style of play, which is fun.
“There are so many ways to do it,” King said of embarking on a women’s pro basketball career. “It’s not something to take for granted. The ability to travel around he world, play the sport you love and call that your job is a great blessing.”
Matt Trowbridge is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at mtrowbridge@rrstar.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @MattTrowbridge.
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