I'm Speaking To The Decision Makers
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Ryan Reynolds here for, I guess, my 100th Mint commercial. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, honestly, when I started this, I thought I'd only have to do like four of these. I mean, it's unlimited premium wireless for $15 a month. How are there still people paying two or three times that much? I'm sorry, I shouldn't be victim blaming here. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash save whenever you're ready. For

$45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes. See details. We've talked about this too. The All-Star game is a little bit about Flash and a little bit about like, oh, what can you do? AT isn't really that type of player, but she is going to be like, okay, I'm still going to get a triple-double on an All-Star game. That's what I was going to say.

was gonna say she ain't gotta be flashy all she gotta be is her triple double self exactly exactly this is queens of the court what's up everybody welcome to another episode of queens of the court an odyssey original podcast produced in partnership with the wnda i'm your girl cheryl swoops

And I'm Jordan Robinson. Okay, before we get into the Notorious Gavel Drop...

We have a listener email from Faith, and I just love this email so much. Faith says, I met Cheryl this weekend at a Dick's Sporting Good meet and greet in Baybrook. I loved the brief conversation we had. I asked if the gavel traveled with her to the meet and greet, but it didn't. I think there should always be a spare gavel nearby. I love that. I'm going to keep that in mind.

Right. We got to have like a mini one that we can pack in our purses. That's what we need. Okay. She went on to say she loves the podcast and the plethora of topics we cover each episode, especially giving players their flowers and specifically Alyssa Thomas. We have to talk about Alyssa Thomas all the time. She's absolutely balling this season. Hope to hear her on the podcast soon or sometimes in the future. Thank you, Faith. We got to pack a little gavel so you can take it to your meet and greets.

We heard you. And we're on it. We are so on it. But just for you, Faith, court is in session. Is in session. Yeah. Oh, I love that. We'll give a shout out to. So cute. Send us your listener emails. They are the best. Please keep doing that. We love them so much. If we're going to say it at the end of the show, but just now, queensofthecourtatodyssey.com. Send us an email. We love them so much. Let's do it.

And I have to tell you, Jordan, that usually people are like, oh, did you bring your gold medal, your championship ring, your something, something. That was the first that I got asked if my gavel traveled with me to that appearance. It's really like gold medal or gavel? That's awesome. I mean, no, I think I would ask about the gavel. Yeah.

It's different. It's different, Faith. It was very different. But I have to say, like, she was so warm, so welcoming. And I love the fact that she was like all about the podcast. And so, Faith, thank you. Thank you for being a fan. We appreciate you. We appreciate you, Faith. Oh, incredible. Okay.

So let's get into this episode. We have a lot to cover. But we wanted to start with the news that happened over the weekend where we we gained a new angel on Friday. Women's Basketball Hall of Famer Nikki McCray Pinson passed away at the age of 51 years.

She was beloved by not only the WNBA community, but the women's basketball community at large. Just all of her accomplishments

that she had. I'm going to go through them really quick and then we're going to talk about her a little bit. Nikki was an all-American point guard for the University of Tennessee, where she played under the legend Pat Summitt, two-time Olympic gold medalist in 1996 and 2000. Starting in 1998, she spent four seasons with the Mystics and was chosen for three All-Star Games. She also played for the Fever, Mercury, Silver Stars, and the Sky.

She retired in 2006, and her 16-year coaching career was incredible as well. She spent nine years as an assistant for Dawn Staley in South Carolina, then was hired as a head coach for Old Dominion University and then the Mississippi State. She recently joined as an assistant for Rutgers program. But those are her stats on the court.

um Cheryl you knew her as a woman as a teammate as a mother as a wife um I know that this is as a sister yeah what can you speak to her just about the person that she was without getting too emotional I'm just bawling right now with you reading that um

You know, I think the only thing that makes me not be sad in this moment, or at least try not to be sad in this moment, is that that's not who Nikki was, right? Like Nikki was all about life and she always had a big smile on her face. It didn't matter what she was dealing with, what she was going through. It was always about making sure everybody else was okay. Even as a teammate, right? Playing with her in 96, 2000, 2000.

We were so young back then and just so naive, you know, like we just, we were so happy to be present, to have a space on the 96 Olympic team, in particular the 96 team, because of everything we went through for that year, right? We trained together for a year and we all had our different battles and issues with Tarv and Devere, you know, and I just remember,

Like Nikki was such a competitor. It didn't really matter if it was against competition or if it was against each other, right? In practices, but she always had a smile and a light, her brightness. She walked in a room. It didn't matter if you were in a bad mood, she was going to do something. Even if she didn't mean to do it, she was going to do something that would make you laugh and put a smile on your face. And for me, I just, I look at her age. She was so young and

You know, we truly lost. I know we say this a lot, but we truly, truly, truly lost just a very special person. You know, she... Holy Jesus. Just...

Just a lot. Was a great mom. She was a great mom. And my heart hurts for everybody that she left behind, in particular, her husband, Thomas, who I got to know when we trained together in 95, 96. Such a great guy, a great dad. And then her nine-year-old son, Thomas Jr.,

Like my heart hurts for them. It just does. There's a big hole. There's an empty space. But I will say this. Nikki passed away doing exactly what she loved. And that was basketball, right? Being an assistant at Rutgers. She was always about just helping everybody else. And she loved basketball so much, empowering girls and uplifting women and everything.

My heart hurts. My heart aches. I appreciate you giving me this moment to share just a little bit of my story and in relationship with her and she will forever be missed. And as you said, we we lost a very good human, but we gained an angel for sure. Yeah. And just what you said, you know, when.

With her legacy, you saw over this weekend all of the former players that she's coached, her teammates, all of people in women's basketball just saying these beautiful, wonderful things about how she has helped them and touched them.

Yeah, especially you just think of all of the all stars, all of the current players that have gone through, you know, her coaching career or just have touched her in some way. And her legacy will live on through them and through her gold medals and everything that she's accomplished. And I hope we continue to celebrate her, especially as she was a three time all star. I hope that there is.

a special something at all-star as well um but thank you for sharing that and i i'm sending love to you and everyone her family and we're keeping everyone so close in our hearts as we mourn this loss in the women's basketball community we're gonna take a quick break when we come back we're gonna talk more about all-star and now a word from our sponsors at betterment

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- Welcome back to Queens of the Court. And we are recording this on Monday, the week of the All-Star Game. It is upon us. It is almost here. And over this past weekend, Team Asia or Team Wilson, sorry, versus Team Stewie. And they picked their teams. There was a draft. I'm gonna go through this because

My first thought was, okay, it's my teammates and my former teammates versus your teammates and your former teammates. But these are still, these are some good teams. So team Wilson starters are Asia Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, which is all with the aces. Let me, I might add. Then we have a Leah Boston and Arike Agumbawale. Then for team Stewart, it's Stewie,

BG, Brittany Griner, Jewel Lloyd, Satu Sabli, and Nneka Gumbike. Starter versus starter. When you saw that draft, do you think they made the right choice? Do you think there should be a trade? What are your thoughts? When I saw the teams, I was like, Team Wilson is about to go to work. That's what I thought, too.

I think it's back-to-back winning for Team Wilson. Yeah. That's what I saw as well. That's what I saw as well. And then I tried to get in... Go ahead. No, no, go, go, go. No, I was just going to say, and then I tried to get in Stewie's mind as to...

what she was thinking with her picks, right? And obviously, and I'm not saying that these players aren't good. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm like, Stewie, you left. I don't think Team Stewie has enough scoring. I don't think they have enough punch. I don't think they have enough... I don't think they got enough dog. Yeah. I look at Team Wilson and I'm like...

Yeah. They got some stank on that squad, too. Mm-hmm. And, like, the flashiness. Yeah. Everything. It's a lot of scoring. Because we just talked about the starters. But then for Team Wilson, coming off the bench, you have Kelsey Plum, who we're going to talk about later, that 40-piece. Yeah. Alicia Gray. Alyssa Thomas. Yeah. Cheyenne Parker. And then...

Dawana Bonner, sure. She just killed it this past weekend too. And then Elena Deledon, if she's healthy enough to compete, that's still a lot of firepower on one roster, no matter which way you look at it. If it's coming down to the wire, a bucket is going to be got. So then let's go over Team Stewie reserves. You got Vandrasloot, who I am a huge fan.

But Sloot is looking to dish, right? She'll score if she has to. You got Sabrina. You got Ezzie. Ezzie, to me, is a defender, rebounder. She can score if she needs to. Fee, who's playing really well. Kelsey Mitchell, we know as a bucket. And Kalia Copper. I just...

I don't know. I don't know. Is it enough? I don't know. Is it going to be enough? That's it. Here's the thing. You know it's going to be competitive because Stewie wants to win. Team Wilson won last year. So Stewie wants to win. But...

i don't know if it's i don't know if it's enough fire i don't know if it's not fine that's what i'm saying because listen bring in we already know the starters but i'm like people i don't think people are talking enough about cheyenne parker the type of season she's having cheyenne parker is a beast right like she can defend she can score she can rebound like

And then you add A.T. to that. And I don't know. I didn't even talk about Kelsey and Alicia. I know. And for A.T., it's so interesting because we've talked about this, too. The All-Star game is a little bit about flash and a little bit about like, oh, what can you do? A.T. isn't really that type of player, but she is going to be like, OK, I'm still going to get a triple double on an All-Star game. Like I was going to say.

I was going to say, she ain't got to be flashy. All she got to be is her triple-double self. Exactly. Exactly. And it's consistent with it. Listen, and I should know this, but I don't. Has there been a triple-double in an All-Star game? Oh, we might have to get a fact check on that. I wonder if there has been. I don't know. Our producer Alex is on it. Our producer Alex is on it because... Yeah, we shall see.

If there's a first triple-double up for grabs, I would bet my money that it's going to go to Alyssa Thomas. Yes. I'll take that bet. A tweet from Elena Deledon, which was hilarious, after the draft happened, she said, is there a prize for being picked last? You know what's funny? Yeah, go ahead.

No, so I didn't, I didn't, I wasn't home. So I didn't watch it. I just went and saw the teams when it was posted on social media. So then I saw this tweet from Elena and for real, I was like, well, who is she talking about? I had no idea she was talking about herself, right? I was like, who's she talking about? And here's the crazy thing. Somebody has to be picked last.

Right. But in my mind, I was like, I was like, well, she's not talking about herself. So who's she talking about? And then I went and saw it. I was like dying. Hilarious.

But you know, it's so funny. This is a quick little NBA sidestep here. But one of the comments of her tweet was like, ask Jokic. He was picked last in the All-Star game. And he won the championship in the finals MVP. So sometimes. Was she doing a little shave?

- Maybe some luck is in her favor. But after missing two games with an ankle sprain, Della Dawn did return. She played a little bit in Sunday's game against the Connecticut Sun, but she re-injured that same ankle in the second quarter. She limped off. So I feel like I was more confident when I saw her on the court that she would play in the all-star game, but seeing her re-injured, especially the same ankle,

So I think her status is a little bit up in the air. We talked about it last week, but if there is a reserve, it's up to Commissioner Kathy Engelbert to pick a replacement. Well, I'm going to put this out here now. If there is a reserve, and I'm saying social media is wild. Ryan Howard, I'm just putting that name out there because somebody tweeted the other day,

um why isn't Ryan Howard an all-star and I don't know who commented who didn't then Ryan came back and said well is anybody gonna answer her incredible incredible tweet I was like I am going to send uh the commissioner that

muffin basket to make sure she picks me, but she doesn't need to because she's getting buckets. And like we talked about all these 40 point games that have happened. She is the only one that has scored 40 and is not an all-star. And that's kind of crazy. That's kind of crazy. Yeah. So if you're going to look, if you're going to come to a short list,

She can be on there. She's at the top of that short list. Yeah. But I do want to ask you one quick question because this draft style for the All-Star is fairly new. In your day, it was East versus West, right? There was no draft. None of that. There was no draft. Do you like that? Would you have wished there was a draft? I don't think so. And since we're having this conversation, I'll tell you why.

please because listen during the season you're playing against each other right like I don't want to be your friend come all-star game oh so like don't put me in a position to where I got a draft yeah okay so you're meaning for the captains like you're you're against me all year long now when it comes to me yeah you're sending me text make sure to pick me up on your

Make sure to draft me. Okay. We don't work like that. Like you came from my throat and my head during the season. And now we got to be, because if I'm a captain and just, I'm just saying if that player like an EDD, right. If that player is the last player, I got a drafter. Like if it's my pick, I got a drafter. Don't put me in that position.

No, because then I'm just going to say, well, can we just play with nine players? I don't want to. I don't want to do it. I'm a terrible decision. Like, I can't make decisions. I can't make a fast. I would have been like sweating bullets. You saw Stewie. She had the sunglasses on. She was. Also, because like not so much your teammate, but.

The other side of that is if you're a reserve and in your mind, you're like, oh, well, I know Stewie's about to draft me or I know Asia's going to draft me. And that doesn't happen. Now, after All-Star game and you start regular season, right? You're like, oh, no, she ain't draft me. I'm coming for you. I'm coming for your head. We might have to keep track of that. Who's dropping 30 points on the team draft?

On Stewie or Asia because they didn't draft him in the All-Star Game. Here's what I think the draft does. I think the draft, I think it makes it fun, right? Because the All-Star Game is supposed to be fun. But there is a point when the All-Star Game gets serious. Yeah. Oh, yeah, because it's bragging rights all day. That's what an All-Star Game is about. I'm glad we didn't have the draft. I didn't want that. Yeah. Okay. That's fair.

So we got the fact check. There have been no triple doubles in a WNBA All-Star game. In fact, only 11 players have recorded double doubles in the All-Star game. Jonquil Jones leads the way with three. Three times she got a double double, but zero triple doubles. Zero triple doubles. I think it's up for grabs. AT, go get it. Go get it, AT. Go get it. Go get it.

One last note that I have to say, because this is what Brittany Griner recently, she joked with reporters. And I thought this was hilarious. The joke didn't land. She said, I hope my numbers are better than last year's All-Star game. And the media froze because Griner was

She was laughing and she was joking about how she was an honorary all-star last year while being detained in Russia. And she is so lighthearted, brings fun and laughter to every scenario. But the media was like, do we laugh? Are you serious? What do we, what do we do here? But yes, she is talking about her being an honorary all-star. That's funny.

Not the situation, but that's fun. And the fact that she's the one that brought it up.

That's funny. Yeah, BG. 10 out of 10. Yeah, that's funny. That's hilarious. So I'm expecting BG to go off. Of course, last year, everyone turned their jerseys to number 42 at halftime. BG was on everybody's mind and hearts. So now for her to be playing and having an incredible season so far this year, that is really, that's hilarious. That's funny. Yeah.

Classic, classic BG. I like it. All right. Let's whip it around. Some other news items that we can talk about. There was a close game against the Dallas Wings versus the Aces. Went down to the wire and the Wings pulled it out. How about that? 80-78. Handed Aces their second, only their second L of the season. But still, if you're the Wings, you have to have so much confidence right now.

Yeah. Yeah. Listen, they are the team right now. They are the team that everyone is trying to beat. And no, it wasn't championship. But the fact that you were able. So I thought the game I don't know the game before when the way I played the aces and they lost. I thought that game in itself was like.

The wings could win. The wings could beat them. So that Friday when they went back home and played, I was like, the Aces better bring it. The wings are playing with so much confidence right now. And for them to be able to come out and pull that win out, like that's the team you got to beat. I think if you're wanting to win a championship, you always have to dethrone the reigning champions. And the Aces are that. And

For me as a player, I don't care what time of the season it is, when it is. If we come out and play well and we're able to beat the top team, like,

All that does is gives you confidence knowing that we've beaten them once. So if it comes down to it and we meet up with them again, we know that they're beatable and we know that we can beat them. Yeah. That was a good one. That was a good one. And they're so evenly, they, they were very evenly matched. I think so too. Kind of like position, position, you know, Tiara McCowan is able to hold it inside, you know, Asia Wilson is still going to do Asia Wilson things, but yeah,

that's a good matchup you have Chelsea Gray against Arike then you have a slasher and Satu with Jackie Young like they have those those matchups and you saw the aces go on runs throughout the game and I think what really showed the growth in Dallas was that they didn't fold they came back they pushed back and they came especially for a for a young team

Because usually young teams, which is what we see in, I think, in Indiana, right? Not having that veteran leadership overall to say, guys, listen, we're going to win and pull it out. Like Dallas, they're young. So for them to be able to hold on and come back and win that game says a lot about their growth. Correct me if I'm wrong, because I don't have it in front of me. Did Satu have an okay game?

It was just okay. Yeah, like I didn't think she had a typical side two game. And the reason why I say that is that they were still able to beat Dallas with her having a subpar performance. Yeah, they were able to beat the Aces. Yeah, the Aces. Yeah, with her having a subpar performance. Yes, I agree. She had 10 points, five rebounds, five assists.

She has been doing that in halves for most of the season. So, yeah, that's big. Arike had 21. Crystal Dangerfield had 14. And Natasha Howard, 16. Tiara McCower, 14 and 12. She had a double-double. But it was a very balanced effort. It wasn't Arike having to score 40 and everybody else trying to –

to pick up the pieces. It was a balanced effort. I think that's what it takes to beat the Aces because you can't do it by yourself. No doubt. Shout out to the Wings. Good for them. Some other news that really set the

the Twitter world and all women's basketball world on fire is there's a new league that's going to be popping up. It's called Unrivaled. And Nafisa Collier and Brianna Stewart founded this. It's a 3x3 league. And they're going to be playing one-on-one, which I'm really excited about. Kind of like Queen of the Court, you know? Sorry. Had to drop that in there. I like that.

I like that. I was kind of shocked at this news, especially kind of dropping around All-Star midseason about a new league that WNBA players are going to play in to make sure that they can stay in the States during their offseason. What was your initial reaction? Oh, a lot.

My first thing was great, right? Because for me, I'm all about giving women more opportunity, more visibility, more opportunity. If you don't want to go play abroad, you don't have to. That was my first thought. Then my second thought was I need to know more. Like how is this going to happen? How is it going to work? How is it going to be possible? My third thought was, okay, I'm unrivaled. Athletes Unlimited,

Will they compete? I just have a lot of unanswered questions that will not allow me to get too overly excited until I know more about the layout, the process. Are these going to be current WNBA players? And are you trying to get the top WNBA players to play? And I don't know. There's just a lot of questions I have. So-

But the first thing when I saw it, I was like, honestly, I was like, damn.

Good for them. Good for them. Oh yeah. Good for us. We need it. Yes. I'm always. Now I need questions answered. Yeah. Now we got, now we need some answers, but I'm always about options. If you, as a WNBA player, sometimes it feel like they don't have a lot of options. You have to do this and you have to do this in order to make a living. And now if you can sit back and say, okay,

do I want to go play overseas? Do I want to do unrivaled? Do I want to do athletes? Like if you feel like you have options, that feels like so much progress for us. And to make sure that it's not just this linear path and you have to do this.

So that's what I got excited about. I also have a lot of questions and I also want to, you know, I love 3x3. I'm a play-by-play for FIBA 3x3 and you've seen so many players like Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum, Alicia Gray win gold medals in 3x3. That is so high fast paced.

High intensity, and it helps your game so much. You see the jump into taking somebody one-on-one when they play 3x3 versus five-on-five. And it's fun to watch, too. No, it is. It's a lot of fun. It's fast-paced. And so in saying that, when I say I have a lot of questions, to me, 3x3 is more about guard play.

than it is like post play. But granted, the game is going to more positionless basketball. But when I think about it, I look at it and say, well, there are some really good bigs that may miss out on this opportunity because it is. 3x3 is...

It's fast paced. It's shoot, like not saying that bigs can't play in it, but I just, there's just so many questions I have, but, but it still excites me to know that there is, as you said, just opportunities and choices.

You can decide. You can decide. I'm going to go overseas. No, I'm going to stay here and play in Athletes Unlimited. No, I'm going to stay here and play in Unrivaled. Or depending on the season, the time, maybe you do Unrivaled and then you do AU or, you know, like...

I would not be surprised. Yeah. I would not be surprised if we see a mix of all three, if somebody is just dipping into all of them, but you can, you have that option to do that, which makes it fun. And I think it's, I remember in a feast of tweeting, um,

around this announcement, she's like, it's about entertainment. It's like, I'm thinking like big three a little bit, you know, what Ice Cube has done where it's like a four point shot and it's like entertainment and exciting and a different opportunity for the top

Cause it seems like they've made it clear. This is like for the top 30 players and this is who we want. And then we're going to have bragging rights with one-on-one. Like, I think that is so fun. So I'm excited. I love it. I love it. I do. I love that. Really excited about that. And then it's going to be in Miami.

I think that that's a part of it too, of it being in a place where a W team is not currently to be able to see what is that crowd like? You know, Miami, the hoop scene is incredible. So to bring the women's basketball scene there and then everyone's like, okay, we got a little taste of that. Can we have a W team? We want it. We want the W team back or all of these things. So I think that was very calculated and smart on their part as well. Love it.

I love it. Love it. Don't forget about Houston. Come bring, bring on rival, bring a team to Houston. I will. You know, I'm always advocating for H town. You know, you said, is it only for current players? I made it seem like you wanted to maybe. No, no. Okay. No, I was not hinting. It was not hinting. Let me get that straight in case you thought I was hinting. I was not hinting. All right. Just.

I will be the biggest fan, the biggest cheerleader, Jordan. Sad ass, Kate. I'm here to ask the questions. That's what I do. Okay, the last thing in this new segment that we have to talk about because, yeah, it happened. Sabrina Inescu is the cover of NBA 2K, one of the covers of NBA 2K.

And it was a lot of conversations and discourse around this choice that was made by 2K. And here's my stance on it. Then I want to hear your thoughts, Cheryl. Here's my stance.

I don't want it to take away from Sabrina. I don't want to say that she's not good or anything like that. She is a great player. She is a top player in the WNBA. No one is saying that she is a bad basketball player. But I think from the history of these NBA 2K covers,

It really is the player of the moment. Who represents the WNBA right now? And to me, that is not Sabrina Inescu. To me, that is Asia Wilson. You're coming off of a championship run, a two-time MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and you get overlooked in something that says this is the person of the moment.

And it just doesn't match up. It's not saying that Sabrina is not deserving of this, but the timing, it seems premature. She's going to have a great long career, but it seems premature to have her on this type of honor and pedestal of a cover of a video game that I don't know if her accolades have that she's deserved it right now.

That is my soapbox and I am stepping down. I get so tired of having these types of discussions. Yeah. But we have to continue to have these types of discussions so that we will eventually be heard. So let me start first by you saying you don't know if Sabrina's accolades warrant her this cover. What are her accolades as a pro?

Two-time all-star, I believe leader in assists for the Liberty franchise. That's all I got right now. And I'm not trying to be like a smart ass right now. I'm asking that because I want to try and make my point. To me, some things you got to earn, right? Right.

And to be on the cover of 2K to me is an honor and a privilege that you have to earn. That's on the NBA side. That's on the WNBA side. Because I can go all the way back and say, oh, is this what we're doing now? So then let's go get some legends and put legends on the cover. If this is what we're doing, to your point, I just love the game. I love talent. I love competitiveness. I don't care if you're black. I don't care if you're white. I don't care if you're brown, yellow, green, orange. I don't care.

I care if you're good. I care if you've put the time in to deserve these types of things. So to your point, it ain't Sabrina's fault. It's totally not. Yeah. I don't think Sabrina called up 2K and said, hey, put me on the cover. Right. I'm speaking to those who are making these decisions. Like I need you to do better and be better. Asia Wilson said,

like I asked you what's what Sabrina's accolades were and you named two right I I can't even sit here and name all of Asia's because there's so many yeah she got a statue so here's the thing Jordan like I don't I don't want to bring like race into this but here here just hear me out for a second so we've had Sue Bird on the cover right we've had Diana Taurasi on the cover they were on a cover together together correct

Very deserving. The two of them, very deserving, right? You put them on together, probably should have done them separately. I'm just saying, I wouldn't be mad if that would have happened. So that happened. Now it's Sabrina. I watched Sabrina play. I think Sabrina has a lot of potential. I don't think Sabrina has done what people thought she would do in the league, but she's young. She's been in the league, what, three years now? Three years.

And in a league that is also 80% black women, you've had Sue, you've had Diana, now Sabrina. Are you telling me that there has not been one black female WNBA player that is deserving to be on the cover of 2K?

Well, I'll say this. Candace Parker was the first cover. She was. You're right. Candace was there. My bad. Candace. No, no, you're fine because I think you're still making the right point in the sense that Candace Parker, Diana Taurasi, and Sue Bird, look at those careers. Like, look at what they have done.

And then Sabrina Unescu and it is not her fault. She's getting a lot of heat. She is. And that's why I said it ain't her fault. It ain't her fault. It ain't her fault that she has a signature shoe. No, I'm bringing all this up because like, just make it make sense. It's the decision makers because if you are if you are not, if you don't know the league,

And we've had this conversation with the coverage of different players. So if you don't know and you don't watch, you don't even go to WNBA.com and look at the stats. If you don't do the bare minimum of legwork to see who is even excelling in the league statistically,

And you just say, well, who has the most highlights on ESPN? Oh, okay. They're getting this many likes. We're going to put Sabrina on our cover. And that is... Make it make sense. That is the decision makers in these big time decision making jobs that have to say, okay, let's bring in some people who actually know the league. Who would sell? Who is the most popular? Who's on the face of the commercial? Right?

It's Asia Wilson. She is the moment. Who just won an ESPY for best WNBA player? Come on now. That was Asia Wilson. Come on. Come on. And so, like, put Stewie on before Sabrina. No. There's a lot of players. The last thing, the Kobe element of it has been brought up. Jewel Lloyd.

is leading the league and they call her the golden mamba. So that's also an option, just throwing out options. It's gonna be great. - I just had to have a little gavel drop. - Little gavel drop, thank you. I appreciate that. - Yeah. - Yeah, Sabrina is an incredible basketball player and all of the discourse around this, all of the conversations I think are healthy

And we have to do better. We do. Can I read this tweet by Lindsay Gibbs? Yes, please. Since we're talking about it.

So Lindsay says the Sabrina story is such a case study on framing kind of to your point. She's really good and it's fun and it's fun watching her grow. And if she was treated as such by the media would be fine, but framing her as the face slash savior of women's basketball is just so, so off putting so off putting it's hard to stomach. And that's how we all feel. Very well said.

Very well said. My girl, Lindsay. Okay. But I just want to end on what I said. It ain't Sabrina's fault. Yes. And I'm saying that because I think we need to remember that Sabrina ain't the one making those decisions. Yes. Yes. That is a great point. All right. We need to take a lap, take a walk around the block. We're going to take a quick break.

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All right. Welcome back. We've took our walk. We drank some water. I had some of the straw water. No, not really. But we're back now. We're collected. It is the flower segment. One of our lovely, lovely segments. I love so much. And the flowers...

This week, it has to be a continuation kind of of the 40 pieces that have been fallen from the sky everywhere throughout the WNBA. But Kelsey Plum's 40 piece over the links over the weekend. I mean, it hits different because the efficiency is out of this world. 77% from the field, Cheryl.

Highest field goal percentage in a 40-point game in league history. That's crazy. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Kelsey was getting it in. She was shooting that thing. Efficiently. Efficiently. Not just shooting it. She was efficiently shooting it. That is... Yeah, plum dog. I can't. 14 of 18 from the field and she was 6 for 9 from 3.

Like made it look eat like the links were cones out there. She was just like in shooting practice. Yeah. Which, you know, I'm glad you said that. Cause I was going to ask this question. First of all, this was the seventh 40 point game this year by a player this year. Right. It took, I'm reading this. It says it took 10 seasons of WNBA play to get seven 40 point games total. My question is this.

Have the players just gotten better offensively or is there just not any defense being played? It's my favorite question. You know, I want to believe that the offense has just skyrocketed and everyone is so much better than before, but I don't know if that's right. I think that it is definitely switching to offensive minded from the

Sometimes players can be in energy-saving mode on defense. Like, okay, let me get the rock and go the other way. And I feel like players... I think it does take an...

certain type of player to recognize that and then score 40 because then everybody would be getting 40. That's not the case. So it's a special type of player to say, okay, I see what you're doing. You're playing me this way, or you don't really want to play defense today. Here's a 40 piece. Here's take that 45. Here's a four. Yeah. Yeah. But what do you think? Also say this. I think there's some really, really, really good defenders in the league.

I think there are better offensive players than defensive players. Defense takes effort. Defense takes heart. Defense takes want to. Defense takes discipline. Not to say offense doesn't take those things, but I think the players, especially today, spend way more time working on their offensive game and how can I get my shot off and whatever.

Like people don't, in the off season, people don't go to the gym saying, let me work on my defense. Yeah. No, I mean, they don't. They don't. It's very true. I know I wasn't one of those players. I was like, I'm tired. And that's it. It's hard. Yeah. It's hard.

But I know for me in the off season, when I went and played, listen, I'm giving a shout out to Fondie because Fondie in H-Town is the place to be. I was like, all right.

You're probably going to go by me a few times, but you're going to make me better defensively. Because my mindset was, especially playing against guys, right? Like Amuchi Norris, Katina Mobley. My mindset was, if I can guard you or at least keep you in front of me as a guy, there's not...

one chick that's gonna blow by me not gonna happen like i like i just took that pride in in my defense and at the same time offensively going against guys and them guarding me i was like all right i gotta i gotta figure out how to get my shot off because you're bigger than me stronger than me quicker than me you can jump higher than me

So I try to consciously focus on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively. But I just, I don't really think players think like that very much anymore. It's like one or the other. Yeah. And to your point too, because if, if Kelsey Plum is sitting at 22 points,

Who's that defensive stopper that's going to say, okay, you're not getting any more. I don't know if there's that gear that gets kicked in for a lot of players too. Like, you're not about to drop 40 on me, so let me lock you up. No, because once you got 22, my goal is, all right, I'm going to give you three more points and let you get 25, but you ain't. You can't have 26, 27. Not on me. You're right. Like, when does the pride kick in of, dang,

Like she, she about to give us a 40 piece. And then on the flip side, it's Kelsey Plum who has dropped 57 in the Pac-12 for the Washington Huskies. So she's, she's a bucket. She was the leading scorer for all of NCAA. So there's that part too. She is a bucket. So shout out to you, KP. Getting it done.

40 piece another flower segment bg threw it down stop it first dunk of the season and uh it was pretty listen i liked it listen no she she didn't just throw it down like it was a sparks they play right yep i don't know because i couldn't really tell i don't know who the player was

I don't know who the player was that thought she was going to block her shot. Like you low key got dunked on. I've been waiting for this moment. Usually it's fast breaks or nobody's around. It was in a half court set. It was a half court set and somebody jumped with her. Yeah. I really don't know who it was, but yeah, like that was real. That was real.

was a little bit of a tap the top of your head I didn't know if I was more like okay BG because I expected that right at some point I didn't know if I was if it was more like okay BG or if it was more like oh don't jump you know what I mean I think it takes a second too because you don't know is she and you saw the defender she like jumped up and then she turned her body she was like oh

going to be on SportsCenter this way. You ain't going to have me like this. It was almost like she had an epiphany or something. Or she was just like, what are you doing? Why? Why would you even attempt to jump? I'm like, listen, just stay on your man. Don't even be in help side.

No, I ain't helping. I'm not helping. I saw the lob pass go up and I am saying, oh, was that my help? Dang, I forgot. Sorry, coach. Take me out, coach. Sorry. And sure enough, it was the 10th spot in the SportsCenter top 10. So that defender knew it would have been that second spot if she would have put her hand up. Yeah, it was good. It was good. Shout out to PG. Shout out PG.

Love that. Love that. Expect more from that in the All-Star Game as well. I'm excited. Speaking of, reminder that the WNBA All-Star Game will be played at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, July 15th with the game airing on ABC 530 Pacific, 830 p.m. Eastern. It's going to be good. It's going to be real good. It's going to be real good.

I'm so good. I'm excited. I'm excited. I'm excited about all the festivities, the skills. Who's going to win the skills competition? Do they release the the. OK, well, you know what? Let's not even say who's going to win because I don't know who's in it. I don't know who's in it. Give me one player that you think should be in it.

I feel like Arike should be in it or Jewel. I feel like they would. Just one, Jordan. You don't get two. Just one. Dang it. You got to save one for me. Okay. I'm going to go with Jewel. Jewel. I'm going with Jewel. I hope she's in it and I think she would win. Okay. This is like really, I don't know.

I'm rolling with Courtney VanderSloot. Oh, that's a good one. Classic. She got to hold it down. If she says yes to it. Yeah. Ally Quigley. Yeah. Not in the three-point competition for the first time in forever. She has to hold it down for their marriage sake. Yeah. Okay. I'll give you two because I have one more. You want Arika and Jewel? Yes, I do. All right. I got to go with...

The point guard, Chelsea Gray, too. I'm rolling with the two PGs. That's a safe bet. That's a safe bet. Monica McNutt said for the three-point competition, she wants to see Dawana Bonner. In the competition? In the competition and possibly taking it home for the not-so-guard. You know, she's kind of a forward guard, but she thinks she could do it. And I was like, I would like that. That would be fun.

I would like to see it. Yeah. I would like to see it. We'll see when the list comes out because I know it's going to be, it's Vegas. The stars are going to be out. So it's going to be a good time. Good time. All right. That's it for us. So much fun. Please continue to follow, rate, and review the show. It's available on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also send us questions or feedback. We love our listener emails. Our email address is queensofthecourtatodyssey.com.

Plus, y'all know you can always find us on social media. I am at airswoops22 and Jordan is at heyjordanr. The Court is an Odyssey original created in partnership with the WNBA. The show is produced by Alex Ozzie, the executive producers Lena Moss Glazer, social media assistants from Isabella Apple, imaging from T-Storm Battle. And Court...

Is a jerk. Is a jerk. Oh yeah.