Chloe Kitts was expected to build on her promising career at South Carolina and move another step closer to her WNBA dreams. Unfortunately, an ACL injury forced her to watch from the sidelines as her teammates continued to compete without her.
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It was undoubtedly a difficult experience, particularly with what should have been a pivotal period in her basketball journey slipping away. But as Kitts prepares for another shot at her senior year, she is choosing to look at the past twelve months differently. For the South Carolina forward, the injury was not simply an unfortunate setback. As she recently explained, it may have happened for a reason.
“I just had to learn to slow down. I feel like this injury happened for a reason,” Kitts said in an interview with SEC Network. “Everything happens for a reason. It’s part of God’s plan for me. And, you know, I just had a great support system: teammates, coaches, everybody. They saw I was down a lot, but they just uplifted me.”
The injury occurred during a team practice in October 2025: a freak landing while Kitts was jumping for a routine rebound. She initially thought she had simply hyperextended her knee, but subsequent MRIs confirmed a complete ACL tear. Surgery followed, and with it, the loss of her entire 2025-26 NCAA season.
The timing of the injury was a significant blow on multiple fronts. She was coming off a stellar junior season in which she averaged 10.2 points and a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game, earning SEC Tournament MVP honors and establishing herself as a projected first-round pick for the 2026 WNBA Draft.
The injury changed everything. She had to sideline her professional transition, focus on rehabilitation, and retained a fifth year of college eligibility to give herself another full season to prepare.
Throughout the recovery process, Kitts leaned most heavily on senior guard Tessa Johnson and head coach Dawn Staley for emotional support. But the toll of watching from the sideline while others competed, during what was supposed to be her year, was real and significant.
In fact, coach Dawn Staley noted that the harder challenge during rehabilitation was not getting Kitts to work, but getting her to slow down.
“Chloe? We had to slow her down,” Staley said in the same interview. “I think when it initially happened, you’re replaying what happened and why. And then you get to work, and she’s no stranger to work. And once you start applying, and again, this mentally takes a toll on you physically.”
“She’s able to handle the rehab and all the things that come with it. It’s just sitting, sitting and watching her teammates. It’s supposed to be her senior year. She’s supposed to have gone into the WNBA and have played a season and had a season under her belt,” she added.
Above all, the encouraging news is that Kitts has made a remarkably smooth recovery. She has been officially cleared as fully healthy for the 2026-27 season, shed her knee brace during September practices, and participated at full speed without restrictions. The journey back has been completed. Now it is about getting back to work.
Chloe Kitts Declares Herself 100% Healthy as Dawn Staley Reveals South Carolina Star’s Return Plan
While Chloe Kitts did not feature in South Carolina’s early exhibition against the College of Charleston in September, she has made absolutely clear that she is ready to play.
“I am 100 percent,” Kitts said on Tuesday. “I am out there every day doing everything that I can. I always felt like I was ready to go. Felt good just a week after surgery, so the mental part didn’t really affect me. Just ready to get back out there.”
Head coach Dawn Staley, however, is being measured and deliberate about how she eases Kitts back into game action, not out of concern about her health, but to ensure the reintegration is handled properly.
“She probably will be limited for the 23rd, I’m sure,” Staley told reporters in Birmingham on Tuesday. “We still want to get her out there so she’s able to get some minutes, some game minutes under her belt. We don’t want the first game to be the first time she’s played competition.”
Kitts is expected to make her game return during the Gamecocks’ preseason exhibition on October 23, ahead of their regular-season opener against Maryland. After twelve months of watching, waiting, and working, the return is finally in sight.