Even successful people have at least one "what if" in a career.

The questions are more profound for some. In Nani Cockett’s case, it is, "What if she didn’t have injuries that resulted in eight knee surgeries?"

Who knows? She might still be in the WNBA today if not for all those ACLs. Cockett was that good.

Despite the knee problems that began her senior year at Kamehameha, she put together the most accomplished University of Hawaii basketball career by any homegrown player. At its conclusion in 1998, she was second in all-time scoring and near the top in many other meaningful stats for the Wahine.

And what if a player on the regular roster of the WNBA’s Los Angeles team in 2000 had suffered a significant injury?

"I made the Sparks reserve squad that year," Cockett said. "But it didn’t amount to anything because no one got hurt."

So that was that. She’d still had a fun, if brief, pro career — a couple of years playing for teams in Israel, Switzerland and Greece.

What if?

"It’s always in the back of your mind," she said Sunday at Kekuhaupi‘o Gym on the Kamehameha campus, where she is director of fitness. "But I can’t be upset about it.

"I’m thankful for the career I had … and that I can be here with these kids."

Some are just 5 and 6 years old. Little kids who can barely reach the rim when they shoot the ball. But they’re learning, and they’re having fun.

Cockett’s nonprofit organization, D.One, holds basketball camps and clinics for kids of various ages throughout the year. She and friends and former teammates want others to enjoy the same opportunities they did.

SHE STILL plays, too, despite the old knee injuries. Cockett leads a team into this week’s Hawaiian Way Fund indigenous tournament.

The concept is similar to "res ball" tournaments for Native Americans on the mainland. One team in the women’s bracket is comprised of indigenous players from Alaska.

Cockett’s team includes former Hawaii high school standouts Keisha Kanekoa, Brandy Richardson, Britney Aiwohi, Aritta Lane and Shanna Dacanay. Most of them are Hawaiian, Lane is American Indian. Dacanay and former UH player Catherine Cho are the two nonindigenous players allowed per squad.

It’s a similar but different feeling to play for your ethnicity rather than your state and school.

"We’re definitely proud to go out and represent who we are, while having some fun," Kanekoa said.

Richardson laughed about an All-Asian tournament she played in on the mainland. "I was the tallest one playing and everyone questioned whether I qualified. But I’m 40 percent Chinese."

COCKETT, a former P.E. teacher, hopes to generate grant money so D.One can do more clinics for girls and boys throughout the state.

"We would like to eventually put some focus on Hawaiian kids, go to Molokai and Lanai, where there is a need for this kind of activity," she said.

"Maybe the reason (for her injuries) was for me to come back and do this and encourage other former players to give back to the sport that gave us so much."

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com.