Where are they now? Commack's Samantha Prahalis

There will always be a part of Samantha Prahalis-Holmes that wishes she still was running up and down a professional basketball court. That part of an athlete never goes away. But in the same thought, Prahalis-Holmes reflects that if she still were the floor general of a WNBA team, she’d be without the most important things in her life at the moment. And those new aspects far outshine the old for her.

Prahalis-Holmes was the No. 6 overall pick by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2012 WNBA Draft. A few years before that, she was a six-year varsity player at Commack High School, earning Newsday All-Long Island status three times, and was a McDonald's All-American her senior year. She then starred at Ohio State for four years.

Although her WNBA career was short-lived (41 games over three seasons), Prahalis-Holmes says her new role as a mother outweighs anything on hardwood.

“It’s night and day,” said Prahalis-Holmes, 33, who lives in Dix Hills. “It’s the best thing ever, but my life is so much different in the best way possible. This is exactly where I want to be as a mom. It’s way better than the 6 a.m. training, and even All-Rookie team, All-American, this is so much better.”

Prahalis-Holmes and her husband, Center Moriches varsity boys basketball coach George Holmes — who has been coaching basketball for more than 10 years — have a son, Ocean, who is 1 1/2.  The two have another boy on the way as Prahalis-Holmes is eight months pregnant.

The former elite point guard said motherhood was always a goal — just a different goal from those years of constant training.

“I wanted to have a kid but also be an MVP,” she said. “I was very goal-oriented and now, even if I was in [the WNBA], it wouldn’t come close to being a mom.”

Prahalis-Holmes, one of the greatest female athletes to come off Long Island, has transitioned into coaching — a profession she admits she never thought she’d enter.

The Big Ten's all-time leader in assists (901) thought she’d have an extended professional career in the WNBA. She appeared on her way to that out of college and after finishing second in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2012. But Prahalis-Holmes played only 13 games during the next two seasons with three franchises. She said some clashing and off-the-court issues with teammates ultimately led to her shortened WNBA career. She played overseas but missed her family.

“Naively, yeah, I thought I would play for as long as I wanted to,” she said. “After my rookie year, I felt like I could kill it there. I was very confident after my rookie year. I thought for sure I was going to play until I didn’t have to. I felt like I would have dedicated so much time and played for a while, but I was very wrong.”

Prahalis-Holmes was the girls varsity basketball coach at Ward Melville for two seasons and coached one season for North Babylon in the 2019-20 school year before becoming an assistant coach at James Madison University. She’s currently the director of player development and advanced scouting at St. John’s.

Prahalis-Holmes wanted to return to Long Island, and now she gets to drive home to Ocean and her family nearly every day after work. She travels with St. John’s for games but doesn’t recruit.

“If I’m going to be away from my family, it has to be worth it,” she said. “I don’t want to be away to be away. Every time I go away, I cry. It’s pathetic, so every time I’m away, [Ocean’s] my motivation to work harder and climb the ladder.”

Holmes credited his wife’s ability to quickly adapt to coaching at different levels.

“She makes it look easy,” he said. “Whether it’s high school, little kids, college, whatever it is, she always puts her best foot forward and she treats it like she’s going into a professional game.”

Prahalis-Holmes still has fond memories of being a professional basketball player, albeit for a much shorter time than she imagined.

“I’m super-grateful for everything I went through and now I have my family always supporting me,” she said. “What had to happen happened and I’m grateful for everything that happened. I probably wished I had done some things differently, but I’m very proud and grateful for how everything happened. I wouldn’t trade this for anything.”