The Math Aint Mathing
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$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. It's always the emoji of the tweet of the week that really just sends it over the edge. But you know, that's not really a smiley face like, yay, that's more of a, mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. You know, mm-hmm. 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 WNBA. I'm your girl, Cheryl Swoops. And I'm Jordan Robinson. And Court is in session. That's a good one. I so look forward to that. No, isn't it so fun? I don't know why I look forward to that. It's the little things in life, Cheryl. Right?

We're simple. We're very simple. I love it. I love, love, love, love, love it.

Okay, wait, before we start, you said that you had a week off and you're watching shows. Yeah. What shows are you watching right now? Oh, gosh. Listen. Okay, so I'll give you my guilty pleasures. I'm all about reality TV, but so like Real Housewives, only of Atlanta. I don't watch any other ones. I only watch Atlanta. Okay. But I probably watch it more so this year because I'm a friend of Sonya, Richard Dross.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I've had conversations with her like, yeah, but I've had conversations with her where I've been like, girl, listen, don't let them come for you like that. No, ma'am. Not you all in her business. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, Project Runway. I live for Project Runway. I just...

So I just, I think it's so brilliant. Like people look at me and say, oh my God, I could never do what you did on the basketball court. Well, I could never do what you do as a seamstress, as a tailor, as a designer. So the last one I watched, they actually, remember the toy store FAO shorts? Yeah. Like, so they had to design clothes, apparel, whatever out of toys.

And to see the final product of some of these designers, I was like, oh my God. It was incredible. It just was crazy incredible. So I'm all about that. But you know Ion, I told you, I'm Chicago PD. Yeah. After Queens of the Court. I have to tell you my new one though. Okay. In case you haven't watched it. It's with Zoe Saldana.

Special Ops something? Lioness. Okay, that's on our list. That's on our list. Okay, that was all the confirmation I needed to watch that show. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So I don't want to watch anymore. I want to record them all, right, so I can binge watch. But it's so good. My husband's like, babe, our show is on tonight. I was like, let's go. Yeah. So it was so nice just to – I hadn't done that in forever. I stayed in my bed for like four days straight, like –

Just you deserve TV and sleeping. But can we talk about you also? Oh, okay. I was in my bed and I looked up at halftime and one of the games or a couple of the games and I was like, Oh, Hey, Jordan are listen. I did. I said this to my husband. I said, you're so good at what you do. Like, I don't care if it's like the podcast or you're doing one of those other networks. I'm not going to say it, but I'm just saying, um,

But it was like to sit and watch you in your element, doing what you do. And even your sit down interview with Asia, we won't talk about it, but like it was just so good. It was so good watching you and then talk about soccer and your hair was cute. I was

Honestly, I felt like a proud sister. I was going to say mom, but no, I don't want to do that. I'm just going to say sister. You're so good. Thank you. You're welcome. That was really fun. Yeah. If you caught me during the Ion games, that was a blast to just

pop up on your screen. It surprised me too. I didn't even know I was going to be in the halftime. I was like, wait, that sounds like my voice. It was so good. It was so good. I was in my closet looking for something and I heard the voice. I was like, wait a minute. I'll get you. I'll sneak up on you if you're least expecting it. Well, thank you. I appreciate that so much. You're welcome. Well, getting into today's show, we have our list of TV shows to watch, but getting into today's show, we...

have some quick hits there were a lot every time happens from even though we recorded what was that Wednesday last week still from Wednesday to Monday so much has happened um let's start off with the Washington Mystics they inducted Nikki McCray-Penson into their hall of fame on Sunday just for some context McCray-Penson played four seasons with the Mystics from 1998 to 2001 and helped lead the team to its first

first ever playoff appearance in 2000. Nikki passed away in July following a courageous battle against breast cancer and the Mystics are encouraging fans to help honor Nikki's memory and legacy with a donation to the K-YOW Cancer Fund. So the whole ceremony was amazing and beautiful. Her husband and son were presented with her jersey at the ceremony

and her son was able to give a countdown before they revealed her name in the Hall of Fame. But it definitely got us all in our feels, and I'm so happy the Mystics did that. - Me too. You know, it's crazy when you say she passed away in July, I'm like, we're in August already. It's been a month.

And it still doesn't like seem real. But to your point, to see what the mystics did in honoring her and having her husband Thomas and her son Thomas Jr. there, it was such a special moment. And I want to say I understand like what they were feeling in that moment, but I don't.

You know what I mean? But it was still, it was such a beautiful ceremony. And not only having those two there, her husband and son, excuse me, I'm getting choked up. But even like her former teammates, you know, I know I saw Muriel Page there. God, Shemeika was there, Holes Claw. So yeah, it was just a, it was a special moment and I'm glad the Mystics honored her that way.

Yeah, me too. I think just being able to have her name and everything that she's done for the organization in the rafters forever. She was a special part of the women's basketball community. No doubt. Miss you, Nick Nick. Oh, so special. So moving on to some other highlights of the of the week. Aces responded to the Liberty. They they got their get back.

Two days after the Liberty won the Commissioner's Cup, the Aces beat them 88 to 75. It's still in Vegas. I think that was really important to them. We're not going to spend a lot of time on this, but Chelsea Gray made it up in her mind that they were going to win that game. And therefore there was no denying Chelsea Gray or the Aces. So that's how they did it.

You know, everybody, first of all, that was, was that the closest game we've seen so far? Yes. Going into the fourth quarter, I was like, finally, we had a close game. You know, everybody talks about Asia and Stewie, right? Like rightfully so. Those are the two that we talk about, but Asia, Asia had a better game, right? Than she did previously. But I still don't think the two of them,

Have had great games against each other To me the two players. Yeah, we can talk about Sabrina We can talk about Johannes because you know how I feel about her but I'm all about sloop and Chelsea gray Yes to me. Those are the two best point guards in the league right now Mm-hmm. And Chelsea gray is on a whole nother level my god Mm-hmm. Literally the point guard. I

But I just, I just, when flute is running her squad and she is assisting and dropping dimes and getting the ball to the right players at the right time, like they're so beautiful to watch. And when Chelsea's doing the same thing, plus scoring, you're not going to stop her. You're not going to slow down.

So for me, it was great to watch. Yay. You know, Aces came back and they won, but they didn't get the check. I'm just saying. Yeah. You have that type of performance two days before. Your bank account is looking a lot different. This morning. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know we're not going to talk a lot about this because we have talked about the Liberty and the Aces a lot. But it was...

When a player has the type of performance that Chelsea Gray did, it's hard not to talk about them because she single-handedly decided we're not going to lose this game. And it was beautiful to watch.

I love how you said that, that matchup though, because to me, Courtney VanderSloot did kind of struggle in that fourth quarter. It was some stat like they, a whole New York Liberty had eight turnovers the first three quarters. And then they had eight turnovers the first few minutes of the fourth quarter. And,

And Sloot was just seeming a little unsure of herself and turning the ball over. And then Chelsea Gray was having such a great game. So now when we see them again in just about a week from now, I'm going to be paying close attention to that matchup between Banner Sloot and Chelsea Gray, because I don't think we're going to get.

two 40-point games, or a 40-point game out of Asia and a 40-point game out of Stewie against each other. That's what I hope. That's what I want. But I think they're just canceling each other out at this point. I don't think we will. It's about everybody else. You mentioned Sabrina, and if you haven't heard of all the craze on Twitter, her shoes were stolen.

And her Sabrina ones allegedly, allegedly, you're correct. Allegedly stolen from the aces arena. She said that she'd never had her shoes stolen from an opponent's arena before. That's what she tweeted out. There's now a investigation and police report looking into it.

This kind of had people up in arms. She has her new shoe out, but it was really about the insoles, right, Cheryl? Because that's a key part. For sure. Of the player. Oh, no doubt. It's like the extension of your foot at that point. No doubt. No doubt. Do you want to hear a theory? I would love to hear your theory. Please. This is going to sound so bad.

This is going to sound really bad, but there is an active investigation. So there's not much information that we have right now. All we are left with is our theories. My theory is she just released her shoe. She just released the Sabrina ones. She tweets out a few pictures of her shoe.

to get people talking about her shoe. Talking in line. Could this be an elaborate advertisement for her shoe? I'm just going to leave that out there. I just had this thought like 30 minutes ago. So it's not even like I was thinking about this from the beginning. That's a good theory. Like I honestly hadn't thought about that.

But to your point, the more you can put stuff out there about your shoe and get people talking about it, the more curious people get, the more inquisitive people get. And it's like, let me go check out this shoe. Oh, mom, I want this shoe. I'm just saying, possibly. Here's my thing. First of all, I only said allegedly because to your point, there is an investigation going on. I haven't heard, read or seen anything else about it.

And if it's really true, shame on whoever it is that stole a woman's shoes. Like shame on you. Come on. We don't do that. No. Here's the other thing. I get the insoles because I had insoles for my shoes. I get it. I understand. Like, yeah, you got to have those. But at the same time, go back to where you got them from and say, listen, shoes were stolen. My insoles were in it. Can you make me another pair?

I'm surprised she didn't have an extra pair of insoles, to be honest with you. I'm just saying, like, I know I had two because I didn't want to always take them out of because that's what shoes a lot, too. But I'm just saying. So I had to care. But the other part is, and if it's about the shoe, just call up your rep at Nike and say, hey, shoes got stolen. I need another pair because I'm sure you already have an unlimited amount in your position anyway.

So I don't know. I kind of felt like, I don't know. And then why do you tweet about my shoes were stolen last night? So maybe that goes back to your point. I don't know. I mean, it's still, even if they were stolen, which is really unfortunate, we do not condone people stealing other people's things. But even if they were stolen...

bad press or you know some type of this situation can still serve as an ad because she didn't just tweet it she tweeted it with photos and in case you need to know what they look like I don't know if there was a link no I'm just kidding um that was that's all that's that was funny that was funny that's all I'm gonna say that's all I'm gonna say hey

we all gotta we all gotta move products i she is she has the sabrina one they look great they look comfortable um that's all we'll say on that moving on wmba commissioner kathy engelbert went to denver to meet with a group of investors for a potential expansion team looks like kathy was like on a so what did somebody tweet um

It's like she's on a scouting visit, like she's being recruited heavily. So she was on a visit to Denver as if that was a potential suitor for a team. To me, that seemed like progress. That was exciting to me that we're actually a city that's on this mysterious list. We're there. We're on the ground. People with money talking about how they want a team. How do you feel?

Listen, anytime you're talking about expansion, I don't care where it is. It's exciting news because to me it means more opportunity, more jobs, more players, less players getting cut. I had no idea, I guess nor should I, but I had no idea that Denver was even one of the markets that we were considering.

Yeah, I mean, it is. It's exciting. It's hard for me to be like, oh, my God, I can't wait. And because I feel like we've had this conversation. Yeah, I agree. For the past, I don't know, three years or so. So I'm just ready to see something happen. I got more excited about the game being in Toronto and the possibility of having a team in Toronto versus Denver. But again, I.

if Denver is the place and it happens, I am loving excited. Yeah. Yeah. Because it means we're gonna have more teams, more players, more jobs, more opportunity, all of those great things. So it was it was good to see. I feel the same way kind of holding my excitement until it's like pen to paper official. Yeah. And so we get a Denver. I don't know what the mascot will be. Jersey sketch up, then I'll get excited because it'll be real.

But fingers crossed. Fingers crossed on that. So other news that I'm setting you up here for a lob is Connecticut Sun clinched a playoff spot. So now it's the Aces, the Liberty, and the Sun officially going on to the playoffs. We'll talk about it a little bit later, especially with the Sparks beating the Aces, how the standings are all in flux.

But we've been talking about Asia. We've been talking about Stewie for MVP. I want you to have the floor because I've seen your tweets that you've been firing off about Alyssa Thomas. Is she your MVP? Here's your chance to let it all out. Well, what you're not going to do is put me on the spot.

So let me explain. Here's why I tweet what I tweet about Alyssa Thomas, because I do think she's very deserving to be in that conversation. She's very deserving of winning MVP.

I want to keep her name out there so people don't forget about her because you're absolutely right. When you see anything on Twitter or social media, it's a picture of Asia. It's a picture of Stewie. Rightfully so, because you can't go wrong with either one of those two. But we need to have another graphic with Alyssa Thomas on it. So to me, anytime people are posting and tweeting and talking about MVPs, it needs to be Asia, Stewie,

And 80 because I even heard people say, well, Jewel Lloyd should be in the running. So if you're going to talk about Jewel, how can you not put 80 on it? Right. And so I will just give you to me. It's not even an argument. It's when I think about MVP, obviously, it stands for most valuable player.

And to me, I look at that and say, how does this player make her like single handedly make her team better? Because it can't just be about your stats. It has to be about how are you making the team better? Not to say Asia's not doing it. Stewie's not doing it because we've watched them. They're on TV a lot, probably more so than Connecticut. And I also think it's a

In a way, it's a popularity contest. ATs are really on social media like that. So people, for whatever reason, don't seem to like her because they want to be all up in your business. And ATs are like, "Nah, I'm going to just mind my own. You like me, like me. You don't, you don't." And I'm cool with that. But her numbers speak for themselves.

Lindsay D'Arcangelo tweeted, I think last week. Shout out, Lindsay. Thank you. She tweeted. I'm going to look at this because I want to get it right. Stats for Asia and Stewie, right? I won't go over all of them, but Asia, this was last week. Asia, 21 points a game. Stewie, 23 points a game. Asia, nine rebounds. Stewie, nine rebounds. Asia, two assists.

Stewie three assists, right? Player efficiency rating Asia was 31.7. Stewie was 28.5. So right, it doesn't get much closer than that. So I just responded and I said, Hey, like, I appreciate that. But can you also put a tease numbers up because I wanted to see where she was.

So points is where, to me, she's a little down. She's 15.3. Again, this was last week. So all the games aren't in these stats. So she was at 15.3 points a game, but 10 rebounds a game, eight assists per game at her position, right? 20.7 player efficiency rating. Here's the other thing I think people tend to forget. AT is playing with two torn labrums. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Mm-mm.

Which is why she shoots like that. I don't know very many people that could be playing with two torn labrums and put up the numbers that she puts up night in and night out. The only player in WNBA history to have five triple doubles. Am I correct? Five. Just the history that she continues to break on a weekly basis alone. Jordan, listen.

I know there have been more triple doubles this season than we've seen. So people are like, oh, that's easy to do. But no, it's not. It takes a very special type of player to get a triple double. She's almost averaging a triple double. 15 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists at her position with two torn labrums. And the last thing I'm going to put out here, again, this was as of last week. She has assisted or scored on 40% of the team's points.

So I look at it and I say, if you remove Asia from the Aces, not for the season, but for a couple of games, can the Aces still win? Yeah, I think so. When you look at, I mean, you still got Chelsea Gray, right? And Chelsea showed us that the other night. If you remove Stewie from the Liberty, can they still win? Absolutely. Because they still got hella players around them.

right is it going to be tougher of course it'll be tougher but they're still good if you remove a.t from connecticut i don't think they're as good as they are with her i i just don't and especially when she's assisting or scoring on 40 of the team's team's points so yeah you're asking me who's my mvp um i don't know right now but what i do know no because it changes but but what i

Again, my reason for doing it, and I don't get a vote, so therefore it doesn't really matter. You have to keep AT in the conversation. And then if you look at the team's records, they're in third place, right? And they're in third place because she's a big part of what they do. So let's just keep her in the conversation. Let's add her to the graphics. Let's make sure she's getting her due because she...

so deserves to be in that conversation. And if she ends up winning MVP, I wouldn't be mad about it. Would not be mad. Like there's only so many records that you can break in one season to not. I think when we look back five years from now, we're going to be like, dang, AT broke all those records, but didn't win MVP that year. I think that's,

Like they kind of go hand in hand. And then also you talking about it takes a special player to get a triple double. You would know because you got the first triple double in WNBA history. And it's not an easy thing to do. Like that is a 40 minute. I think I heard on the game.

She's averaging 37 minutes a game. Like she is playing every single minute and Connecticut needs her to in order to win. I also saw this on ESPN's Twitter. Alyssa Thomas is tied with Courtney Vandersloot for the third most assists in a season in WNBA history. It's crazy. That's crazy. It's crazy. Like seeing these two players side by side. It's crazy. That's not the same position. And not the same.

Not only that, she's not a point guard. So when you look at that stat, that's crazy. But at her position, because right now she's playing like the five, right, for Connecticut because Breonna Jones is out. Yeah. She's undersized. When you think night in and night out, she's going up against the Stewies, the Asians, the John Quill Joneses. Like she's undersized. So one other thing I want to add is,

I think the aces miss Candace Parker's presence on the floor. Yeah. For everything Candace brings, scoring, defense, leadership, IQ, all of that. I think Connecticut misses Breonna Jones. I know they do. But they haven't really skipped a beat much. Yeah. Because I think AT has said, listen, y'all, just get on my back. I got you.

Yeah. And then you throw in DeWanna Bonner and Tiffany Hayes, right? Like the other players they have, they've all just said, you know, because you can't just have one player replace Breonna Jones for what she brings. But I don't know. A lot of other teams lose a player like a Breonna Jones. I'm not sure they're sitting in third place right now. Agreed. And yeah, people look at it and say, well, MVP should come from either the first place team or second place team.

I'm not opposed to it coming from the third place team. When you look at the overall picture and what each player has been able to do individually, but also what they've been able to do for their team. That's my AT pitch for the day.

Great pitch. That was a gavel drop worthy moment. I have one torn labrum, so I couldn't imagine. I'll just leave it at that. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we got to talk about the sport.

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Okay, we're back. It's Queens of the Court.

And the Queens of the court last week was the LA Sparks. Did you really just do that? Yes, you did. Yes, you did. It wasn't planned, I promise.

But the Sparks, we got to talk about them for a second. They won their last four games, including the win on Saturday over the Aces, 78-72. A huge win for so many reasons because I was holding my breath, not only as a fan, but just someone who has watched a lot of Sparks games. Fourth quarter's last minute, it hasn't been...

going as well. Like it would be going great going into the fourth quarter and then it just takes a sharp turn. So for them to be able to finish it out against the aces who were trying to come back,

That was a huge deal. Huge deal. They're currently in eighth place in the standings. They're trying to hold on to a playoff spot for the Aces. That was their first regular season home defeat since last season. Their first loss to the Sparks since 2019. Wow. Wow.

Like it's saying from ESPN, it ended the Aces 21 game home winning streak because the commissioner cup doesn't technically count. And Chelsea Ray made that well known. It ends the Sparks 13 game losing streak to the Aces and was the largest upset victory in the WNBA since 2020. So the Sparks are probably on cloud nine right now. I think they played well. Yeah.

They played together. I think they caught the aces slipping a little bit, just kind of thinking, oh, it's the Sparks. Like, we got this. I think that that was a little bit in their mind. The Sparks were rested. They had like a week off before playing this game. So a lot went into it to favor the Sparks. How are you feeling about the Sparks at this point right now?

Well, I don't know if you remember the beginning of the season. We were like, eh, Sparks have some pieces, right? They have pieces that they can stay healthy and, you know, they may make some noise. I thought they, like a lot of other teams, they've had some losses this season where we were just like, huh? Like, you didn't win that game. I thought this was a big win for them.

Even taking playoffs out of it. Yeah, they're in that eighth spot. But I thought from just a boost of confidence, right? Because you got Liberty Aces, everybody's chasing for those two teams and for them to come out and be able to do what they did and do it on the road.

right? Like was huge. And I just thought the contributions they had from everyone who played was phenomenal. In particular, Nneka, please come on the show. Goodness gracious. Okay. But Nneka I thought was huge. Yeah, huge. She's just, she's such a great vet. She's a leader. She knows just, she's just good. She's good. Jordan Canada.

was amazing love the kid thought she played well and lay Leija Clarendon they have just been like well play then out with injury then to come back and Leisha's another one that I feel is like she's the glue right she's a great vet has been in the league for a while they understand what their role is

what the team needs at the time. I thought everybody was great, but the three of them in particular, I thought had a huge, were a huge reason why the Sparks were able to win that game.

And I saw a tweet from Rebecca Lobo, and I wanted to get your opinion on this because it was kind of just thinking of the season as a whole. And I feel like the sparks are the perfect poster child for this. Rebecca's tweet was essentially like, these feel like the dog days of the WNBA season because typically it's only 32 games. We extended it to 40 games this year. The playoffs started last season, August 17th.

So you're coming into this year and you're like, dang, we still going. We still got a couple more weeks. And typically I feel like the WNBA season has been just really short and really like we started, it's all star and then it's playoffs. And now with this extra few games, it seems like it gives teams like the Sparks to get the injury wave to hit it and be able to bounce back and

And then have this last week or so to kind of be like, okay, finally we're healthy. They're still missing Lexi, but we're, we're able to get a second wind. Whereas before the season has been really short that you can't really get that. Some, another team is the mystics right now. They're,

a little more injury prone, but a couple more weeks in the season, you could bounce back at the playoffs and be able to hit stride at the right time. So I guess I'm just asking how big of a difference is 32 games to 40 games? I think it's huge. And you made very valid points before, you know, a player it's like,

Depending on what your record is, right? If you know you're out of the playoffs, then it doesn't make that big a difference. But if you're sitting on that bubble where it's like, we just need to hold on and need a couple more wins, i.e. the Sparks, those extra eight games could make a big difference in whether you make the playoffs or not. And also, if you finish in eighth place versus sixth place,

you know, and great tweet by Rebecca. I don't usually read a lot of Rebecca's tweets, but that was no, I don't one anyway. I just don't. But I didn't see that tweet. But when you just read that, I just thought about that in

There are a lot of teams. I feel you said Sparks. You said the Mystics. Yeah, the Mystics. They've been another team that's just been in and out with injury. Who's playing? Who's not playing? Them getting Shakira Austin back in, you know, Ariel Atkins was dealing with an injury. Tasha Cloud. And what is EVD going to do? Those are two teams that I see right now.

Could really use these other eight games and see what happens, where they fall in the playoffs. Do they make it? Do they not? It's going to be interesting to see going down the stretch. And the other side of that is teams like, well, I think the Liberty right now, I think they are...

finally putting it all together. Right? Exactly. So they didn't start. Yeah, they didn't start well. And they were able to have a longer season to say like, no, we're going into the playoffs at tip top shape. Yep. Whereas, you know, another team started really great and maybe fallen off like a

Like a Chicago. They started off really hot. Now they got to kind of figure it out. So just a longer season, more storylines, more things could happen. That's what I'm excited for. Sorry to cut you off. No, it's okay. Because, you know, we were like with the Liberty, especially early on, we were like, what's going on? Where's Benadjelani? What's up with JJ? And JJ was injured. And now...

I think JJ has been a big reason why the Liberty are at another level right now because she's finally healthy. She's playing well. She's found her spot. Benaja Laney looks like Benaja Laney of old that all the pieces are coming together. Like they're a fun team to watch. And so not only do these extra games help the teams that are on the bubble, they also help those teams like the Liberty.

who needed a little bit more time to figure it out, right? I don't know. It's a great point. It's kind of interesting, right? Yeah, it's a great point. And shout out to our producer, Alex. Like, in addition to having the 40 games, this has been the first long official season since 2019. Because, like you said, the bubble, Olympics, World Cup, all those things have kind of fluctuated the season. So if I'm a player who's been playing the past year

you know, four years, I'd be like, dang, this one hits different. We still playing like it's a different feeling. And we'll see what teams are able to capitalize on those extra games and what teams are like, OK, I'm tired. We're falling off. So that's going to that's going to be interesting. Just want to throw that out there. Yeah. Another one of those teams is Minnesota.

We're going to take a quick break, but the tweet of the week involves Ariel Powers and maybe she's wanting out. We'll talk about it.

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We're back and we are back with the tweet of the week. And this tweet kind of took people. I don't know if people were surprised by it, but just having it come specifically from aerial powers is what was probably the most surprising. Um,

The 9450, which is another WNBA podcast, they tweeted, one of my listeners drove from Portland to Seattle to see Aerial Powers play, but to no avail. What is going on in Minnesota? And super kudos to AP for being so professional. AP, Aerial Powers, then quote tweeted this and said, thank you so much. I look forward to them coming to see me play next year with another organization.

Smiley face. Smiley. It's always the emoji of the tweet of the week that really just sends it over the edge. But you know, that's not really a smiley face like, yay, that's more of a, mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. You know? That's exactly what that is.

all had this question of like, what's up in Minnesota? Ariel Powers is a great player. She's really strong. Why is she not getting the tick?

I think we just can't up till this point. We were just speculating was is she still injured because she was injured at one point. What's going on? But I think she set the record straight that after this season, she no longer wants to be questioned of why she's not playing. Therefore, she wants to take her talents elsewhere.

I think she, even the rest of this season, I think she's like, y'all don't ask me any more questions because it is what it is. When I read that tweet or when I read it, I felt like there were a lot of underlying things in that tweet. Cause she's, I don't think she's injured anymore. Cause she has gotten in games and played some minutes.

Yeah. Just last night. I've always been, since she was at Michigan State, I've always been a fan of AP. I think she's hella talented. And when I watch her videos on Twitter where she's in the gym playing with the guys, doing her thing, I'm like, damn, why aren't you playing? Right? Yeah. The math ain't math-ing.

Jordan. It ain't my thing. No. So I'm like, is it you? Is it Cheryl? Y'all ain't connecting? Is it the team? I don't know. I just feel like there's a lot going on there, which is weird because they could use her. Like when I look at that, I'm like Ariel Powers on one wing, Diamond Miller on another wing with Nafisa Collier. Like make it make sense. Yeah. Because I don't understand it.

And then she tweeted that and I'm like, okay, well, I guess there you have it. Right. And she tweeted that. And then last night she played 16 minutes against Minnesota's loss to Seattle and she finished with 12 points. So she has been getting some tick, but it's,

I'm sure you can attest to this, Cheryl. Like when you're used to playing a lot of minutes and then you don't know if you're going to play, you don't know how many minutes you're going to kind of get. Maybe you can attest to this. Don't do that. Don't do that. I can't.

You don't know how to prepare for a game. So it's not like, okay, she gets in, she's going to drop 20. Like she hasn't really been in the flow of Minnesota's offense or rotation. So it's going to be a little off balance, but I want to give some more context just of AP. She was drafted last,

by Dallas fifth overall in 2016 traded to Washington in 2018 then signed with Minnesota as a free agent in 2021 so far she's only played in 14 games I don't know if that's including last night or not but she's also a free agent after this season and that was kind of the motivation around this tweet of like I don't know where I'm gonna be but it ain't gonna be here yeah

The thing that really stuck out was per her hoop stats, her salary with Minnesota is $201,984. For comparison, she's making only $170 less than Nafisa Collier, who we were talking about just a few weeks ago, potentially being an MVP. I just said the math ain't mathing.

One thing, I ain't going to be paying you all this money to not play you. I'm not playing you. That doesn't make any sense. Here's the other part. If I'm AP right now, listen, that's why the smiley face emoji, right? Because don't cause no problems. If they like, just girl, just keep getting your money. Hey, the checks are clearing. That's a lot of money to pay someone who you're not playing.

$170 less than the best player on the team. - The player who Cheryl Reeves said, "Everything is going to revolve around." We are running everything through Nafisa Collier. And so I guess if you're Nafisa, are you upset?

Are you like, hey, you need to be paying me more than what you're paying Ariel Powers? Or that she needs to be playing. Something. Yeah. Something. Something. But it's also a part of Ariel Powers, I think, is saying that because she knows what she's worth, that she is worth that much, you know, to be paid that much. But she's also worth to be on a team where her talents are utilized and used. So let me ask you this.

Next season, who knows what each team is going to look like because of free agency and trades. But if the teams remain the same as they are this year, where would you like to see Ariel Powers go and to be able to make an impact? Because a bigger impact than what she's making right now. I'll just leave it at that. Well, here's the interesting thing with AP. She seems to be very injury prone.

Like, I think every season so far, she's been out, no fault of hers, but I'm just saying every season she's been out with some type of an injury, something. And at some point that starts playing on your psyche from a mental standpoint of dang, like what now? What now? Will I get through this season? So not only does that affect the player, I think it affects franchises when they look at like, no, there's no doubt.

the kid is talented. She's very talented. But I think when GMs and coaches start looking, they're like, you know, will she play? How much of the season will she play? Will she be healthy? So those are definitely questions that teams think about. But the first team, honestly, that comes to mind right away is Phoenix. Yeah.

Like Phoenix, Phoenix could use her talent. They could use her leadership because we've talked about Phoenix before being so young and needing to add some more pieces and a BG. I'm going to leave DTN because we don't know if Diana's coming back or not. But I still think regardless of whether Diana comes back or not, Phoenix will be a really good fit for AP. Mm hmm.

She can go in there. She can start. She can contribute because she can score the basketball now. Don't get it twisted. Oh, yeah, she can. And that is a team that needs it. Yeah. Yeah. And then when I look at a team like an Indiana, right, who's young, that's young. They're young. So you may like this. You may not. OK. I look at an Indiana Fever from a leadership standpoint. Yeah, they absolutely need some vets on their team.

But then you ask yourself, do we want to go down that road and bring in a vet? And especially after this tweet, I'm just saying, right? That's fair. Who may come in and mess up the chemistry that you're building with these younger players versus sending her to a team who has vets like a Diana and a BG.

They ain't worried about her coming in, messing that up. Do you know what I mean? Right. That's a, that's a really good point because I was thinking of it as an going to the Indiana fever and they, you know, we've talked about them. Their record doesn't reflect how good they are. It doesn't,

It especially doesn't reflect how good they're going to be in like two years. That's if everybody stays, that's if everybody wants to work towards that goal. You bring in Ariel Powers for more of a, we just need scoring. Like we just need somebody to score the ball right now. No doubt you do. Everybody else play their role. We just need points. And her leadership. But Jordan, here's the other thing. Thanks, Alex. Is she willing to take a pay cut?

Because you're making $201,984,000. Are you willing to take a pay cut to go somewhere where you might fit in really good? You might play, but you need to take a pay cut. Are you willing to do that?

Yeah. Don't know. That's always a question. That's a question in just regular jobs. Like for sure. Do I, I'm making kind of decent money, but I just kind of got to sit here and stare at my computer or do I take a pay cut where I know I'm going to have to work harder? Here's the thing after her tweeting, like I, I love the transparency, but understand that,

everybody at the Minnesota links, they also have seen this tweet. Yeah. Excuse me. It is. So you can't go back. Right. So if what happens if there's not a team that comes and says, we want you, we're going to pay you your 200, $200, $1,000. They come and say, we want you, but we ain't paying you that. And now you can't stay in Minnesota because you've already tweeted what you tweeted. So Minnesota knows that that, that relationship ain't going to work.

That part. That's why to me, that's why this is the tweet of the week, because it can have so many repercussions from this tweet. That's a great point. Minnesota. Yeah. I want to find somewhere where she's happy. She's playing. She's getting her money. But that's a lot of money to not to not be playing her.

So I don't know. I don't know. Stay tuned. Stay tuned. I think it's going to be interesting when we talk about this next season and be able to point back to this tweet and say, look at Ariel Powers now. She's at Phoenix thriving the face of the franchise because they need all the points they can get to as well. Well,

On that note, Minnesota did lose last night, which kind of shifted up the standings. And that is what I'm going to be glued to the TV. Just seeing how certain losses affect other people's placement and all this stuff, because probably from, I want to say five down Atlanta seems to be pretty safe, but all of it is going to be shifting. Everybody's,

going to be moving and grooving, trying to get that final playoff spot, which is the eighth seed. It's going to be good. No, it's going to be good. We're getting close. Like there's only the last couple of weeks of the season. It is the official playoff push, which is such a fun time. It's going to be good. I love it.

Okay, well, that's it for us. Thanks for listening. Reminder, you can send us questions or feedback at our listener email address, queensofthecourtatodyssey.com. And please continue to follow, rate, and review the show. It's available on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And so I'm just putting this out here since we talked about it.

Um, send us who your MVP is. Yeah. Send it. Um, and it can be whoever it doesn't have to be the three we talked about, but send it to us. Jordan and I are going to dive into some, um,

who we think right now um some awards next episode so but send us your mvp curious to see what everybody thinks and um but guys like always you can find me and jordan on social media i'm at air swoops 22 and jordan is at hey jordan i want to tell all you cats

Is that Cabbage Patch or Matrix? I don't know. One of them. Oh, I don't know. I think it's Cabbage Patch. I was going in slow-mo until the hay ended. We'll send the video. Don't worry, listeners. Okay. Queens of the Court is an Odyssey original created in partnership with the WNBA. The show is produced by Alex Ozzie. The executive producer is Lena Moss Glazer. Social media assistance from Isabella Apple. Imaging from T-Storm Battle.

And court is adjourned.