Latest / Bleacher Report / Breanna Stewart Opens Up on Unrivaled, Liberty Title Run with Candace Parker | Trophy Room, Ep. 1

Transcript

Breanna Stewart Opens Up on Unrivaled, Liberty Title Run with Candace Parker | Trophy Room, Ep. 1 · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'm Knas Parker. Welcome to the Trophy Room, where we
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: value just achievement at the highest level. Okay, and in
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: order to step foot in this room, you have to
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: share at least one accolade that's in my trophy case,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and judging by all that's on your shelf, that is
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: no problem. So what is a better way to start
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: than with someone who I share a few things in
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: common with. Three time WNBA Champion, three time Honda Award winner,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: two time WNBA MVP, and two time WNBA Finals MVP,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: WBA Rookie of the Year, member of the WBA twenty
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: fifth Anniversary team, multi NCAA champion, four NCAA Tournament Most
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Outstanding Player, four times multiple time AP Player of the Year,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Gatorade National Player of the Year, multi time Olympic gold medalists,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: among many of the other accomplishments. Your accomplishments are I
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: would be in here reading forever and ever and ever.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Brianna Stewart, Welcome to the Trophy Room. Thank you so
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: much for joining us as our first guest ever. This
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: is our first guest ever. Everything huh yeah, I figured,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: just like start with all the athletes. I can't even read.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: But okay, So we're trying this segment out. It's called
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: three point range. Number that's close to my heart. I
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: wear number three, three time champion, three different teams, I
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: got three kids. I love food, wine, and sports. This segment,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: I've got three things that I would like to ask
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: you about you. All Right? You love the word you're.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Because I'm in New York. Now, so what's that about? Basically,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: your can mean anything. It can be like filler word,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: it can be like yes, use it in a sentence. No,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: I'm it's basically when i'm answering you that I something
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: that I agree with.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Are you excited to be on the trivia room?
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: You're? Okay.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna try this with my daughter, all right, Yes,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna try that. When she asked me something, that's
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do it. What is
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: it for ours? Okay?
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: As many as you want, I got it. I'm like,
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: how how your you feel?
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Okay? Can I use it on the West Coast?
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, because you bring it over to New York.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: It is a New York thing, but you can bring.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna bring it out west.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: You like myself love wine, which I absolutely I'm so
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: excited about. Uh your favorite wine? I mean, was it
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the one that was passed you during the parade? How
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: what you could even say type of wine?
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Honestly, the one that was passed me during the parade.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Not sure what that was, but that was feeling exactly
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: what I needed in that moment, which was red wine.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: Because what happened was is I had a bottle and
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: I got off the bus and it shot, Oh wow,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: because of the champagne and all the other.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Things that all the celebration.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Yes, hm, so that fan. I really appreciate them. But
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: I like red dry, not as fruity pinot noir. I
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: know you like camus, I can ye. I can obviously
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: get down with them too.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: But so are you like a bold will you? Will
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: you drink a bowld cab with a with a nice steak?
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Are you more like Spanish wine, Napa wine, Italian, French
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: nor Indy?
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: No, I'm like Napa Oregon. I get like wine shipments
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: from Soda vineyards. Shout out to Soda we are okay.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I know we want wine shipments for more vineyards. I
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: need more wine.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Can you please add me to that shipment? Because I
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: know it's gonna be a lot more championship wine. I
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: would love to be added to that. You are a
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: huge Drake and future fan. M hm, give me your songs.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: What songs you like?
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Oh? Big rings of course, But honestly, also I'm a
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: meek I'm a Meek Mail fan. Oh wow, Meek Mail
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: is who I listened to Philly on a game day, okay,
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: every game.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Day, and unfortunately I heard Meek Mill all the time
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: because I've played with Khlia Copper. So I mean, listen,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: pray for times like this. That's Dreams and Nightmares. That's
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: the best song. I don't if anybody doesn't get hyped
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: to that.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Song then literally.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: So we're in Miami, okay, we are here finally for
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: the inaugural season of Unrivaled, which is you're a founder
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: of and we're there from the very beginning. What does
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: this feel like, this moment, this excitement build up, where
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: women's basketball as a whole is right now waiting for
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: this league, yeah, to begin.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: Honestly, I can't believe that we're here right now, even
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: when I got in like got to the airport and
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: was driving to you know where we are right now?
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: In the like the arena. It's kind of like, Wow,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: this came together really quick. I had a conversation with
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Alex two years ago at Del Fresco's in New York
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: City and we were talking about this idea and about
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: a way to keep players home and three on three
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: and should be half court or full court or what
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: is it going to be? And now you look two
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: years later and here we are. We have thirty of
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: the best women's basketball players in the world playing in
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: this league and it's something that nobody's ever done before.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: And what's even more exciting behind that is to have
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: you know, people like TNT, to have Ally, to now
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: have Sepphor like we have big brands behind it, really
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: supporting us. And of course we wouldn't be in this
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: position if it wasn't for the place that women's sports
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: is in right now and continuing to go, but really
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: excited for what's to come.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: And you talk about like your style of play, because
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: you can play anywhere. You can play on the sun,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: you can play on Mars, whatever style. But the three
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: on three, full court style, a shorter court. Is this
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: game built for a versatile player like yourself. I mean
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: at six folk I'll honestly, you probably like six ' six,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: to be honest.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: With you have grown.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I really do too, because I remember being more
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: eye to eye with you, and now I'm kind of like,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: oh maybe in my old age, I'm shrinking, but I
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: need to clearly. But you know, your game translates. But
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: what are you looking for? What do you think is
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: going to be the type of player that excels at
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: this type of game because it's different, it's fast paced,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: it's up and down, high scoring, no help side defense.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: I think what's the type of player that's gonna excel
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: in this game is the player that's in the best
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: shape because it's NonStop. Like the court is seventy two feet,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: but the width is the same, you know, so imagine
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: that close out from one side to the other is
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: pretty far. And then one on one like ability to
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: guard your yard, like that's really it. Like you said,
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: there's no help side defense, and to shoot, Like when
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: you think three on three, the teams that win are
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: the ones that have shooters because you can really stretch
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: the floor.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: That's a good point because you think of space as
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: created with the dribble or penetration or whatever. But being
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: able to space the floor. You can't really double if
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: you have two or three capable shooters on the floor.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: I gotta know, because there's gonna be this one on
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: one thing, Queen of the Court. I love it. I
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: can't wait to tune in for that. In fact, I
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: asked Turner, I was like, can I work that night
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: because I need to make sure that I'm in studio
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: for that. I mean, talk your there's three cameras right here. Talker.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: I know you're entering the.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: I am entering, okay, the one on one competition. I'm excited.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: I think it's you know, that's what you want to do.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: You want to play one on one. I think that
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: there's gonna be a I don't know if there's going
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: to be a dribble limit or if there's going to
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: be like.
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  Speaker 1: Listen, you're the founder, you're the co founder.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: I don't honestly know.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: You could make the rule. How many dribbles do you want?
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: I think there should be a dribble limit.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: I think so too.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: I don't know five five five is a lot, or know.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: I think five is actually a good three A shot
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: clock instead of maybe a shot clock instead of a dribble.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: But versatility, versatility matters.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Length, being able to guard other positions. Yeah, yeah, this
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: is this is a great time. And I and I
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: have to say.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: And bonus the sorry, yeah no, the bonus the bonus
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: fifty pretty nice, That's what I'm saying. And then also
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: you win money for your teammates.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: You're such a say that's such a great teammate to
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: even think of that, because all right, I do have to,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: you know, highlight some notes about unrivaled because you you're
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: part of the generation that has gone overseas and had
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: to go overseas from month set a time. My generation,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: we just went overseas. That was what you did in
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: the off season.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: So to create a leap when we were supposed to
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: be on the same team and you didn't come, I
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: don't remember that. I was in Curs and they're like, oh,
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: Cannis is coming. I was like, oh, yes, Cannas is
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: not coming.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: I was like, I looked at myself in the mirror
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: after eleven years going overseas, and I was just like, honestly,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: this is really what happened. My wife Anya was like,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: and she's Russian, she was like, you can go to course,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: I'm not going So that was that. But you know
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: how that is unrivaled highest ever salaries for athletes in
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: the States. Each player has equity in the league. I mean,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: you talk about big name investors from Michael Phelps to
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Alex Morgan, Megan Rappino, TV deal with TNT. It's an
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: eight week season. Four teams make the playoffs. So like,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: what does this mean for young girls now? Because there
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: was always that balance and that struggle of wanting to
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: get better in the offseason, wanting to increase your pocket
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: size in the off season with the lucrative deals overseas.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: But now this generation like Juju Watkins isn't gonna have
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: to go overseas. Page Beckers is not going to have
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: to go overseas. So what does that do for you
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: as now? A vet? I mean, you are you are thirty,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: you are thirty years old, So what does that do
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: for someone like you that has seen both sides and
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: understands the value of being able to play in front
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: of your family and your friends.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think that when I think about when
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: I first came into the league, like you said, it was,
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: it was already predetermined what you were gonna do. You're
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: gonna play in the WNBA, then you're gonna go I
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: went to China, You're gonna go to China for two years.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Then you're gonna go to Russia, and then you're gonna
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: go to Turkey. And now that's not happening anymore. Also
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: because the market in Europe is not the same as
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: what it once was. But the ability to have created
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: unrivaled a league where we can stay home, we can
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: have our families with us. You know, we're in Florida,
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: like we're in Miami. The weather's nice, like the vibes
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: are great. But also really continuing to build on like
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: elevating yourself and elevating your brand and having these different
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: brand partners. Then the league has and the WNBA has
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: is something that's extremely important, and like you said, you know,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: the next generation is only going to continue to make
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: this better. I think that for the first thirty players,
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: so only this year the first thirty players get equity
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: in this league. After that, it's pretty remarkable. It is
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: no longer, but you know, we're trying to create longevity
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: with this. You know, year one has already been an
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: incredible success and we're literally just.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Starting, which is the most exciting part. I think this
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: is just the beginning of what is possible. You know,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: usually you think of leagues, especially off season leagues, you're
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: not getting the best players in the world, and now
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: you're getting thirty of the best, absolute best players in
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: the world. But listen, for the players that don't have
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: to go overseas and have grown up in a generation
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: where now unrivaled as possible, let's share a little Let's
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: share a little stories about what it was like playing
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: in Russia. Yeah, playing in China, because I think we
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: throw out coursk right, and not a lot of people
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: know where that is on the map, or you throw
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: out where did you play in China? Shanghai played, Okay,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: you played in a nice city.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: I was in a good city. But listen, it was
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: my rookie year. Like you get what ten days two weeks?
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: Then you're like, you gotta go to China.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: And okay, No, it rewinds that for the people that
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: don't understand, ten days two weeks means the WBA.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Season finished, lose my game finishes. You have ten days
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: in your contracts until you need to report. And I
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: was in China, and for me, what the hardest part
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: about China was you only have one foreigner, so you
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: have one American by myself.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: No, like you are the only foreigner.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: I am the only one. I'm by myself. I have
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: my translator that I communicate the most with.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: They don't really speak great English.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: No, but you you're wanted to figure it out. But
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: the hardest part was I missed all the holidays. Was
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: in China for Thanksgiving, was in China for Christmas, New
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Year's like you name it.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: I was there, And I think people forget like we
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: do it for the love of the game, don't get
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: me wrong. Like I love playing basketball anywhere. Yeah, but
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: it does get hard after season after season, and so
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: in the off season people look at it as a
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: way to get better, to work out, to improve on things,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: to rush your body, do all those things. When you're
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: leaving ten days after a season, there's not much recovery.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: And there's also it's not getting better without games or
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: getting better without like the pounding. I mean in China,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: you're playing three games a week, you're playing a lot
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: back and you're playing, Yeah, you're drop forty and twenty
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: every game. And so like the getting better at basketball
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: and the development from a young age, it wasn't possible.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: And so now you look at the landscape and you
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: see players that are able to stay home and do
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: drill work, which I think you know both of us
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: could argue playing does help you improve, but just not
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: not overseas. I need a horror story overseas. I need
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: like one story where you were like, this is not
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: for me. The first time I went overseas, it was
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: to Ekaterinburg, Russia. Okay, played for ECAT for six years.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: Over the first year.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Not a bad place, I'm not complaining. However, when my
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: daughter and I landed, she was six months old, and
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: we landed in the biggest snowstorm. Now this is Russia,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: so they have a lot of snowstorms, the biggest snowstorm
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: in the history of Russia. So it was minus twenty
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: five degrees outside. The snow was up to like the
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: halfway point of the door at the airport, so when
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: the door would open, the snow would fall in because
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: it hadn't plowed it yet. Somehow we're flying in this.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: I never questioned that at twenty three years old, and
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: we landed, and my mom and I looked at each
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: other and we were like, what have we gotten ourselves into?
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Like that was my overseas moment where I was just like,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: we're not in Kansas anymore, Like this is this is
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: how it is, and this is how it's gonna be
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: for years to come.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: I mean my overseas like horror. They kind of they're
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: different depending on the places. Because you played in China too,
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: China's like different just because you're by yourself. But I
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: was in a good city, so like great, I found Mexican,
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: I found steakhouse, I found Italian, like I found things
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: even though I was like in my hotel room by myself.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: So you're saying food is a major issue overseas.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: Food was an issue Russia. When I was in Kursk, Ecat,
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: by the way, is the best place to play, private jet,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: all the things, all the money, like brand new apartment.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: I ruptured my achilles and Max built me a walking
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: shower because he didn't want me to slip. Like that
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: type of vibe. So yeah, can you you were fine?
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Cat was the best the snowstorm, but you were fine.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: And I was in Kursk, but you left me. I
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: my first apartment was like it was like an old
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Russian apartment and I was like, where am I right now?
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: Like I look like I'm in like something apartment. But
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: the problem is is the airport. We would take that
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: train to Moscow. It's like an eight hour overnight train
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: to go play a EuroLeague game. You would take that
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: two days before your game, get to the airport, have
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: to go through all the Moscow traffic, get to the plane,
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: fly to I don't even know Italy, play a game the.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Next day until well, you know, they built an airport, so.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: There is an airport. But we didn't take that that much.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: You guys took the train. Yeah. Coursk was a place
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: that I remember where you know, you'd be in those
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: those old hotels where most of the rooms weren't ever used.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: And I remember turning on the shower and it was
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: just yellow and one of my Russian teammates were like,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: just let it run little bit and it'll run out.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: It's just rust. I'm like, what, Like it's yellow, there's
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: yellow water coming out of the faucet.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: When I knew my overseas was done was when I
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: was in Turkey and the earthquakes were happening and I
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: was like, nah, I'm out, Like I have a kid,
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: I don't want to be here with Ruby and that
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: was it.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you have that, you have that moment where you're like,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: I will do whatever I have to to not come
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: back overseas. I mean, obviously it was great to us.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, of course. I think that's the one thing is
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: like the players that aren't gonna go now, you're not
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: going to experience it, and they're not all bad experiences.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: And you're in a different culture, you're meeting new people,
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: you meet new people.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: And then also I feel like you connect with other
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Americans over there as well. So when you are in Turkey,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: there were a lot more Americans and a lot more Anyway.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: I could do overseas for forever, but I want to
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: switch to a little something more exciting. This past year
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: that you've had, it's been unbelievable. You went back to
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: your home state, yes, and I will say home state hero, Yes. Yes,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: you went back to your home state and you want
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: a championship with the Liberty Sounds familiar, right, How special
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: was that to bring a title to New York because
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: you said you wanted to go there, you signed there
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: in free agency, you left Seattle, and you committed to
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: bringing their first franchise championship.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. I mean, looking back, it's still crazy,
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: still surreal, Like the celebration, the parade after down fifth
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: ave like insane. But if I could back up a
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: little bit, like, I love Seattle and winning two championships
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: in Seattle was amazing and the people there are something
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: that you know you never forget. But as Sue was retiring,
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: I was kind of like, all right, what's next? And
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: I was ready to kind of turn the page start
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: a new chapter. And I wanted to be closer to home.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm from Syracuse, rooted in the Northeast a
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: little bit, and the idea of doing something that hasn't
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: been done before was really motivating. And bringing the first
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: championship back to New York City, like the fact that
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: we went to the finals two times in a row
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: in my first year there, it was, It's kind of crazy,
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: you know. When we when we made it to the
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: finals this past season, I was like like here we
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: here we go again, and how are we going to
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: change the script? And winning at home in five incredible?
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: What a party?
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Holy you said, incredible, what a party. Let's talk about
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: on court first, and.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: Then already switched and then we'll switch room. So I
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: was like Champagne, still.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: We saw your party for the to come after after
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: the title. But like on the court, I think the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: the interesting thing is what I've always respected about you
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: is like you well first are running. Joke is like
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: you always slip on me when I was guarding you.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: So do you remember I got a technical in the
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: bubble for cussing you out because you slipped on me
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: and I grabbed the foul. I got fine. I got
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: fined in the bubble because Sue and I have this
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: thing where she always like slipping screens. So for those
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: that don't know basketball, it's when you go do you
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: go to set a screen and before you set it,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: you slip out screen because usually either we're switching or yeah,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: she likes to play games and she's super act. That
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: is not true, and so she slipped and we have
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: a joke because every game I would go over to
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Suwiye and I would be like, Stewie, you're not gonna
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: get me on a slip this game and that game
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: in the bubble, she slipped the screen and I grabbed
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: her because I was like nope, nope, nope, you're not
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: gonna get me, and something happened where I like cussed
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: her out because she got me or something. I don't know.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: She was laughing or whatever, and the ref called a
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: tech on me and Stuwie you see Stuie over like no, no, no,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: no no, it was a joke. So she had my back.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Even though she was she was on the Seattle, I
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: still got the yeah see taken away from Leyla and air.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: But I say all that to say, like on the court,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: things weren't perfect. Y'all lost Game one and you guys
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: were up by a lot. Things were rolling in that
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: first game. And then Minnesota just I mean Courney Williams,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Minnesota and the FISA, they just hit another gear, came
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: back right. There were some other things that happened in
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: that game, right where the crowd was just in and
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: out of it and like, oh wow, we're about to win.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: And then it was and then there were two free throws,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: and I think you came to the podium and the
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: thing I was most impressed with you is you were
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: like like, basically, I want that opportunity again. And the
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: thing I love about you is you always take everything
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: on your shoulders. You don't point the finger. You always
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: want the responsibility. Where has that come from? And how
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: did that develop throughout this series where you still had
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: that confidence that you could come back from that.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think like taking ownership kind of
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: came from Coach Rahama, came from Yukon and I just
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: remember having a conversation with him at one point throughout
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: my career and he was like, no matter what happens
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: on the court, it's your fault. And I was like,
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: I'm in college and I'm like, okay.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: You're like following along in the conversation, like yeah, uh huh.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: I was like, wait what But like as you get older,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: you kind of understand why things are said that way,
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: And no matter what was happening in that game, I
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: can take it on me because I can take it.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: And I missed that free throw to win the game.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: But that's exactly the position that I want to be in.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: I want to be the one taking those free throws
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: and knowing that, yeah I want to the next one
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna make. But if I miss it, I'm gonna
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: make it the next time.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: Having that type of mindset and attitude, and uh, don't
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: get me wrong, afterwards, I was pissed. I was like,
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: not happy, but.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: You have game two.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: I have Game two, And also I have my teammates
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: looking at me wondering how I am. And I'm, you know,
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: just carrying that, taking ownership of it. Moving on.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: I have to pause because I think that everybody's going
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: to experience adversity in their career. I've missed two free
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: throws to win a series before overseas. I'll never forget it.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: I got so much hate because you know, Finnerbachi.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: I also know I will not forget that either.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I couldn't even believe it. I missed two free
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: throws and do you know how many I mean Twitter
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Finnerbacci fans still tweet me about that to win the series,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: and I didn't have another opportunity to step back up.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: And the next year, I remember my shooting my free
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: throw perscon. I started second guessing myself when I stepped
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: to the line a little bit and my free throw
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: percentage dipped a little bit. And I think confidence has
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: to come from within, Like you can't get all the
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: confidence from you know whatever. And I always look at people,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: you know, like the kicker that just missed the field
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: goal for Texas. Like I always look at the people
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: around them, but I also look at them, and when
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: I saw you walking away from that line, there are
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: people that are like, I never want to do that
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: again in their face, and there's people that are like, yeah,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: like I'm gonna get that. I'm gonna make it the
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: next time I step up to that line.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Yeap. We fast forward to Game five. But the thing
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: about it was there was probably like thirty eight seconds
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: left in the game, and I go to the free
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: throw line and I missed too in a row, and
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: that was like pretty important to put us either tied
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: or down one. So then five seconds left, probably five
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: less than five game of the Finals. Running through that play,
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: like in my mind, Leo was taking a ball out
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: of bounds. I was supposed to get like a screen
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: away and then I think someone was supposed to come
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: up and have the opportunity to like fake handoff and go.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: But all I remember is Lao literally threw the ball
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: at Kmax back, so I had to go like this
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: and grab it and then just try to get to
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: the rim, get a shot on goal, get fouled, and
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: there I am back at the free throw.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: What'd you think what was going on in your head?
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: Well, Cheryl challenged it.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And so that time I thought, I was.
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: Like, she's trying to ice me, and I'm not doing
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: this again. I was like, I'm gonna like these two
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: are going in this series, We're gonna go to overtime,
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: and we're finishing this right here in New York. When
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: you step to the line, the entire arena was silent.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Oh, I know. I from television, I saw.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: What are you? What are you?
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: What is your self talk? Like? What is one of
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: the greatest players to play basketball? What are you self talk?
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: What is your self talk when things aren't going right?
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: I think that's the biggest thing, because we.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: Look at you.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: You could do everything. You've done everything, You've accomplished everything.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: But I think people think that that comes without a
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: little bit of doubt. But it's not true. It's just
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: how you react and how you handle that doubt.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: YEP. So during that entire like challenge review, I knew
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: they followed me. I knew I was gonna shoot two
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: free throws, and all I was thinking about was making
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: the shot, making the first one, make the first one,
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: do my routine. I'm at the free throw line. I'm
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: doing my routine like three dribbles, deep breath shot, That's
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: what I do, and hold my follow through like make
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: sure everything is perfect so that I'm doing all I
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: can to make the shot go in the basket and
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: then do it again. I mean, it sounds easy enough,
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: but honestly, like not what I was thinking then, but
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: what my dad kind of always like what I always
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: remember him saying to me, was like, like what is
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: Tiger Woods thinking when he's when he's going up to
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: for a putt, Like he's thinking for it to go
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: in and to make it. And that's what I was thinking.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Like I said, I don't think a lot of people
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: are stupid enough to doubt you, But when things don't
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: sometimes have the outcome we want them to have. There's
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: this like wheel that turns in your head and it
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: can impact things. But you knock down the free throws.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: After that, I have to ask what were you thinking
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: walking to the bench because there was a time out
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: after you knock down this second free throw.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: I think that we got to get a stop time
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: out after I made two free throws.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you made the two free throws, and then it
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: was when they inbounded the ball on the other end.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: Second, we have to get a stop. Now everything is
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: riding on defense, literally Game one all over again.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: And that's the switch. I think that the grades have
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: you have that accomplishment. It's switching gears and onto the next. Well,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: we're instead of going on to the next we're going
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: to go back and we're going to talk about your
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Seattle days and the Seattle days in twenty sixteen when
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: you got there to the team. I remember running into
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: you in a lobby at the Mohegan Sun. Things were
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: tough initially, you weren't. You were just coming off of
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: winning four national championships at the at at Yukon, and
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: then you step in as the number one draft pick
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: and go to a team that didn't really do that.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: Well that's why they had got the number one pick.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: What is the mindset as a rookie after winning so much?
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, you guys didn't lose at Connecticut and then
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: in the first season you probably lost more than you
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: than you had lost in your whole life.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: At that point in time, yep.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: I think we were like seventeen and eighteen that year
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: and I lost five games at Yukon.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: So yeah, and then in high school probably that's what
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: I'm saying.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: What I thought when I when I was drafted to
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: Seattle was I was like, I can't wait. This is
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: gonna be great, Like we're gonna go We're gonna turn
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: things around. And my first game was against you. A
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: lot of my first things are with her, and I
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: was like, this is amazing. I'm playing at Staples Center.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: I actually saw you the night before at Beyonce.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: Was I was at Beyonce.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: We were at the Beyonce concert. We ran into each other,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: like you at the game.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: All right, So there's that, you know, doing things that
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: you wouldn't do at Yukon. I mean, you're a professional,
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: exactly A good what a great concert. But anyways, I
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: was like, my first game is going to be against Candice.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be at Stable Center, Like this is perfect. Perfect.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: We lose by like thirty thirty, and I was like
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: I was in the locker room like what are we
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: gonna do now? How are we going to fix this?
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: And I remember my teammates were like, so where are
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: we going to dinner? And I was like what? But
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: that's like that's how quick the season goes and the
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: games go, it's it's literally onto the next that's the
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: pros I was my welcome to the WNBA moment. Was
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: playing against you that was getting smoked?
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Well listen, uh, we may have gotten the title that year,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: but you got the title in twenty eighteen and twenty
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: twenty one of those seasons being in the bubble. What
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: was it like playing with Sue Bird and learning from
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: her as a rookie of how to be a professional,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: how to be a great, how to win in this league,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: and ultimately towards the end her career, like fighting for
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: her to not have her career ending and getting her
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: extra championships. Honestly, because being a part of two of those,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: for you had to be pretty special.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: To be able to play with Sue is something that
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: like I'll always appreciate just because of who she is,
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: like one of the best to ever play, best point guard,
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: and just the way that she kind of carries herself.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: Obviously the stats will speak for themselves, but I learned
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: so much from her and just the way that she's
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: comfortable in her own skin, the way that she handles herself,
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: the way that she leads, and really taking that with
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: me as as I go. And when she retired, I
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: was really sad because I didn't I didn't want her
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: to retire. I wanted her to keep playing, and it
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: just made me sad to think about like being on
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: the court without her. I thought she was going to
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: retire in after twenty twenty one the year before, and
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: I hurt my left achilles. I had like a minor
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: tear and I was basically done for the season unless
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: we were gonna get to the Semis. And I would
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: try to come back and play, and I just remember
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: like constantly asking her, like are you going to retire?
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: Are you are you gonna be done? Because if you're
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: gonna be done, I'm gonna play, like you know. But
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: she came back. We played one more year, like no
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: more championships after the bubble. But you know, the memories
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: there are like.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that big runs where if certain things would
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: have went certain ways, that series against y'all in Vegas
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: was probably one of the best series I've ever watched.
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: She had it. I mean, she basically hit a game winner, yeah,
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: and then we messed up.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: But listen, I think it was unbelievable for me to
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: watch as a competitor, your ability to go from a
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: rookie and understanding the game and understanding what you're able
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: to do. This is what I've always wanted to ask you.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: You can do everything on the court. How do you
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: trust to allow your teammates to do because I think
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: that was something that when you can dribble, you can shoot,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: you can pass, you can run the floor, you can
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: set the screen, you can do all of these things,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: but sometimes you're needed to do this. How do you
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: focus on what you're needed to do? Like one game
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: you're gonna hit six threes, and another game they're gonna
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: need you to, you know, take it to the block
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: and do that. And then one game you're gonna have
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: to guard nofisa. You have to be the best defender
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: on the court for your team to win, Like in
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: the words you know of your college coach, like everything,
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: if it's not done on the court, is going to
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: be your fault. So how do you know what to
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: hone in on? Game by game?
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: I think like obviously trusting my teammates and not trying
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: to do it all, you know, knowing that I can
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: do a lot of things, but picking and choosing the
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: moments of when to do them. But honestly, when I
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: think about the game and when I start, I want
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: to focus on defense, you know, I want to focus
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: on little things. Of course, I want to come out
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: and be able to be like hitting ten straight shots
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: or whatever, but most likely that doesn't happen, and just
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: focusing on, like the scout, the little things. How can
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: these create bigger moments? And then you know, when you're playing,
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: it's like there's and things are really you're not thinking
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: about anything.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: You're just going thinking about it. But shoot, you'd be
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: out there at one point, I mean blocking shots, raking
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: the rebound, dribbling down, doing a drop pass, hitting the screen,
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: going into a mid post pump, faking going up like
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: I want you to turn it over because I know
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: you can dunk, and it pisses me off every time
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: you get up there and just kind of like you
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: remember our dun. You remember our dun. Listen you talking
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: to the wrong person. We had a dunk off overseas.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Still we can dunk. She just needs to do it.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Speaking of overseas, Paris the Olympics this past summer, your
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: third Olympics. It goes fast. I mean, it never gets
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: old to represent Team USA your third time around, you're
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: a VET. I mean, tell the people. I mean there's
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: a lot of people that don't do it once you've
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: done it three times.
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, like playing at the Olympics.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: Winning an Olympic gold is like for me, it's the top,
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: Like it's the best of the best. That's something that
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: I remember being on my grandma's like living room floor
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: watching I think it was the four Olympics and wanting
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: to be there one day, you know, and then you
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: fast forward and twenty twenty four going for my third
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: Olympic gold, having my family there. It was. It was
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: definitely a different Olympics because, like you said, like I'm
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: in this, I'm in a different position, a VET, one
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: of the ones that has been here the second most,
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: I think, because d was still playing and there was
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: like a changing of the guards happening and making sure
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: everything went smooth, and we still accomplished our goal, and
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: you still accomplish it.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: France put up a great France put up a great,
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: great fight, losing by one obviously, Kolia Kopper coming up
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: huge ten points in the fourth big free throws. You
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: blocked a game tying three with twenty one seconds. Then
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: Williams hits another three, but her foot is on the line,
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: and your photo where you're pointing at the line went
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: viral for a bit. What can you say about the
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: world in basketball? Like, what can you say? Because there
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: were years where you've been a part of the Olympics
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: where it's like we could have rolled out of bed
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: yeah and one yea, And now it seems like, you know,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: France got better, Japan got better. The world as a whole,
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: I feel like it's playing basketball. China's you know, got
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: a league over there where they're developing their players. So
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: what can you say about the game as a whole.
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: There's a tremendous amount of parody in women's basketball, and
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: I think that you see that in the Olympics, you know,
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: because there are all these leagues running in all these
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: different countries and you don't only see that, but when
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: the countries get together and when somebody plays us tight,
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: like Belgium or France, then it's like, oh, these teams
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: are good. And it's funny because I feel like, before
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: you know, you've been hit with this line. I've been
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: hit with this line, Like you guys always win. It's
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: boring to watch and now and now what is it?
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: Because the games are tight, teams are getting better, the
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: players are continuing to elevate themselves worldwide, and you see
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: a lot of international players coming into the WNBA.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you this question and then we'll
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: move on to an amazing topic of motherhood. But do
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: you think it's going to hurt Team USA by players
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: not going overseas and having to play because it is
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: a different style of basketball? And I always say this
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: about the men, you know when they went through their
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: struggles before the Redeemed team, because bron would come into
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: the Little Player Lounge and he'd be like, that is
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: not a travel And I'm like, guess what. Over here,
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: that's a travel. You can't do that. And d Wade,
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: that is not a travel. Guess what that's a travel.
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: I literally it would get so many travels called on
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: me overseas because because I want to just.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: You have to open up in America, you can open
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: up overseas. You have to cross or you have to
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: put the ball down and then step. So do you
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: think that it is going to be an adjustment for
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: players because it is like it's the physicality, the shooting
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: the I mean, how you have to bring the ball
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: up the court, what you can do on rebounds and
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: all that stuff, Like you learn that by playing internationally.
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: I don't think, like not yet because you still have
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: players that have played overseas on TIMYSA. Once like that
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: changes and there's no more players that go overseas, then
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: it's going to be like an eye opening experience because
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: there's going to be all these travels again and all
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: these things, and they're gonna knock call fouls on you,
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: but their call fouls for you, but call fouls on you.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: Like that type of situation, the game is ref differently
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: and just kind of being aware of that.
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's gonna be a lot more travels on those teams.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: But speaking of which, I think there's nothing like being
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: able to celebrate with your family when you accomplish something
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: and you want a WBA championship, you also want an
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: Olympic gold medal. What was it like to be able
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: to have, especially your daughter Ruby, who is going to
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: grow up with her mom packing Barclay Center, everybody watching
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: her knockdown game, tying free throws. That's got to feel unbelievable.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: And I know she's three years old and Dale's held
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: one like they're not going to remember this, but they
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: are always going to grow up with that mentality of
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: watching their mom succeed.
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think that was like the biggest, probably
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: the one of the most important things this year with
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: winning was it was my first time winning a gold
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: medal with my family, like with my kids, my first
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: time winning a WNBA championship with my family with my kids.
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: And like you said, they're not gonna remember Ruby right now.
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: She just wants to dance with Ellie. She wants she
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: wants to know where Ellie is, Like, by.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: The way, I need to know how that relationship developed.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: And because Ruby is like she you see her all
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: the time, You're in your postgame interviews and Ruby's like, cool, mom,
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: you had thirty and all, but where's Ellie.
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: I think they really got to a new level in
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: their relationship when Ellie was at my thirtieth birthday party
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: and next thing you know, I'm looking over and Ellie
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: and Ruby are both dancing on the windowsill together and
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: that's where they.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: And that was where she looked at Ellie and was
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: like you're yeah, you're cool, You're my BFF your kids.
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: Let's just talk about it, because I hold a grudge
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: against you because kind of helped you out with Ruby
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: a little bit, told you kind of like gave you
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: the lay of the land and kind of told you.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: You didn't tell me about two kids under two. You
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: never mentioned how difficult it was, So thank you for that.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: But what is your daily routine? How has motherhood changed? Pregame,
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: naps everybody wants to know, and your energy level with
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: you have a three year old and a one year old.
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my daily routine with my kids, I try to
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: go to sleep as early as possible. I probably go
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: to sleep at ten or eleven because I know that
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: at six o'clock Ruby's going to come in my room
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: and be like, I want to watch Paul Patrol. She
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: has this like this little flashlight and it happened like
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: two days ago. She walks in the room, Mommy, mommy,
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: in my face. I'm like, Ruby, what are we doing
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: right now? What do we go to sleep? I'my's tired.
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: So we start early. We start our days very early.
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: We're constantly on the go. But I don't know, being
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: a mom, you have this different type of strength, different
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: type of energy. I don't know how I make it work.
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: Like there was one game in the when I was
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: in Seattle where Ruby had like a fever, she had
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: the flu. I went to the the hospital, we went
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: to the emergency room. The night before we played somebody
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: at Climate Pledge, and then you just wake up and
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: you get ready and go to your game. Like those
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: are real life things that happen.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: I always talk about this viral moment where Blue Ivy
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: is sitting in between jay Z and Beyonce and they're
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: holding her snacks, Like jay Z has her juice box
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: and Beyonce's like holding her snacks and she's like just
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: operating like a kid, because your kid could care less
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: what you do your mom. So what is your humble
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: moment that Ruby, especially because she seems like she humbles
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: the mess out of you just from looking out like
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: she looks like this is all great. You have all
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: these trophies in the trophy case, not on the trophy room,
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: but we're gonna watch Paw Patrol and you're gonna dress
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: up as Paw Patrol for Halloween.
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: My humble moment, I mean, I wish I could, like
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: I should write these things down that she says to me.
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: But just I think I'm pretty grounded, Like I'm pretty
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: humble and like living in the moment. But Ruby definitely
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: makes sure of that. She's like, no, Mommy, we're gonna
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: do this. No, mommy, I don't know her this.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: I just think it's so funny because like in postgame,
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: you'll like go to reach for her, but then she'll
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: like want to play with the confetti or.
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: Something like that.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: She has no interest. She's like, great, you won the championship.
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: Yes he's happy. He has no idea, but yeah, this
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: confetti is wh When.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: We drive by Barclay sometimes she's like, look, mommy, you're basketball. Yeah,
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: my basketball.
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: Well, I must say they remember. Laila remembers stuff, like
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: she'll bring up stuff that happened. She'll be like, mom,
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: remember when we were in Seattle and we went down
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: and caught the fish at the fish market, And like
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: she'll remember stuff from when she's younger. And you know,
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: obviously the pictures will fill in the holes. But I
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: think to be able to bring your kids along in
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: your journey is there's nothing like it. And I'm I
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: loved watching you play before, but even more so now
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: I love watching you play because you do have that,
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: like mom's strength, and you're thirty, so it makes me happy.
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: I don't know why she keeps throwing because everybody want to.
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: That's probably true. Let's talk about little Stewie, Little Stewie,
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: which we're gonna dig one of those pictures out of
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: you with the headband, with the long arms, posing with
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: the basketball, because little Stewie was just a string bean.
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: One of the pictures of when we were in wherever
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: we were Spain.
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: Oh lord, okay, we're gonna skip over this. This is
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: my show. We can skip we can edit, we can
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: edit that out. We can edit that out. Oh goodness, okay,
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: la la la uh. They used to call you bean.
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: Why why did they call you bean?
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: They called me bean because I look like a string bean.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: We're gonna find the picture long and lanky in my head,
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: looked really big listen, but probably played the exact same way,
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: because I remember the first time I heard when you
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: committed to Connecticut that this freshman was coming the next year,
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: and boy, we'll we'll we'll get to that in a second.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: H you modeled your game after Tim Duncan. I I
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: don't see it. I'll be honest, you have modeled. I mean,
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: I'm just saying, like Tim Duncan is big, fundamental and
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: last time I saw you, like went behind your back
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: and did like a euro step and stuff.
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: I don't my dad, Okay, he would have me watch
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: Tim Duncan. Okay, I watched Tim Duncan, I watched Dirk,
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: I watched you. Mm hmm. That's why I won my
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: first WA game. It was against you. I was like, Oh,
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: this is amazing, and then I was like, maybe this's
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: not that.
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: Amazing talking about your recruiting process, because you were this
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: phenom that was six three sixty four that could do everything.
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: Probably the deepest skill set, honestly. And I say that
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: because I grew up watching Lauren Jackson that was like
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: my she still is like one of my favorite players.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: And I feel like you're an more athletic Lauren Jackson,
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: which is crazy to even think of. And from the
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: first time I saw you at Connecticut, it was like
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: you just scream versatility and you know, changing the game.
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: And I was hoping that you'd turn the ball over
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: a couple of times to dunk because you can, but
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: talk about.
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna do it now that I'm there, Please do
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: it now.
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: Then I'm just like mother's strength and like that old
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: woman's strength, just get there. Talk about your recruiting process Connecticut.
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, Gino, one of the greats in the game,
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: shows up to recruit you to come to Connecticut. What
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: was that decision?
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: Like being recruited was kind of wild because not that
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: I wasn't ready for it, but all of a sudden,
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: when I was fourteen, it was like I got my
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: first offer from Syracuse. I have all these AAU teams
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: like asking me to come, like come to New York City,
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: come to the Philadelphia Bells, like come drive four hours
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: to practice with our team, and I'm like what what?
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: I ended up doing it because I don't know, we
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: thought it was a good idea. But to see like
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: all of the interest, all of the colleges, the coaches
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: continue to call me, like write letters, do all those things,
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: I was like, wow, okay, like I have the opportunity
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: to be really good.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: What were your top three schools?
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: Uh? My top three were Yukon, Penn State, and Duke.
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: So you're always going to Connecticut.
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, But I have to say one one cool thing
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: about Tennessee. I could say, one Tennessee, I can give
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: you like a little tennis zoom in, zoom in right here.
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: This is Connecticut grad talking about Tennessee.
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: Because Pat Summit came to my high school gym and
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: that was like, I remember, everyone in the arena was
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: kind of just like like woo, who's here? Like everyone,
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: and it was really cool to have her come to Syracuse.
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: But also the way that she like pretty much talk
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: to any of the students that came up to her
• 51:11
  Speaker 2: was something that I'll never forget. My dad definitely will
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: never forget. And like those moments and you're recruiting times
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: are special.
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: It's wild and I never run out of excitement when
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: I hear new stories. I'd never heard that a coach summit,
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: but she had a presence about her and a respect
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: for the game that I think that I must say.
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: I'm excited that Tennessee and Connecticut rivalry is back. We
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: should go together to the game and sit next.
• 51:42
  Speaker 2: To each other. It's at your arena.
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: So I got you. I know some people, I mean,
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: you're going to be here, but I.
• 51:49
  Speaker 2: Think I'm in a one on one tournament. But I
• 51:51
  Speaker 2: can come up.
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: Okay, listen, Puma send the plane. You decided on Connecticut.
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: What was Geno's pay? What made you want to want
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: to go to Connecticut and be a part of that?
• 52:05
  Speaker 2: What made me want to go to Connecticut was like
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: all the great players that went there, and you know,
• 52:12
  Speaker 2: I was at this moment where I'm like, I want
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: to be the best. I want to I want to
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: do all of the things, and how can I do that?
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: And it was you know, looking up at the banners
• 52:26
  Speaker 2: and the Huskies of Honors and you see all that
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: came through and what they did in college, but like
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: what they continue to do in the league. And that's
• 52:34
  Speaker 2: where I was like, all right, they're gonna make me
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: better here. And then when I committed and my freshman
• 52:41
  Speaker 2: year was like I was like what am I doing?
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: But most freshman years do that, but then don't end
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: up here. With the championship you won all four years, Yeah,
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: that was pretty great at Connecticut. You got four most
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: US Standing Player. There was never a doubt after that
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: freshman year championship that you guys were gonna win, just
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: because it was so ridiculous. What did you attribute to
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: that success? How do you maintain excellence? Because I think
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of people that it's easy to be
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: the hunter and it's really hard to be the hunted.
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that. Well my freshman year. So, like
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: you said, my freshman year was when Louisville hit that
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: shot against Baylor, they got upset. That was Beg's team,
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: and our season was up and down. We lost the
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: Big East Tournament. We played Notre Dame like three times
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: already and we lost all three. But once we saw
• 53:40
  Speaker 2: Baylor lose, it was kind of like, all right, this
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: is our chance to like go get it. And we
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: played Notre Dame for the fourth time and we finally
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: beat them. But after that championships, it was like now
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: we know, now we know what to do. And we
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: were undefeated my sophomore and my senior year and coach
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: or i Ama will never let me forget that we
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: ruined the streak and we would have been like one
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: hundred and something, you know, if we hadn't lost at
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: Stanford my junior year.
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: How dare you lose one game?
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: One game?
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: Excellence, cheez? So you have won at all of these
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: different levels. What I hate when people ask me this,
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: but I'm gonna ask you this. I'm what's your sweetest
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: ask questions, what's your sweetest what's your most satisfaction in winning?
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: I won't say this the sweetest championship. I'll say what's
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: the best feeling that you've had winning.
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: On all levels? Like one, only.
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: One, only one, it's my show, only one.
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: Okay, m I think the best feeling what's probably winning
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: in New York because it was the first time, like
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: first time ever one of the founding teams of the
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: WNBA and finally bringing it home and like we have
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: like seventeen thousand, eighteen thousand people in that arena rocking
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: like like I said, the fifth ave celebration, the parade afterwards,
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: it was incredible. But what was even crazier to me
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: was all the people in the Liberty gear because that
• 55:32
  Speaker 2: means they go to games, you know, they go and
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: buy and they support. And now when I'm back in
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: New York, like I'm constantly just fist bumping like yeah,
• 55:39
  Speaker 2: like congrats, like and just making a difference, like making
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: a difference in New York City, in the mecca, like
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: the place for the city of basketball, and hopefully that's
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: going to continue to bring us all to a different level.
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: Oh wow, questions back, I would agree with you. I
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: think Chicago was that was crazy. Chicago was probably my favorite,
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: my sweetest. I was in front of people that first
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: saw me pick up a basketball, like my chemistry, high
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: school chemistry teacher was at the game, my high school
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: coach was at the game. So I think definitely Chicago.
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: There's something sweet about doing something the first time. I
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: have to talk about shoes because you were the first
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: signature athlete in nearly ten years. There was a ten
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: year gap between myself and you in shoes. I walked
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: into Dick's Sporting Goods and I would see my pe
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: and I would see your shoe, and my daughter Leila
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: would always be like, that's Stewey's shoe, that's your shoe,
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: and then there would be a picture of you and
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: I what does that say? I always looked at it
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: from the perspective of my daughter and my nephew. Your
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: brother watched you grow up. What does that say to
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: like where women's basketball is now and that before it
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: was like women can't sell basketball shoes, they can't be
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: a part of this. But now we're seeing it more
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: and more, and we're going to continue to see it
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: more and more.
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: Just changing the narrative like fighting, fighting against it, and
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: you know, to have the first signature in ten years,
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: like since you the tent, it's a tenth mine was
• 57:28
  Speaker 2: a tenth signature shoe, and now there's like eleven, twelve, thirteen,
• 57:32
  Speaker 2: like a lot to come. It's humbling, it's it's inspiring.
• 57:39
  Speaker 2: It was bittersweet for me when I first got it
• 57:42
  Speaker 2: because it's like, well, why has the weight man so long?
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: Why has it taken so long?
• 57:49
  Speaker 2: But now you know, for whatever reason, there's an appreciate,
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: an even greater appreciation for us and what we do,
• 58:00
  Speaker 2: and it's it's been a long long time coming. But
• 58:05
  Speaker 2: I think, like I have to give a shout out
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: to Puma because they were willing to be different and
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: to try, and you know, whether it worked or not,
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: they wanted to be the ones to try. And we
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: did that with you know, bringing the signature back and
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: now hopefully it stays. Well.
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: All I know is you've accomplished so much in your career.
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: You're not done yet, coming off of a remarkable twenty
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: twenty four, about to enter into twenty twenty five starting
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: off with unrivaled, So we'll see if you can finish
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: off the trifecta of championships here, what is something that
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: you have yet to accomplish that you want to accomplish.
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: Something I've yet to accomplish.
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's where we're at right now. She's still
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: got Probably.
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: I haven't won defensive Player of the Year. I like that.
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: I think that's possible. Put it in there.
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: Mart. You know my wife she was. Oh she talked,
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: she talked about a great defender.
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, she was.
• 59:22
  Speaker 2: She was. So she always gets on me about that.
• 59:24
  Speaker 2: So I'm trying to.
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: My wife is not a great defense I need to
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: be better.
• 59:28
  Speaker 2: So that can be something that I haven't done yet.
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: That's something that she can get on you about because
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: she played defense. I'll be talking about defense and I'm like,
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: you need to sit this one out. She's gonna kill me.
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: All right, We're gonna go into our last segment before
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: we wrap of who said that? Do you have to
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: tell me in your universe of people who said that?
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: Stewey pretends like she's humble and nice and kind and
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: would rescue cats from trees. That's the impression she wants
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: you to have. She's not built like a great player,
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: so everything about her is deceptive. Who said that, Think
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: you can guess it, think about it, who would say that?
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 2: Cult? I'm like, you're.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: Pretty good, pretty good, But it was like the rescue
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: cats part for me as one of the most humble, accomplished,
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: unbelievable athletes of our generation. Thank you so much for
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: joining us on the trophy room. Wouldn't be right to
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: have anybody else other than you for my first guest,
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: so I'm excited to watch you work today. Thank you
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: for this season, not today, this season.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me as the first guest ever.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 2: What an honor, What an honor, What a pleasure, What
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 2: a lot of fun. Cheers, drink your water, cheers, cheers.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: I wish there was something else in this cup.