Nika Mühl’s dad, Darko, first sent his daughter the custom made graphic as a joke. Something to ease her worries and make her feel better while she waited to make her WNBA debut.

Nika Muhl Fans (@nikamuhlfans10) / X

Darko, a graphic designer, created an image of fake visa with Nika’s name and photo. He added an “APPROVED” stamp on top of the visa. That’s when the former UConn women’s basketball star had the idea to put it on a shirt and with the help of her mom Roberta, planned the rest of the iconic outfit.

Mühl, from Croatia, always wanted her debut tunnel outfit to make a statement and after issues with obtaining a work visa delayed her WNBA debut, coming out with the customed shirt was the perfect response.

“I did not think that was gonna blow up the way it did,” Mühl said with a laugh Friday afternoon over Zoom.

Mühl officially made her WNBA debut for the Seattle Storm Wednesday night after missing the team’s first four games due to delays with obtaining the right visa status. Neither Mühl nor the Storm have publicly stated why her process took so long compared to other international players. The former Husky had to go through the process to transition her student visa to a work visa in order to get paid by the league as a professional.

Seattle drafted Mühl with the No. 14 overall pick in this year’s draft. She impressed in training camp and earned a spot on the Storm’s roster. The Storm have a history with developing great UConn point guards and Mühl decided to ask the best to ever do it (aka Sue Bird) for a new jersey number recommendation.

However, because her visa took longer than expected to get approved, Mühl had to sit out Seattle’s first four games of the season. She was spotted sitting behind the bench during games, unable to participate in team huddles.

“I feel like it was a roller coaster of emotions,” Mühl said. “I don’t like to put myself in like a victim mode. I saw a lot of people say ‘Free Nika,’ stuff like that. Like, yeah, it’s funny, but I don’t think it was ever that serious. I knew I was gonna eventually play and I didn’t want to feel sorry for myself or just pout the whole time.

“Which I could have done, but I chose to be an energy, be loud —  not on the bench, but behind the bench. Just do the things that I would normally do if I was on the bench and in practice, a part of the team. Which I truly felt like. My teammates and coaches made sure that I’m still involved.”

Mühl said the hardest part was remaining patient while waiting.

“I hate not being out there. I hate feeling like I can’t do anything,” she said. “I don’t like that feeling, never did. So that was the biggest thing for me. I was just very eager to go out there and do at least something and help my team in some kind of way. But aside from that, the Storm and everybody involved did a great job of doing everything they can. It’s not in our control. It’s not in their control. So, I’m very thankful and grateful for them to making sure that I got out there as quick as possible.”

Mühl got her P1 visa approved last Friday but then had to make the near four-hour drive from Seattle to Vancouver, Canada to get her visa officially stamped to re-enter the country. Vancouver has the closest international U.S. Embassy to Seattle. Darko sent his daughter the graphic while she was in Canada and Mühl quickly found a place to print the image on a shirt.

“To print the shirt was faster than to get my visa,” Muhl said with a smirk. “I did it on one day. My mom helped me style the whole thing. It was just something to get my mind off of and focus on something else a little bit.”