Speaker 1: Welcome to All the Smoke, a production of The Black
Speaker 1: Effect and our Heart Radio and partnership with Showtime. Welcome
Speaker 1: back Man, season two of All the Smoke. We got
Speaker 1: a real special guys, what's up with your Brodie? With
Speaker 1: the virtual handshake? I'm gonna tell you something that I
Speaker 1: never told No back, I want to smoke. Welcome back
Speaker 1: season two All the Smoke. We have our first w
Speaker 1: NBA player. We're very excited about that. But not only
Speaker 1: is she a w NBA player, she's a four time champ.
Speaker 1: Welcome Sue Bird to the show. So how are you doing.
Speaker 1: I'm good, I'm good, Thanks for having me. What's up, Champ?
Speaker 1: Thanks man, I'm good. I mean, you know how it
Speaker 1: is after you win, you're still is the best? Right?
Speaker 1: Get to enjoy you, get to enjoy it. Um, you
Speaker 1: know we're you and I went to college the same time. Um,
Speaker 1: you're in your seventeen coming up on forty years of age?
Speaker 1: Is there a timetable left? Know? Tom Brady at forty two,
Speaker 1: Vince at forty three? Just shut it down? What is
Speaker 1: your what is your thinking? You've always been known to
Speaker 1: keep your body in mind in great shape. Is the
Speaker 1: finish line? Near. I don't think so. It's like, asked
Speaker 1: me in a month, asked me in two months. Things
Speaker 1: just change like that when you're this age. But as
Speaker 1: of right now, I think I'm gonna go for it.
Speaker 1: We'll see. We got the Olympics maybe coming up, so
Speaker 1: there's that too, Yes, that would be what you're an
Speaker 1: opportunity when you're fifth gold medal. Yeah, yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 1: You've got a lot of hardware, from college to the
Speaker 1: League to the Olympics. You've got a lot of hardware.
Speaker 1: Just trying to stack them up. That's all you can do. Man.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, you always are never
Speaker 1: there's always more room. There's always room. Right now, You've
Speaker 1: always been known to be a fairly private person, but
Speaker 1: you've very outspoken on social justice issues, UM equality, female rights, UM,
Speaker 1: racial discrimination. With the with the election around the corner,
Speaker 1: what is your message behind all that vote? I mean,
Speaker 1: the one thing I learned I think this this um.
Speaker 1: I was about to say summer. I guess it is
Speaker 1: the summer into the fall. It's just how important voting is.
Speaker 1: I mean, the one quick story I can tell is
Speaker 1: Chris Paul actually set up with with with the n
Speaker 1: B a p A along with our p A a
Speaker 1: call with Michelle Obama and to hear her all she
Speaker 1: wanted to talk about was voting. And I know she's
Speaker 1: dedicated her like post first Lady life to that, but
Speaker 1: to hear her talk about like, yeah, you know, like
Speaker 1: President Obama, he killed it in the election, but then
Speaker 1: we lost all the midterm elections and now you see that, right,
Speaker 1: Like you see how all these senators are the ones
Speaker 1: controlling everything. So I think there's different ways we can
Speaker 1: all have and make impact. But the one way we
Speaker 1: can for sure have our voices heard is to vote,
Speaker 1: and then not only that, for me, a step further,
Speaker 1: like educate people on voting, get other people to vote,
Speaker 1: not just so not just my vote, right, like trying
Speaker 1: to get people out and encourage them. That to me
Speaker 1: is has been the one thing that has stood out
Speaker 1: the most. I think it's important. And when we say vote,
Speaker 1: I'm because I'm on the same thing. It's obviously when
Speaker 1: we tell people to vote, that's almost a loaded situation
Speaker 1: because once you get there, there's so much stuff you're
Speaker 1: supposed to already know, and it's really confusing if you
Speaker 1: really don't go in there with the plan. But it's
Speaker 1: not just on the federal level. It's on your local
Speaker 1: and state level as well, because that's where the laws
Speaker 1: you know, are created and passed and all that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. So I think for I think now more
Speaker 1: than ever, people are paying attention and wanting to vote.
Speaker 1: So there's just there's definitely a lot that comes with it.
Speaker 1: But like I said, it's not just for the presidency,
Speaker 1: it's for your community as well, and that's that's where
Speaker 1: I think people can be really effective at as well
Speaker 1: and see immediate turnaround. Yeah. Absolutely, I mean, like as
Speaker 1: you guys like to bring up, I am turning forty
Speaker 1: soon and like some of this stuff I didn't even
Speaker 1: know until this year, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 1: I think people might get embarrassed by that or whatever.
Speaker 1: It's like whatever, Like if it means you're forty, if
Speaker 1: your twenty, if you're fifty, who cares? Like now is
Speaker 1: the time, So like go out of your way to
Speaker 1: like get educated, to talk to whoever you need to
Speaker 1: talk to kind of help guide you make a plan,
Speaker 1: all that good stuff. Absolutely, the NBA did a great
Speaker 1: job of of coming together with the bubble idea and
Speaker 1: executing it. H you guys followed right behind. What was
Speaker 1: the process? Where was your hand in kind of creating
Speaker 1: the situation? Because I know you are obviously the uh
Speaker 1: you know, a very outspoken in your league on a
Speaker 1: lot of different fronts. But did you help with the
Speaker 1: plan of this? Yeah, so I'm also on the executive
Speaker 1: committee for our p A. And it was basically like
Speaker 1: a bizarre cb A negotiation, you know, like obviously the
Speaker 1: CBS where you talk about the money and then thissten
Speaker 1: of that. This was that plus like all this other
Speaker 1: stuff with safety and COVID and you know, one big
Speaker 1: non negotiable was that the season was going to be
Speaker 1: dedicated to In the moment, we didn't know Brianna Taylor
Speaker 1: like specifically, but as it turned out, we were going
Speaker 1: to dedicate that season to her, to her family, to
Speaker 1: say her name all that. So it was it was
Speaker 1: a lot I mean, low key. I wish there was
Speaker 1: cameras on all these zoom calls when we were going
Speaker 1: through all this, because as you guys heard on the
Speaker 1: NBA side, like a lot of players had a lot
Speaker 1: of different feelings about it, and so it was very
Speaker 1: I mean crazy how similar A lot of the feelings
Speaker 1: and and kind of emotions that people were going through.
Speaker 1: It was the exact same on the w n b
Speaker 1: A side as well. Once you guys decided to come together,
Speaker 1: and you know, if you're in your inn and we
Speaker 1: understand if you're not. You guys have really always been
Speaker 1: at the forefront as far as being creative with messaging
Speaker 1: and campaigns and and and things of that nature. And
Speaker 1: I said back on ESPN about a month ago, I
Speaker 1: was like, if any quote unquote white players can understand
Speaker 1: the struggle of the Black community, it's the women of
Speaker 1: the w n b A. Because ever since your inauguration,
Speaker 1: you your fighting, your voice, and your message has always
Speaker 1: been for equality, equal foot, equal pay, equal opportunity. So
Speaker 1: to me, that's probably one of the main reasons I
Speaker 1: thought you guys are so far ahead of even NBA
Speaker 1: when it comes to ideas, what what what What's behind that?
Speaker 1: In your opinion, Yeah, I think, um, you know, given
Speaker 1: like where women and female athletes are in our society,
Speaker 1: you know, just like how we're treated or how we
Speaker 1: looked at, we kind of have had to have this
Speaker 1: mentality of like fight right, like fight for what we
Speaker 1: think is right, and a lot of times the people
Speaker 1: in the locker room. We're not just obviously we're women,
Speaker 1: but we're not just women. We're black women, we're gay women,
Speaker 1: we come, we have like all different It's like a
Speaker 1: melting pot in our league, similar to a lot of
Speaker 1: sports leads, which is what makes them great. So we
Speaker 1: just kind of it just kind of came naturally. I've
Speaker 1: actually said before it's not even like we chose it
Speaker 1: per se. It just kind of was brought to us.
Speaker 1: We kind of had to defend ourselves and with that
Speaker 1: we like develop this backbone. And you know, our league,
Speaker 1: the beauty of it is it's it's big enough where
Speaker 1: we affect, you know, have impact in a lot of
Speaker 1: different communities. Like we have twelve teams, that's twelve major cities,
Speaker 1: but we're small enough for four players where we can
Speaker 1: do the organizing right. So like even in the bubble
Speaker 1: very quickly, you know, once the Milwaukee Bucks were like
Speaker 1: we're not playing very quickly, we were able to kind
Speaker 1: of like figure out what we wanted to do to
Speaker 1: support them. You know, sidebar wasn't even about support. It
Speaker 1: was more just like this is some crazy ship and
Speaker 1: it impacts people directly and they're being like retraumatized and
Speaker 1: they need a fucking day off. You know, they need
Speaker 1: two days off, They need moments. But then within those moments,
Speaker 1: we had a small enough group where we could like
Speaker 1: our guys, we wanted to do this, we want to
Speaker 1: do that. Let's wear this T shirt, you know, so
Speaker 1: we can present like united and I think that goes
Speaker 1: a long way. Absolutely. One thing always too, like you said,
Speaker 1: I think because the numbers are smaller, but you guys
Speaker 1: are always very united on the same page. Like you said,
Speaker 1: you may have heard different obviously, opinions, ideas, thoughts, but
Speaker 1: you guys come together very quickly. Um, and this was
Speaker 1: no different. Yeah, I mean, like I said, the lead
Speaker 1: up was was crazy, some of the conversations, and you know,
Speaker 1: players who didn't feel comfortable or just weren't in the
Speaker 1: right mind mind frame to come play in the bubble,
Speaker 1: that was cool. We still wanted to keep them connected,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So, I mean, Natasha Cloud
Speaker 1: is one Renee Montgomery. There there's a list, and we
Speaker 1: just want to make sure whatever we did do they
Speaker 1: were still connected to that because just because it didn't
Speaker 1: feel right for them doesn't mean that they can't be
Speaker 1: a part of what are like, I guess like long
Speaker 1: term whatever messaging was because for us, I think we
Speaker 1: all landed on being there. That is our platform. We're
Speaker 1: different from the men's players, like our platform is together
Speaker 1: it is when we're playing basketball. Um. But the best
Speaker 1: part was that everybody kind of got to be a
Speaker 1: part of it, whether they wanted to actually physically be
Speaker 1: there or not. Well, that was one thing, you know,
Speaker 1: because Jack and I had different point of views, and
Speaker 1: and my point of view was your point of view. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, you would hear from Lebron if the NBA
Speaker 1: decided not to go back, because he's a superstar and
Speaker 1: he has his reach reaches around the world, but what
Speaker 1: you have heard from the next tier of players, or
Speaker 1: would you have heard from Doc Rivers? You know. And
Speaker 1: then Jack was on the other side, like you said,
Speaker 1: you felt like, you know, when you guys decided to
Speaker 1: follow the Bucks lead, the world needed a break, and
Speaker 1: that's where Jack's focus was, just like, you know, we
Speaker 1: kind of are straying away from the task at hand
Speaker 1: if we start back with sports. So we kind of
Speaker 1: both had our reasonings back and forth, and you know,
Speaker 1: we both made good points and both understood where each
Speaker 1: of us were coming from as well. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I heard I heard you guys talk about it. I
Speaker 1: was listening, um, and it is it's vote valid points.
Speaker 1: I think after going through it, it's just it's almost
Speaker 1: like there's no wrong answer. And I think now that
Speaker 1: the seasons have ended, what I'm kind of hoping is
Speaker 1: the distraction, because I know that was a big part
Speaker 1: of the argument, right like this is going to distract
Speaker 1: from what you know, the movement, so to speak. But
Speaker 1: now that it's gone, I think maybe we were able
Speaker 1: to use the platform to kind of get some things
Speaker 1: out there. And now that sports has gone, well not sports,
Speaker 1: but basketball has gone again now, so now it's like
Speaker 1: it's kind of like a great combination, right, like sports
Speaker 1: rose it up to another level and now it can
Speaker 1: continue to be pushed without actually having the distraction of playing.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it was it was tough. I just hate
Speaker 1: that it was so much pressure put on the w
Speaker 1: n b A and the NBA to to to hold
Speaker 1: it up. Like everybody has a responsibility, you know, everybody
Speaker 1: has a job to do. We the NBA is not
Speaker 1: gonna get it done by themselves. The w n b
Speaker 1: A is not gonna get done. But I said, yes,
Speaker 1: we have a job to do and we have big voices.
Speaker 1: But a lot of people put a lot of pressure
Speaker 1: on the w n b A and the NBA like
Speaker 1: it was their job to make change. You know, it's
Speaker 1: all our jobs. But it was just a blessing to
Speaker 1: see y'all do your part, which we knew y'all would
Speaker 1: because y'all always do. Thank you, man, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1: What are some things, like you said, now that the
Speaker 1: season is over, is there anything that you guys will
Speaker 1: be doing moving forward? I know the NBA hasn't had
Speaker 1: a bunch of postseason initiatives. There's anything you can discuss
Speaker 1: right now or there, or there's things still in the works. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's more in the works. Like going through
Speaker 1: the season, we organized so much and it's hard. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's a reason I keep saying, like there's a reason
Speaker 1: why some people this is their lives, their livelihood being
Speaker 1: act And that's what I said. Their hold. They that
Speaker 1: their whole life is from when they wake up till
Speaker 1: they go to sleep to do this. But then, like
Speaker 1: Jack said, your guys first job technically is to play basketball,
Speaker 1: you know, So to add all that on top of
Speaker 1: your plate and fix something that we didn't start. It
Speaker 1: was a lot. Yeah, it really was. It really was.
Speaker 1: And I saw that mostly with like my black teammates,
Speaker 1: my black like counterpart, I guess is at the right
Speaker 1: word in the in the executive committee, like seeing how
Speaker 1: it impacted them. That's where I felt as a white person,
Speaker 1: as a white player, I could try to like take
Speaker 1: some of that burden off in like the organizing. Right,
Speaker 1: So when it was time, I mean, it's a stupid example,
Speaker 1: but it was an example. It's like, okay, guys, we
Speaker 1: want to make sure we're wearing the same T shirt.
Speaker 1: I was the one who was like, all right, let
Speaker 1: me handle this because that was like one way because
Speaker 1: the organizing part on top of trying to be a
Speaker 1: professional athlete on top of being a black person in
Speaker 1: this country, Like what, yeah, it's so much. Um. So
Speaker 1: as far as like postseason, I think the cool part
Speaker 1: was each individual team in the w B a kind
Speaker 1: of started their own Like I don't know, I'm that
Speaker 1: with like organization, I guess, I don't know. So ours
Speaker 1: in Seattle's called force for change and so now there's
Speaker 1: ways to actually do things in our community in Seattle.
Speaker 1: So that's I think for for I know from my
Speaker 1: team where we can put a lot of the emphasis.
Speaker 1: But I told you guys, like voting, like even if
Speaker 1: it's just you know, posting stuff on social media, doing
Speaker 1: stuff with our our union until November three, that's going
Speaker 1: to be the focus. With everything you just said, You've
Speaker 1: been fortunate enough to win three prior championships leading up
Speaker 1: to this year. How different was this bubble experience? But then,
Speaker 1: like you said, the added pressure of knowing that basketball
Speaker 1: wasn't really it's never really been your own job, and
Speaker 1: now it's magnified that they still want to hear your
Speaker 1: voices and you have to strategize about the world but
Speaker 1: still try to win a w NBA championship. How was
Speaker 1: that this season? Yeah? It was crazy. I mean people
Speaker 1: always ask like, oh, why did athletes speak on We
Speaker 1: have live mics in front of our faces all the time,
Speaker 1: Like what do you mean why are we talking about
Speaker 1: this stuff? So it wasn't I mean, it wasn't juggling act.
Speaker 1: And it was like an emotional roller coaster kind of
Speaker 1: like tied into that and it was hard, and I
Speaker 1: think the hardest part, to be honest, was like you
Speaker 1: couldn't in this bubble. You didn't have an escape. You
Speaker 1: couldn't like whatever your escape is, like, you just didn't
Speaker 1: have it. You were just in this world and you're
Speaker 1: like constantly seeing people. I mean, shout out to all
Speaker 1: the w B players and the coaches and the staff
Speaker 1: and the refs. May I not see you for a year,
Speaker 1: like I would be happy because you're just seeing everybody,
Speaker 1: like you know, getting your food in the elevator, and
Speaker 1: so you just could not get away. Now, on the
Speaker 1: flip side, that ended up being a good thing in
Speaker 1: like the tough moments, right, So when we did decide
Speaker 1: not to play for those two days of games, we
Speaker 1: had each other, So there was that. There was like
Speaker 1: that positive part. But in terms of juggling at all,
Speaker 1: not having escape, I found out I'm like, dang as
Speaker 1: much as I like basketball, like I don't know if
Speaker 1: I like it this much, Like I need to go
Speaker 1: hang out with my friends. I need want to a
Speaker 1: break breather because we're such That's why I say, we're
Speaker 1: such creatures that have it, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like we all have because we got to this level.
Speaker 1: We have routines and stuff. We go by and things.
Speaker 1: We count on being there to kind of balance what
Speaker 1: our what our basketball lives are like. And when then
Speaker 1: that is completely taken away, you're putt in a in
Speaker 1: an foreign situation, and now you're always seeing your your
Speaker 1: enemies quote unquote you know the other teams and always
Speaker 1: happen to because you're already around your teammates a lot
Speaker 1: of normal life, but having to see them every minute
Speaker 1: of every single day, and you can't just yell, shut
Speaker 1: the funk up, I don't want to see you right
Speaker 1: now to nobody, you know what I mean. So it's tough,
Speaker 1: you know, And we talked about this earlier. I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously the bubble was a safe situation, but it was
Speaker 1: still a lot, you know. I talked to Chris Paul
Speaker 1: about just his mental health of the whole aspect, you know,
Speaker 1: Paul George came out and spoke on it. It was
Speaker 1: it was really overwhelming, and I understood because, like you said,
Speaker 1: you're being taken away from your comfort zone and your family,
Speaker 1: your children if you have them. But then there's a
Speaker 1: crazy ass world that's going around and you're in this
Speaker 1: bubble and you're you're stuck. So you know, if you
Speaker 1: get different perspectives and understanding when you kind of talk
Speaker 1: to people who were in it. Yeah, I mean the
Speaker 1: best part was the like being safe from COVID. That
Speaker 1: was like the best part. You could like relax, there
Speaker 1: was I mean, in every bubble, I think there's there's
Speaker 1: always like some false positives. I mean, we're here about
Speaker 1: it now with like the NFL and stuff. So those happened,
Speaker 1: and I think both the NBA and the w B
Speaker 1: a bubble. But once you kind of after the first
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, you understood that was kind of it
Speaker 1: wasn't scary. It was just like, all right, every now
Speaker 1: and then there's gonna be false positive. You were like,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of free. I can like, you know, go
Speaker 1: hang out by the pool, we can go get dinner
Speaker 1: with people. You can take your mask off and feel comfortable.
Speaker 1: So there was that part that was like the one
Speaker 1: stress free part. Actually, when we were leaving the bubble,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, I don't know if I'm ready.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm ready for real world, like
Speaker 1: worrying about everything. But so that was the wrong good part.
Speaker 1: Being a young girl, young Jewish girl from Long Island,
Speaker 1: um first love being soccer. When did you fall in
Speaker 1: love with basketball? Pretty cot Yeah, white girl from Long Island,
Speaker 1: Come on, it had it's a birth it's a birthright,
Speaker 1: it's a birthrate pretty quick though, Like I I mean,
Speaker 1: I played both right away. Soccer probably came first, but
Speaker 1: only because I don't know, I started in the summer
Speaker 1: and then you know, once the fall and the winter came,
Speaker 1: it was right into the basketball court. Um. So those
Speaker 1: are like my favorite, like my two sports for sure
Speaker 1: growing up. And then um, eventually I transferred high school,
Speaker 1: so I ended up going to Christ the King and
Speaker 1: Queens and yeah, you know, and then they didn't have
Speaker 1: a soccer team, so that was that. There was no
Speaker 1: soccer team, So that was it. What was that like, though,
Speaker 1: going from a girl from Long Island to going to
Speaker 1: Queens for school every day? Yeah, So my parents divorced
Speaker 1: and my dad had an apartment in Queens, so I
Speaker 1: basically just moved to Queens. And it was a basketball move.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like it was it was told basketball's decision.
Speaker 1: But like all my family stuff kind of played a
Speaker 1: role in it. But yeah, I mean I have been
Speaker 1: playing for an AU team out of Christ the King
Speaker 1: called the Liberty Bells since like sixth grade. So like
Speaker 1: all the girls on the team went to Christ the King.
Speaker 1: I already knew some of the guys players just from
Speaker 1: like basketball. Yeah, so I kind of it was almost
Speaker 1: like going to college before college, because you know, you
Speaker 1: get to college and know like homies with your teammates
Speaker 1: and then you meet the other teams. It was kind
Speaker 1: of like that. So it was the hardest part was
Speaker 1: like wearing a uniform. It was a Catholic school. I
Speaker 1: got all every confession. Every time we had confession, I
Speaker 1: got the period free. I pulled that Jewish card out
Speaker 1: real fast. That was the hardest part though. So your
Speaker 1: senior year begins the journey of you win in hardware.
Speaker 1: Your senior year, you guys go undefeated, you win a
Speaker 1: state champion chip, and then you head onto Yukon Um.
Speaker 1: Who would some of the other schools you possibly thought
Speaker 1: about joining. Yeah, I visited Stanford, Vanderbilt, and then like
Speaker 1: Duke of Notre Dame or like the kind of like
Speaker 1: the fourth and fifth. I didn't even visit though. It
Speaker 1: was really yukon from the start, Like, yeah, the other
Speaker 1: ones kind of crept in, you know, because like they
Speaker 1: want to dine you, but it was Yukon. What was it?
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously at the long line of great men
Speaker 1: and women there. What did it mean the first time
Speaker 1: you actually got to put that uniform mom, It was
Speaker 1: crazy because they still do really well in attendance. But
Speaker 1: when I was in school, it was like gamble was
Speaker 1: ten thousand so and we sold that out. And then
Speaker 1: we would play in the arena and Hartford and that's
Speaker 1: like sixteen thousand sold that out. And whether we were
Speaker 1: playing like our art arch rival or we were playing
Speaker 1: like I don't know, some D two teams in like
Speaker 1: a preseason game, yeah, it didn't matter. So to me,
Speaker 1: that was like the fans. That was the crazy part.
Speaker 1: So you put the uniform on, you run out to
Speaker 1: all these people. That was wild. That was that was
Speaker 1: the wildest part. Do you do you think yo yo,
Speaker 1: you conteing could be some w NB A teaing. I
Speaker 1: mean yeah, because it's like five w A top five
Speaker 1: picks for my senior year. Yeah, we were loaded. So
Speaker 1: you had a little setback your freshman year, um tearing
Speaker 1: your a c l um. What was that like for
Speaker 1: the first time basketball being taken away due to injury? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was terrible. Um, although I also like talking about
Speaker 1: the bubble and needing a break. I figured out quickly
Speaker 1: even my freshman year, like I love basketball, but like
Speaker 1: I can balance it, you know. So it was tough
Speaker 1: that it was taken away because I didn't have a chance.
Speaker 1: I hadn't proven myself yet, like I was, you know,
Speaker 1: like there was no nothing to back it up. You
Speaker 1: get hurt now or like later in your career, people
Speaker 1: kind of know who you are and what you can do.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, she'll be fine. But this was like
Speaker 1: I ain't done anything. So that was probably the hardest
Speaker 1: part um. But it's probably the thing that like shape
Speaker 1: to me now, like going through that, having to prove
Speaker 1: myself kind of overcome something. You know, I'm back in
Speaker 1: tearing your a c L. It was like a death wish.
Speaker 1: Now it's like back then, yea, then it was scary scary.
Speaker 1: Did you get one of those big old scars like
Speaker 1: from your shin to the top of your they have
Speaker 1: those scary Franken style. I remember because I had toe
Speaker 1: surgery and it was supposed to I thought it was
Speaker 1: a scope and there's like a scar on my toe,
Speaker 1: like the size of my foot. I'm like, what the
Speaker 1: fund was this like? And that was like surgery medical
Speaker 1: that you know, the medical side was much different back then.
Speaker 1: So you were you were able to establish you know,
Speaker 1: winning two championships. They're playing with Diana and Swing Cash.
Speaker 1: What was it like being able to win with your friends?
Speaker 1: That was the best part we had. We had a
Speaker 1: really it was like a it was a close group.
Speaker 1: Like my class is super tight group chat still popping now.
Speaker 1: But then even so in these class was two years
Speaker 1: younger and they we had five in my class, Will
Speaker 1: ended up four at the end, but and they had five.
Speaker 1: So it's like these two like like in numbers, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, these two groups and they kind
Speaker 1: of ride or die when we came together. We still
Speaker 1: had so much fun. So it's like as like you
Speaker 1: guys can It's like the memories aren't the winning. It's
Speaker 1: nice that you win, but it's like all the other stuff.
Speaker 1: Um so to do that and really, I mean you
Speaker 1: mentioned two people for d and Swin, It's like I've
Speaker 1: literally gone through everything with them starting in college. Swin
Speaker 1: actually we played together in the w B A Me
Speaker 1: and d played um me DA and Swin with the
Speaker 1: national team that me and d went to Russia. It's
Speaker 1: just like our careers are so intertwined and it's um
Speaker 1: they're like sisters for sure, So it's it's always amazing
Speaker 1: doing and winning with with your family. That's what's up
Speaker 1: play for our legendary coach Gina r Ema, who wants
Speaker 1: said you're the best point guard in the world. How
Speaker 1: did this is the two part? How did that make
Speaker 1: you feel? And then what is some of the best
Speaker 1: advice he gave you during your time there? He definitely
Speaker 1: didn't say that ship to my face? Do you know?
Speaker 1: You know it's such a g man I love. I
Speaker 1: never met him. I just saw I could just feel
Speaker 1: his energy from the team. I've always fun with him,
Speaker 1: even though I've never met him. He shoots it straight,
Speaker 1: that's for sure. No, it's for him to say that
Speaker 1: like I'm joking, but he he gives you compliments to
Speaker 1: your face, but not when you're in college, not even
Speaker 1: surely thereafter. So to have him say that, to know
Speaker 1: who he's coach, who he's been around, it's obviously an
Speaker 1: amazing compliment. I think the thing he taught me that
Speaker 1: to this day I take with me is um It's
Speaker 1: like a classic line of his basketball is not a
Speaker 1: game of how to, It's a game of when to.
Speaker 1: And that I think is like true for all players,
Speaker 1: but especially for me at the point guard spot, Like
Speaker 1: I'm kind of you know, I'm not out there. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna dazzy with my athleticism. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: rely on those things, so I have to be really
Speaker 1: it really is about when I'm doing this stuff, not
Speaker 1: not how right, like everybody can shoot dribble past, but
Speaker 1: it's like when and being really like smart about it
Speaker 1: and calculated. And that's like my two two the number
Speaker 1: one pick in the w NBA Draft. What do you
Speaker 1: remember most about that that experience? Two things. One, um
Speaker 1: just really realizing like how far Seattle was Like, I'm
Speaker 1: East Coast. I went to an East Coast school. I
Speaker 1: was like, holy shit, this is all the way on
Speaker 1: the other side. Yeah, I wasn't. I wouldn't even I'm
Speaker 1: not like a I don't get homesick like that. But
Speaker 1: that was like a jolt when I finally went out there.
Speaker 1: And then the other thing I remember about my rookie
Speaker 1: year was we played against um the l A. Sparks,
Speaker 1: who they had won the previous year. I mean, like
Speaker 1: Lisa Leslie. They're like I can name names, but you
Speaker 1: get it. They're the l A. They're like, it's l
Speaker 1: A Sparks. And they had this one player, Nicky mccram
Speaker 1: and I told the story recently actually, and she was
Speaker 1: like picking me up full court, which is kind of
Speaker 1: like there's like that point guard code code, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like, really are we doing this? You're picking me
Speaker 1: up full court? Okay? Fine? And she got me twice.
Speaker 1: She written me twice like um, you know, and I
Speaker 1: was like, dang. So come to find out after the game,
Speaker 1: Michael Cooper put like a bounty on my head and
Speaker 1: it was like, whoever she strips her whatever? It was
Speaker 1: a strip. I was like, fuck, so that's what it is.
Speaker 1: Number one pick you have the X on your back.
Speaker 1: I should have asked this earlier, but we discussed this
Speaker 1: with JJ. Redicko was against a couple of shows ago,
Speaker 1: being a smaller, you know, a Jewish girl from Long
Speaker 1: Island right away for you going to twice the King
Speaker 1: and playing against a lot of black players, what was
Speaker 1: that like? Because I remember like the thought process Jack
Speaker 1: and I used to have and we would see like
Speaker 1: one of these young up and coming. Don't let him
Speaker 1: be like, you know, like a white boy. Rookie was
Speaker 1: supposed to be nice, like we wanted a dog his ass.
Speaker 1: So did you face a lot of that? You know,
Speaker 1: through high school college in the w n B A.
Speaker 1: I hope, I mean, I hope, not Loki. I'm the
Speaker 1: same way. I'm like, oh my god, they put a
Speaker 1: white gu Yeah, I think that about right. I love you.
Speaker 1: You're being in Seattle, and you've been in Seattle for
Speaker 1: a while. You know about a restaurant called Catfish Corner No,
Speaker 1: oh wait cafe. It's a restaurant that my father was
Speaker 1: as a restaurant that my my family owned on mar
Speaker 1: Luther King at Cherry Street. It was called Catfish Corners.
Speaker 1: It was opened all around that time because every time
Speaker 1: I played the Sonics, we uhould go there and eat.
Speaker 1: Familiar with that restaurant. I don't think it's still open now.
Speaker 1: I think they moved. But mar Luth Martin Luther King
Speaker 1: a Cherry was a prominent the area in Seattle for
Speaker 1: a while. That's one thing though, I mean, obviously after
Speaker 1: getting your footing in Seattle, I think Seattle's absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 1: Amazing restaurants. I feel like an NBA team should definitely
Speaker 1: be out there, maybe the Clippers, maybe Bomber takes the
Speaker 1: Clippers and kind of set their own identity out there.
Speaker 1: But how do you love the city now? Obviously being
Speaker 1: there for so long, I know why you love it?
Speaker 1: Man didn't mad Anto, No, No, I do love it.
Speaker 1: It did take me a minute, though, and like it's
Speaker 1: not surprising. I don't know a restaurant outside of like
Speaker 1: the Seattle area because anything outside it feels like a
Speaker 1: road trip. I don't really leave my little my little
Speaker 1: nook um. People always make fun of be like, oh,
Speaker 1: have you gone to Vancouver? I'm like, no, have you
Speaker 1: gone to If I go to Bellevue, it's a road trip.
Speaker 1: But I do love it. I do love it. It
Speaker 1: has become I always say, like, when I land in
Speaker 1: the Seattle airport, that feels like home, you know, like
Speaker 1: that airport when you land, it feels like, Okay, I'm home.
Speaker 1: That's what That's what that feels like. Now. It took
Speaker 1: a minute, but I've I've grown to like, absolutely love
Speaker 1: the city. Two thousand four, you get your first w
Speaker 1: NBA championship, being one of eleven women to win an
Speaker 1: Olympic gold medal w NBA championship. What did that moment
Speaker 1: mean to you be able to get your first one
Speaker 1: on the biggest stage. Um, I mean, looking back, I
Speaker 1: don't think I like now I realized is how hard
Speaker 1: it is, how special it is. Looking back, I kind
Speaker 1: of was like I was young, I was fresh out
Speaker 1: of college. Ride one twice I was like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is supposed to happen, and I'm not even being It
Speaker 1: wasn't like a cocky thing. It was just kind of like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is what we do. And then I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: sure you got It's like we didn't get to the
Speaker 1: finals for six years, so we won, and then we
Speaker 1: didn't get there for six years and we had like
Speaker 1: the same core group. So looking back, I should have
Speaker 1: like cherished the moment more than I did. Its something
Speaker 1: you learned, but you were lucky enough to win a
Speaker 1: few more. You've had some great battles against Diana Tarassi
Speaker 1: throughout your career, but on the w NBA level, what
Speaker 1: are those battles meant for you too? Seeing that you
Speaker 1: guys are so close. Yeah, I mean, Loky, I've been
Speaker 1: trying to get her to like sit down with me
Speaker 1: and like watch games. I think it'd be so dope
Speaker 1: to have two people, not just me and here, but
Speaker 1: like two people sit down watch a game they competed
Speaker 1: in and be like, Okay, what were you thinking in
Speaker 1: that time out or what happened after you did that shot?
Speaker 1: Because for me and Are, there's like a lot of big,
Speaker 1: big games that we've competed against each other. We've played
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. I think like maybe like four or
Speaker 1: five different series. I've gotten the best of her, She's
Speaker 1: gotten the best of me. I'm like, thank God, I
Speaker 1: don't have to guard her. Ask though, I'll tell you that,
Speaker 1: so it's always somebody else's problem, um, because she's tough.
Speaker 1: She doesn't lose in those moments, so it's tough. She's
Speaker 1: a Beast's a beast for sure. Two thousand sixteen, you
Speaker 1: guys draft me on the Stewart who later becomes not
Speaker 1: only Rookie of the Year but m v P. In
Speaker 1: two thousand and eighteen, what is it like being the
Speaker 1: veteran now seeing these these young girls come in and
Speaker 1: and and you got one of the best in the game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I haven't said this to her face. I've
Speaker 1: said it publicly, but like she like saved my career.
Speaker 1: I'm not even being you know, dramatic about that. I
Speaker 1: was at a point where it was kind of like,
Speaker 1: you know, two thou sixteen, I'm thirty six, I've you know,
Speaker 1: I've done a lot, but I've also had to like
Speaker 1: endure a lot with my body, some injuries. And then
Speaker 1: we kind of get with her and Jewel Lloyd who
Speaker 1: got drafted the year before, these like youngsters. It was
Speaker 1: like this breath of fresh air, and it just it
Speaker 1: took over our franchise, It took over me. I had
Speaker 1: this like new purpose which was to help them out, right,
Speaker 1: Like I always say, you want to leave those friend,
Speaker 1: or I want to leave this franchise, you know, in
Speaker 1: great hands. So I want to help them as much
Speaker 1: as I can. But it's like she could probably sit
Speaker 1: here and tell you the ways in which I've helped her.
Speaker 1: But the truth is she like legit, her and Jewel
Speaker 1: both like legit save my career. And I'm probably playing
Speaker 1: right now because of them coming to the store. M mmm.
Speaker 1: Do with that said, you you know you got your
Speaker 1: third ring, but help those two get there first. In
Speaker 1: two thousand and eighteen. What was that like to be
Speaker 1: to be able to get them to that place you've
Speaker 1: been so many times. Yeah, that was crazy because it
Speaker 1: was like happiness from like a personal standpoint, but it
Speaker 1: was also this like looking at probably I don't have kids,
Speaker 1: but I'm assuming it's like when your kids do something special,
Speaker 1: you have this like other sense of pride. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: you know, they're not my kids, but I feel like
Speaker 1: in basketball life they kind of are. So it was
Speaker 1: kind of like she's so it was dope. It was dope. Yeah.
Speaker 1: One of your childhood memories was to win, uh, to
Speaker 1: make the Olympic team, and then obviously you've been able
Speaker 1: to succeed that and win four gold medals and and
Speaker 1: and fingers crossed you'll be able to join them next
Speaker 1: year to possibly win your fifth. Tell us what it's like, because,
Speaker 1: like I said earlier, you've been winning for such a
Speaker 1: long time. How different is winning for your country? Oh
Speaker 1: that's crazy because especially like growing up for me, there
Speaker 1: was no w n B A. So like you went
Speaker 1: to college and you like heard about people playing in Europe,
Speaker 1: but I don't know, you're like fourteen, I don't know
Speaker 1: what the hell that is. That's not like what you're
Speaker 1: dreaming to do. So I was like, all right, I
Speaker 1: hope to go to college. And then it was the
Speaker 1: Olympic team that was like it. And right around yeah,
Speaker 1: right around when I turned fourteen fifteen, you had the
Speaker 1: Olympic team who ended up winning in Atlanta ninety six.
Speaker 1: They like did this year long tour. It's like all
Speaker 1: the big names, and that was like, oh, I want
Speaker 1: to do that. So that's that was always kind of
Speaker 1: the dream. So even though playing professional basketball overseas in
Speaker 1: the w b A is great, um, I mean it's
Speaker 1: more than great. It's it's obviously epic, but being on
Speaker 1: the Olympic team, that for me was the ultimate ultimate.
Speaker 1: So to do that multiple times. Um, to go overseas
Speaker 1: and no matter who you're playing, where you're playing them,
Speaker 1: people just want you to lose, but you still find
Speaker 1: a way to win. It's nice. Everybody. They love us.
Speaker 1: They want to live in our country. I mean, I
Speaker 1: hope still. I don't know about anymore, but the people
Speaker 1: overseas like want to live here, but they want to lose.
Speaker 1: They cheer up no matter who you're playing, they cheer
Speaker 1: against you. There's no question but that that's to me,
Speaker 1: that's always been that driving motivation. I'm sure it's on
Speaker 1: another level for you when you're doing in the Olympics.
Speaker 1: You were intricral in helping UM with the pay plan
Speaker 1: for the national team and then also help changing the
Speaker 1: c b A for players in the w n b
Speaker 1: A because most people watching this note but you guys,
Speaker 1: some people have always had to go overseas to make
Speaker 1: ends meet because the pay was so minimum, you know.
Speaker 1: So like I said, you were very intricral and obviously
Speaker 1: getting the you know, the national team payment situation started,
Speaker 1: and then devising the new CBA. Tell us how important
Speaker 1: that was to you, UM, to be able to help,
Speaker 1: because I know you're always about getting back and for
Speaker 1: who's next. Yeah, that's really what it is, UM, because
Speaker 1: really like the c b A. I might get to
Speaker 1: play under it like another year or two, but it's
Speaker 1: not really for me. It wasn't That's not what the
Speaker 1: motivator was. It was for the kids coming up, the kids,
Speaker 1: you know, in high school. I think something about women's basketball.
Speaker 1: It's kind of backwards. It's like college gets all this rightfully,
Speaker 1: so college should get love, but the w b A
Speaker 1: should get equal, if not more love because for a
Speaker 1: college kid, you're there four years, you have a ten
Speaker 1: plus year career, So it's kind of backwards in this way.
Speaker 1: And I just think a big part of it is, like,
Speaker 1: you want to you want to have a league that's
Speaker 1: going to motivate young kids to want to stay in
Speaker 1: the sport, to want to play, to want to move on.
Speaker 1: And I think we just had this like narrative around us,
Speaker 1: and some of it was rightfully, so some of it
Speaker 1: was kind of a stretch, but like that it was
Speaker 1: like a shitty league, you don't get paid, why play?
Speaker 1: This is stupid, all this stuff. So we wanted to
Speaker 1: change that, and so a big part of that was
Speaker 1: getting more money, you know, like changing just kind of
Speaker 1: the the makeup of how the cap got divvied out.
Speaker 1: Like we had a max salary, so once you were
Speaker 1: maxed out, that was it. But there was also obviously
Speaker 1: like but there's this hard cap with a number they
Speaker 1: have to hit and I'm not gonna like bore you
Speaker 1: with it, but eventually your best players weren't getting all
Speaker 1: that extra money when the cap will go up right
Speaker 1: like every year, because you were maxed out, that was it.
Speaker 1: And this is it was like just the format was ridiculous,
Speaker 1: so we got to change that. So now people can
Speaker 1: make like in their w b A like basketball salary
Speaker 1: over two in. But then there's offseason stuff they can
Speaker 1: do too, So like there could be three or four
Speaker 1: players staying home every year, making like close to half
Speaker 1: a million dollars, which is huge and to your point,
Speaker 1: maybe not have to go overseas anymore. Right, Yeah, because
Speaker 1: you saw I want to ask because obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: Brianna went over there and tore her a c L
Speaker 1: and had to sit out for a season, but explained
Speaker 1: to to our fans what your season would be like,
Speaker 1: because you know, most people only think, hey, they they're
Speaker 1: playing in the w n b A and then they
Speaker 1: have all this off time. You guys go right from
Speaker 1: that to overseas. So in a twelvemonth period, how much
Speaker 1: basketball are you actually playing? I mean there, So if
Speaker 1: you're lucky enough I guess to be like on you know,
Speaker 1: on a WB team that goes deep into the playoffs
Speaker 1: or just the playoffs, then you're on your overseas team.
Speaker 1: And then if you throw the national team in there.
Speaker 1: I mean there were years where I'm not even exaggerating
Speaker 1: if I had like a week and a half off.
Speaker 1: I was like, this is amazing, this is so long.
Speaker 1: Where are we gonna go? Like it was just Bob
Speaker 1: to Bob to Bob. And a lot of people's contracts
Speaker 1: will say something like whatever day your WB season ends,
Speaker 1: you have to report ten days after. So if you
Speaker 1: lose in the first round, he was in the finals, whatever,
Speaker 1: you get ten days and then boom and then a
Speaker 1: lot of times you come back late to the w
Speaker 1: B A training camp. So it's just a year round grind.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's worth it because the pay is so
Speaker 1: good overseas, so it's like, you gotta do what you
Speaker 1: gotta do. And I think we would love to kind
Speaker 1: of end that in that cycle so people can just
Speaker 1: stay home and make that comedy. Last Februar year, you
Speaker 1: officially resigned with the Storm. Um thoughts on being one
Speaker 1: of those legendary players that stick with just that franchise
Speaker 1: their entire career And did you ever think that at
Speaker 1: one point you might possibly play somewhere else? Um? Like
Speaker 1: plead the fifth n I did? I did? I did?
Speaker 1: Because before we drafted Jewel, who was right before Stewie.
Speaker 1: So it's like two dozen you know fourteen. It was
Speaker 1: kind of like we didn't know that we were rebuilding,
Speaker 1: and the franchise said, this is it, We're rebuilding. Got
Speaker 1: rid of like all the other O G s if
Speaker 1: you will, and so it was just me. I was
Speaker 1: the only one, and it was kind of like, all right,
Speaker 1: like I had some years left, do I want to
Speaker 1: never play in the playoffs again? That resonated. Somebody said
Speaker 1: that to me, like do you just never want to
Speaker 1: play in the playoffs again? I was like, dang no, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that really hit me. So it was in that moment
Speaker 1: where I kind of juggled and I'll be honest, the
Speaker 1: only places I really would have gone probably is the
Speaker 1: only place was probably no. Hell no, never would you
Speaker 1: have ever because you know, there was obviously joking, you know,
Speaker 1: Diana would joke about it. Did you guys ever seriously
Speaker 1: talk about playing together in your w NBA careers? So
Speaker 1: this is interesting. So we did once, but it was
Speaker 1: in Russia. There was like vodka on the table, and
Speaker 1: it was it was just and we were kind of like,
Speaker 1: but we both we both basically said if we ever
Speaker 1: did it, we would have to go somewhere else like
Speaker 1: not her Seattle or meta Phoenix, like we go, what's fun?
Speaker 1: I wonder if like, because things are just different now,
Speaker 1: Like the talk of it's different to talk about players
Speaker 1: leaving is different. Our cb A is different now with
Speaker 1: the money. Whereas before it was it was hard to leave.
Speaker 1: We have we have like a core title which is
Speaker 1: kind of like franchise players, so they can just keep
Speaker 1: you no matter what. But things are different now. And
Speaker 1: I wonder if d and I were like twenty six
Speaker 1: now right like contracts just coming up, I wonder if
Speaker 1: we would have ever done it? Do have been dangers
Speaker 1: taking your talents to New York exactly? Um, Seattle's field
Speaker 1: with rich sports history obviously the connection that Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: has and King GRIFFI Jr. Shall Camp, Gary Payton. The
Speaker 1: list goes on. How has that experience and interaction been
Speaker 1: for you over the trajectory of your career and all
Speaker 1: you've been able to accomplish. Yes, I think Seattle is
Speaker 1: like special in that way because it's, um it's a
Speaker 1: small it's a big enough city where it has all
Speaker 1: this stuff, but it's small enough where it's really close
Speaker 1: knit and all the sports teams they really support each other. Um,
Speaker 1: I mean listen. Speaking of track, you know, backtrack two
Speaker 1: thousand two. I get drafted, like two weeks later, I
Speaker 1: fly out. The first thing I do is go to
Speaker 1: a Sonics playoff game. So that was like my introduction
Speaker 1: to the city was watching Gary Payton play, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, which was like insane and I'll never
Speaker 1: forget it because every time he had an assist, the
Speaker 1: announcer would just be like a little love from the
Speaker 1: glove and I was like, oh my god, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: like it here, I'm gonna like it here. Um. I
Speaker 1: think it was like the next year where Ray out,
Speaker 1: where they got he got traded and Ray came UM,
Speaker 1: which again was like some great years of Sonic basketball.
Speaker 1: Obviously I'm basketball biased, but it was so dope to
Speaker 1: go to those games. I was at UM when they
Speaker 1: lost to the Spurs in the playoffs that year with Ray,
Speaker 1: Richard Lewis, Um, we were all at those games. You know,
Speaker 1: I missed that. I actually really missed that. But the
Speaker 1: same goes with the Seahawks, the Mariners, UM, the Sounders,
Speaker 1: the rain you name it. There's tons of sports teams
Speaker 1: in Seattle and we all we all just kind of
Speaker 1: get along support each other. It's it's really cool, a special,
Speaker 1: it's dope. Transitioning a little bit. Two seventeen, you came
Speaker 1: out to the world that you were dating, Uh, Megan Rapino.
Speaker 1: Obviously I've read an articles that your family and close
Speaker 1: friends already knew what you were about. But no doubt,
Speaker 1: no doubt. Was it a relief? Was it? What was
Speaker 1: it feeling when you finally just came out? But like
Speaker 1: I said, because like I said before, you know, everyone
Speaker 1: close to you knew the situation, but kind of just
Speaker 1: getting off your chest for everyone else to stop prime
Speaker 1: pricking or wondering. Was there a sense of relief with that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: There was definitely. Um, I think you said it. It's
Speaker 1: like everybody in my life knew, and truly I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't really fully appreciate what it was, what it
Speaker 1: would have meant for me and others to actually just
Speaker 1: say it publicly. I was just kind of like, what
Speaker 1: I'm living my life. I don't hide anything, Like why
Speaker 1: do I feel like say it to a journalist? But
Speaker 1: then when it happened and I did, it was kind
Speaker 1: of like, oh, this is nice. This is like I
Speaker 1: always joked, like I don't have to come out thirty
Speaker 1: thousand times anymore. There was just the one big one,
Speaker 1: you know, and it was done. Um And I think
Speaker 1: it helps other people to like the more people say
Speaker 1: and express you know, who they love and what they're about.
Speaker 1: It just I don't know it helps others. So that
Speaker 1: part I didn't give enough weight too. That was one
Speaker 1: thing that you know, when when when people ask why
Speaker 1: sometimes athletes or celebrities share public information or public hardship
Speaker 1: or whether situation. Maybe most of the time it's not
Speaker 1: necessary for our benefit, but it because so many people
Speaker 1: look up to us and understand that ship if Sue
Speaker 1: Bird is going through this, if Steven Jackson is going
Speaker 1: through this, I can get through this. You know, are
Speaker 1: or I'm fine now? So I think you hit it
Speaker 1: on the head right there. It's beautiful because, like I said,
Speaker 1: our lives are people look at us like we're not normal,
Speaker 1: when we're just as normal as everyone else, and we
Speaker 1: go through the same ups and downs, bullshit, hardships, great times.
Speaker 1: So we're able to share some of our personal life
Speaker 1: and encourage others. It really goes a long way. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: And I noticed that like right out the gate, like
Speaker 1: literally that the second article hit I just like most
Speaker 1: of it on social medi obviously, but even in person,
Speaker 1: I'd have everyone from like a fifteen year old going
Speaker 1: out of their way to be like, thank you so
Speaker 1: much to change my life to like year old would
Speaker 1: be like, oh my god, you made me realize you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. So it was pretty crazy. And
Speaker 1: you know, Meg is kind of like me. We rocked
Speaker 1: to the beat our own drum, and we where we
Speaker 1: want to wear. Take me through the morning of hug
Speaker 1: getting dressed. She'd be wearing a lot of crazy stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, she's like everyone else. We're like every now
Speaker 1: and then, you know, like you plan the outfit in
Speaker 1: your head and then when you put it on, you like, huh,
Speaker 1: not quite that's gonna be. Yeah. She has those moments,
Speaker 1: but for the most part, it's like anything right. It's
Speaker 1: like just the confidence to like be who you are,
Speaker 1: where would you want? Then it looks it look it's
Speaker 1: gonna look good. And that's usually when she puts stuff on.
Speaker 1: I have my moment stressed, but it has this look.
Speaker 1: I'm like whoa, And then twenty minutes later I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I see where you were going with that, and it
Speaker 1: actually works, right, that's what we love. Yeah, so the
Speaker 1: person makes the clothes, not the clothes making the person.
Speaker 1: I want to take it back a little further. Obviously
Speaker 1: you guys are a power couple now, But how did
Speaker 1: how did all this start? Um? So we actually so
Speaker 1: she plays on the team in Seattle, which and we
Speaker 1: have the same not the same agent, but the same agency.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of like we knew of each other.
Speaker 1: You know, of course you're gonna know names and whatnot,
Speaker 1: but we didn't really meet until the Olympics two thousand sixteen.
Speaker 1: Was like the first time. There was like a hello
Speaker 1: before that, but it was really the first time we
Speaker 1: like hung out, and I mean she was in a relationship,
Speaker 1: so it wasn't even like that at first, but then
Speaker 1: like very quickly it was kind of like we're texting
Speaker 1: a lot, I don't know, and then we're both in Seattle,
Speaker 1: and then from there obviously the rest of history. It works.
Speaker 1: It's that she's someone who's been very vocal and advocate
Speaker 1: for the leg bt Q community racial issue. She took
Speaker 1: a knee with cap. What is it like seeing her
Speaker 1: kind of strength? Obviously you have your type of strength,
Speaker 1: she has her type of strength. But what is it
Speaker 1: witnessing that firsthand? Unbelievable? UM. I mean we were, we
Speaker 1: were we had just started dating when she took a knee,
Speaker 1: you know, with with Colin, like in solidarity with Colin,
Speaker 1: and just to see somebody. I've always said, it's like
Speaker 1: it's one thing to to fight for what's right for
Speaker 1: like you, you know, like when it directly impacts you.
Speaker 1: That's kind of it's not it's never easy to speak up,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, but that's easier because you're like
Speaker 1: fighting for This was for her just she just believed.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you ask her in that moment what happened,
Speaker 1: She's like, I believe Colin. That's all it was. It
Speaker 1: was just listening to him speak and seeing what he
Speaker 1: was doing. She believed, and so and she knew, not new.
Speaker 1: She wanted to support that, that's all it was. And
Speaker 1: then to see the backlash, right, because here we have
Speaker 1: like a cute little white girl and yeah she's gay,
Speaker 1: but a cute little white girl on the U S
Speaker 1: woman's national team receiving all kinds of hate, right, And
Speaker 1: so to watch her kind of go through that and
Speaker 1: handle it the way she did. Um, to continue to
Speaker 1: be vocal about these things. It was just I mean,
Speaker 1: we had just started dating, but it was it was amazing,
Speaker 1: It really was. So yeah. Absolutely. She was also quoted
Speaker 1: saying she wouldn't go to the White House if they won,
Speaker 1: and then this bumbass president had some slick to say,
Speaker 1: and then you wrote an open letter defending her to
Speaker 1: the Player's Tribute, saying, so the president hates I thought that.
Speaker 1: I thought that she was. So tell me what, tell
Speaker 1: me what? Tell me what that was like kind of
Speaker 1: pinning that and getting all your ideas together because normally
Speaker 1: you guys aren't the ones quote unquote being attacked or
Speaker 1: or hate being sent at you. Um, but you kind
Speaker 1: of found yourself in the wildfire right there. What was
Speaker 1: that experience like? Um, I mean it was what it
Speaker 1: was like, Like looking back, I wouldn't have done anything different,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, like for all the good
Speaker 1: and the bad that comes with it. To me, it
Speaker 1: was two things like defending Megan but also simultaneously defending
Speaker 1: like what she was standing for. And so it's like
Speaker 1: I wouldn't go back and change it. So but it
Speaker 1: was crazy. I mean, I will say there was more
Speaker 1: in terms of that article. There I feel like a
Speaker 1: lot more positive than negative reactions to it. Um. Of
Speaker 1: course there's I mean, you guys, I'm sure like social
Speaker 1: media is just whatever it's successiool. But aside from that,
Speaker 1: like Megan I talked about all the time, it's like
Speaker 1: never to our faces. That's the ship. It's like never
Speaker 1: to our thing. She's actually only had and she could
Speaker 1: tell you this story one day, like she's had one
Speaker 1: person say something to her face and it was like,
Speaker 1: I want to say, it was like a veteran of
Speaker 1: some sort, like something involving the military. But that's it,
Speaker 1: never to our faces. So to me, it's it's always
Speaker 1: going to go further from like a positive standpoint. Um.
Speaker 1: So I would I would always do again. And it
Speaker 1: was fun writing it. I had a good time. I mean,
Speaker 1: because there's like light parts to it, there's serious parts.
Speaker 1: Do it do it now? You know? Cowards never they
Speaker 1: always talked that ship behind the behind the keyboard or
Speaker 1: behind the Instagram. They'll never say it to your face.
Speaker 1: That's why you gotta just let it go. Um transitioning
Speaker 1: into europe Athletic ambassador for her sister's CBD company. UM,
Speaker 1: what I want to get your thoughts on CBD and
Speaker 1: then also thhc UM and just thoughts on athletes and
Speaker 1: professional sports being able to utilize that to you know,
Speaker 1: to help recover them into their benefit. Yeah. I mean
Speaker 1: obviously I'm you know, a big proponent of it. I'm
Speaker 1: very much um into it. I guess I think it's
Speaker 1: it's like, as an athlete for soul for so many years,
Speaker 1: you see all the drugs that are kind of passed around,
Speaker 1: whether it's like anti inflammatory sleep aids, whatever, and so
Speaker 1: to me, obviously it's just the stigma, which is slowly
Speaker 1: starting to change, but it's the stigma of it all
Speaker 1: that gives it a bad rap um. But this Mendi's
Speaker 1: the name of the company, and it's the Bent is
Speaker 1: it's CBD. The there is some product which with THHD
Speaker 1: in it, but yeah, but the Bent is towards athletes
Speaker 1: and kind of like that recovery, whether you're a professional
Speaker 1: athlete or like that weekend Warrior vibe. And I think
Speaker 1: it was like three years ago Megan started talking to
Speaker 1: me about maybe more than three or four years ago,
Speaker 1: Megan started talking about CBD. Fast forward a year or two,
Speaker 1: her sister starts this company and it was just I
Speaker 1: don't know. So we kind of all went through the
Speaker 1: process of trying different products and kind of like giving
Speaker 1: our take on things. And I actually, um, because if
Speaker 1: you've ever used like the oil on like you know,
Speaker 1: your elbow her to throw some oil on it, it
Speaker 1: gets like all over you. So we actually have like
Speaker 1: a stick so you don't have to actually physically touch it.
Speaker 1: It's at the Mendy stick. So I love using that
Speaker 1: just for like different parts of your body. And then
Speaker 1: there's gummies, and there's capsules, and then there's actually like
Speaker 1: a chink shire too, so it's just like CBD to
Speaker 1: me personally, I'm obsessed. This summer. We didn't have drug
Speaker 1: testing in the Bubble, so it's a totally different experience.
Speaker 1: It was, it really was. It was just like I
Speaker 1: slept amazing the whole season, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like I was literally taking the gummies the second the
Speaker 1: seat the games were over, because I was like, all right,
Speaker 1: I'm probably like in the hotel like an hour and
Speaker 1: a half. This will hit at the right time, because
Speaker 1: as you know, sometimes it's hard to sleep half the games. Um.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's just to me, it's been life changing
Speaker 1: as an athlete. Um and I think the THHC part
Speaker 1: of it, like like for people who smoke or whatever.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't see that being any different from
Speaker 1: like I said, all the drugs that have been kind
Speaker 1: of like pushed for all these years. So it sounds like,
Speaker 1: um Jack that she might need to come to a
Speaker 1: smokeout once she retires and we'll teach her how to
Speaker 1: uh row some joints and enjoy the enjoy the other
Speaker 1: side of it as well. I would be on my
Speaker 1: smoke team. There you go, smoke buddies. What are your
Speaker 1: thoughts on people that say the female game is not
Speaker 1: fun to watch, They're not athletic, they're not this, they're
Speaker 1: not that. What are your thoughts to people who have
Speaker 1: that point of view on your guy's sport? Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: first and foremost adventure to say, like a lot of
Speaker 1: people who just come out and say that haven't even watched.
Speaker 1: So it's like you got to take that opinion with
Speaker 1: like a grain of salt because a lot of people,
Speaker 1: for a long time it was just kind of easy.
Speaker 1: We were the easy target, you know. And I've always said,
Speaker 1: like like hockey, I've been to like a Rangers game,
Speaker 1: Islanders game in my life. Like, I'm not a huge
Speaker 1: hockey fan, although there is one coming to Seattle, so
Speaker 1: I should probably get on board. But but I even
Speaker 1: though I don't necessarily like hockey, I don't go out
Speaker 1: there and shipped on it. But there's something about where's
Speaker 1: basketball where it's not enough to not like it. It's
Speaker 1: always been this easy target. So that's like it's kind
Speaker 1: of hard to take the comment not seriously, but it's
Speaker 1: kind of hard to have a reaction to because I
Speaker 1: feel like a lot of people just haven't watched. The
Speaker 1: other part of it is we're also this we fall
Speaker 1: into this weird I don't know category where we get
Speaker 1: compared to our male counterpart. And I'll be first one
Speaker 1: to tell you, like, we can't jump as high, we
Speaker 1: can't dunk, we can't run as fast, we can't do
Speaker 1: these things. But why does that make the game worse?
Speaker 1: Why does it make it any you know? And I
Speaker 1: think the one thing when people say, like when NBA
Speaker 1: players will come out and support and support of us,
Speaker 1: and Kobe Bryant was was obviously a big you know,
Speaker 1: WNB a fan and for his daughter, And I think
Speaker 1: when I look at Kobe and I think what he
Speaker 1: saw on GIG was this player who loved the game
Speaker 1: and wanted to be great at it and was going
Speaker 1: to put in the work. And that's all we are.
Speaker 1: We're just athletes who love what we do. We put
Speaker 1: in the work and we try to do our best
Speaker 1: and win championships and like have impact on people's lives.
Speaker 1: And it's the same. It's only when you start comparing
Speaker 1: like the jumping, like not just jumping, but like the
Speaker 1: physical attribute, just the athleticism. You know, when you break
Speaker 1: it down to just pure skill, you guys are neck
Speaker 1: and neck when it because you guys have to be
Speaker 1: Like some NBA players can get away with being a
Speaker 1: freak athlete or super strong and they can lack some skill,
Speaker 1: but on your guys level, the skill level has to
Speaker 1: be elite to be there. Yeah, absolutely absolutely, And like
Speaker 1: I like, I'm just I've definitely had like some come
Speaker 1: to Jesus moments with all this talk about it, you know,
Speaker 1: because it's just like in terms of I used to
Speaker 1: like fight it, I would argue, but now I'm like,
Speaker 1: if you like the men's game, that's cool, Like you
Speaker 1: don't have to like the women's game just because you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. That's cool. But my thing is,
Speaker 1: did you ever even really give it a chance? Like
Speaker 1: did you ever actually watch it? Did you ever actually
Speaker 1: get into it into the storylines the way that you
Speaker 1: do with with maybe the NBA or wherever um, Because
Speaker 1: it is different and we do have to rely, like
Speaker 1: you said, Matt, like we have to rely on other things.
Speaker 1: So we have to play together. We have to. We
Speaker 1: can't just go one on one. You'll never see a
Speaker 1: Houston Rockets in our league. It just won't happen. But
Speaker 1: a lot of but a lot of people, a lot
Speaker 1: of people that do that they don't understand. In order
Speaker 1: that like something, you don't have to demean the next.
Speaker 1: And one thing we understand a boy athletes is me personally,
Speaker 1: Like I know that the w NBA game is finally need.
Speaker 1: I have five daughters and I wish my daughters played basketball.
Speaker 1: But have the guys have the people that say that
Speaker 1: they mad one reason they because they can't beat you all,
Speaker 1: and they probably they probably anybody make they boys and
Speaker 1: girls junior team. So they really just hate because they
Speaker 1: wish they can do what y'all can do, and as
Speaker 1: good as y'all can do it. You know, I saw
Speaker 1: something really cool though, because through you know my kids.
Speaker 1: You know, Derek Fisher coaches the Sparks and that's my
Speaker 1: kids stepdad. So my kids never I used to add,
Speaker 1: what do you guys think about? Girl? It's okay, they're
Speaker 1: eleven now, but they started going to games because he coaches,
Speaker 1: and they fucking love it. They FaceTime me from the
Speaker 1: game and they're so Like you said, I just think
Speaker 1: it's actually experiencing it. You'll really see how And like
Speaker 1: I said, for my boys, are you know, Jack knows
Speaker 1: my boy boy hardheaded boy boys, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: But they really enjoyed that. You know they CANDUs did
Speaker 1: this tonight and so and so did that to not
Speaker 1: like they broke the game down, and just actually giving
Speaker 1: it a chance is most importan because like you said,
Speaker 1: most people are going to pre judge it before you
Speaker 1: actually give it a chance. Yeah. And also like that's
Speaker 1: an interesting point because your kids are eleven, so they've
Speaker 1: now like grown up with a world that has a
Speaker 1: w n B A like it's yeah, of course it's normal.
Speaker 1: Whereas like I think, for a long time it was
Speaker 1: new and we kind of had to break into people's mindsets,
Speaker 1: you know, so that's pretty cool, especially for young kids. Yeah. Yeah, Um,
Speaker 1: thoughts on the Hall of Fame class obviously Kobe kg
Speaker 1: duncan Uh and then Tamika Catching is also up for that. Um,
Speaker 1: to me, from from a male's point of view, one
Speaker 1: of the greatest Hall of Fame classes ever to go in.
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts with that group? Yeah? I mean
Speaker 1: every I feel like every year there might be like
Speaker 1: one or two names where not not like what are
Speaker 1: they doing there? But maybe you didn't know them, you know,
Speaker 1: like they're a little bit older or you just didn't
Speaker 1: watch them. These are all names that are like everybody,
Speaker 1: these are household names, so that, I mean, that's a
Speaker 1: cool class to to go into. Obviously, shout out to
Speaker 1: to make a Catchings. She was my teammate with the
Speaker 1: USA basketball. She's she's that player that, like, no matter what,
Speaker 1: in scrimmages and in practice, you were like please, yes,
Speaker 1: You're like, please be on my team because she's going
Speaker 1: to get all the rebounds, like all the on top
Speaker 1: of everything else. You're just like, please be on my
Speaker 1: team so I don't have to like, you know, guard
Speaker 1: you or mess with you at all. She went hard
Speaker 1: all the time I was in Indiana. I was in
Speaker 1: Indiana at the same time she was out there, and
Speaker 1: she goes hard. Bro, I seen it with my own eyes.
Speaker 1: She definitely goes hard. Yea. And those people I go
Speaker 1: hard in the game, I don't go that hard and practice.
Speaker 1: Those kind of people that go hard and practice is
Speaker 1: scary because you're gonna have to raise your level. You're
Speaker 1: gonna end up getting yas ran over. We called the
Speaker 1: game speed. We called those who practice hard, we get
Speaker 1: ready to scrimmage, you guarden game speed. I'm not no.
Speaker 1: I got like a one quick story. Ryan Hollins was
Speaker 1: ultimate game speed. So we're in the first uh this
Speaker 1: mother We're doing motherfucking walk through for the playoffs against
Speaker 1: okay see, and he's on the scout team, and this
Speaker 1: motherfucker jumps a walk through pick and roll with Chris
Speaker 1: and needs him in his thigh, Like Chris almost is
Speaker 1: not able to play, like yo, Like I almost had
Speaker 1: to funk him up. Like, Bro, you're about to take
Speaker 1: our fucking point guard out in a walk through playoff
Speaker 1: shoot around? What the fund you doing the shoot around
Speaker 1: the worst? Like I know who you think you are?
Speaker 1: Right now? The game of the game. Hey, we gotta
Speaker 1: play a seven thirty tonight. I don't know what the
Speaker 1: you're doing right now at noon and we gotta play later.
Speaker 1: Who was the toughest player you've ever had to guard
Speaker 1: or who guarded you in your career? Both? Um, So,
Speaker 1: just because it's you know this this season is like fresh.
Speaker 1: Um is no joke. I just I just said, we'll
Speaker 1: never have a Houston Rockets. If there was gonna be
Speaker 1: that height, it would be whatever team she's on. So
Speaker 1: she's on Dallas right now. Like, that's the kind that's
Speaker 1: the kind of player. You can give her the ball
Speaker 1: and be like, go ahead, it's yeah, she's if unable,
Speaker 1: So guarding her, I was like, and then guarding me,
Speaker 1: I mean there's been I'll have a shout out to
Speaker 1: another O. G. Jenny Z was always tough. She's older
Speaker 1: than I am. Jenny was tough. She was most memorable
Speaker 1: play or experience in your w NBA career. Um, So
Speaker 1: I've seen teammates shooting in the wrong basket, So that's
Speaker 1: as a professional, that's actually the most memorable. Lauren Jackson
Speaker 1: shot and made it in the wrong basket. I was like,
Speaker 1: this is that supposed to stop when you're like, I
Speaker 1: don't know eight. So that happened for me personally though.
Speaker 1: In two thousand eighteen, in our playoff run, we went
Speaker 1: to game five. We played five game series, so it's
Speaker 1: five in the semis against Phoenix, and I had probably
Speaker 1: like the best six minutes of my life. I scored
Speaker 1: like a bunch like fourteen ars on my points in
Speaker 1: the last six minutes and we won the game. We
Speaker 1: won Game five against Diana, so it's like on all levels,
Speaker 1: that will by far be Yeah, I'm most memorable I got.
Speaker 1: I got a quick question, Well, my my actually favorite
Speaker 1: female players don Stately, who is your favorite of all time?
Speaker 1: I know, I know you know of Don Stay, who
Speaker 1: is your favorite of all time? Of course I played
Speaker 1: with her against her. She's my coach with my favorite
Speaker 1: of all time, I have to So one is Jenny
Speaker 1: Easy because she's like a little white girl with brown ponytail.
Speaker 1: So I was like, oh, that was like my c
Speaker 1: a b. At moment, I was like, oh, she's doing
Speaker 1: it like I could do this, and she's probably like
Speaker 1: five plus years older than I am. Um, but Shimiko
Speaker 1: holds man Killer when she signed it, when she signed
Speaker 1: a Jordan Brand. I don't know she gets on the
Speaker 1: Jordan Brand Jack, I don't think. I'm not sure, man,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. But that was like Christley King dominated
Speaker 1: Tennessee dominated, like her proker and probably earlier than it
Speaker 1: should have. But like man, problem, she was a class
Speaker 1: the New York Liberty uh drafted uh Sabrina I I
Speaker 1: in school. I don't always butcher her last name. And
Speaker 1: I started, Yeah, I started following her obviously because like
Speaker 1: you said earlier, you know, Kobe's attention to the w
Speaker 1: n B. I always liked the w n B A.
Speaker 1: But when Kobe really you know, we talked a lot
Speaker 1: and he really started supporting it. I started watching it more,
Speaker 1: and you know, discovered her. She's a monster. What are
Speaker 1: your thoughts obviously getting hurt this season, we'll be your
Speaker 1: thoughts on you know, her future in the w n
Speaker 1: B A. Yeah, her getting hurt this season was a
Speaker 1: huge bummer for so many reasons. Um, you know, but
Speaker 1: I'm sure for her as a player, it's like I
Speaker 1: can only imagine, right, like you have all this hype,
Speaker 1: all this talk value, you like dominated in college, you're
Speaker 1: the number one, and then you get hurt, like three
Speaker 1: games in it's just now you have to live with
Speaker 1: that for like a full year until you're probably gonna
Speaker 1: get back out there. So I felt for her on that,
Speaker 1: but um, she showed a lot in those first couple
Speaker 1: of games in the w b A because it is
Speaker 1: an adjustment, and she showed a lot. Um I think
Speaker 1: for her what I see or what I saw, she's
Speaker 1: already paying attention to her body and like taking care
Speaker 1: of herself and trying to be in like amazing shape.
Speaker 1: And that's like, you know, as a younger player, if
Speaker 1: you're already doing that at a young age, I mean
Speaker 1: that that can really help you out. Um, But just
Speaker 1: the way she she can do so much. I mean
Speaker 1: she obviously she stripled Double Queen from college, but you
Speaker 1: can see she she impacts the game like every part
Speaker 1: of the game offensively, defensively than like, she just has
Speaker 1: an impact on the game. And you saw that already.
Speaker 1: So I'm really excited I've said this, like, even though
Speaker 1: I hope I have a year or two left, this
Speaker 1: is this is the one player, the first player in
Speaker 1: a long time, really a couple of the players in
Speaker 1: her class too, where I'm just like, as a fan,
Speaker 1: I'm just excited to see how it plays out. Like
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm excited to watch her and see how
Speaker 1: it goes. You know, I never felt that way, like
Speaker 1: even three or four years ago, I was like whatever,
Speaker 1: but this is like I'm actually excited to see Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it'll be fun to watch. Yeah. Absolutely, they have
Speaker 1: a chance to carry the torch for the league and
Speaker 1: take it to new level. So that's always inspiring. Your
Speaker 1: all time w n B A starting five, um, starting five.
Speaker 1: So we'll go Lisa Leslie mandatory mentor Lauren Jackson. God,
Speaker 1: it's tough, God, Maya Moore because I want to say,
Speaker 1: Tina Thompson to Tina Thompsons, fucking so good, Maya Moore,
Speaker 1: Diana Trassi, and then I'm tempted to put myself but
Speaker 1: I won't, and I'm gonna get yourself just for just
Speaker 1: for fun, I'm gonna go Becky Hammond. Hey, Becky had
Speaker 1: a gang. She is she's a little bit older, she
Speaker 1: around our age, a little bit older. She's like a
Speaker 1: little like three or four years Yeah. Yeah, soo we
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier. You know, the NBA guys supporting your guys
Speaker 1: a sport does a lot for your guys. A sport,
Speaker 1: you're personally a big fan of Kyrie. Jack is really
Speaker 1: close with him. Any memorable stories moments with Kyrie. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So the first time I really got to like meet
Speaker 1: Kyrie and then hang out was at the Olympics in
Speaker 1: two thousand and sixteen, And it was just cool because
Speaker 1: he's like a huge fan of basketball, like the guy
Speaker 1: like watches YouTube videos of like all different kinds of
Speaker 1: players and he's constantly trying to like learn um and
Speaker 1: I just really enjoyed like talking to him, and because
Speaker 1: he doesn't look at things, I feel like this he
Speaker 1: wants to look at things differently because then he implements
Speaker 1: that into his game. Right, He's not just going to
Speaker 1: go do a workout that someone's always done, like shoot
Speaker 1: five from five spots. He's like, no, I'm going to
Speaker 1: shoot him from the other five spots. Like He's just
Speaker 1: gonna do it a little differently, and you can see
Speaker 1: that creativity in his game. So just kind of talking
Speaker 1: to him, hearing how he looks at things basketball wise,
Speaker 1: it was a lot of fun. But the first time
Speaker 1: we actually met, I was just like at the hotel
Speaker 1: or both the men's and the women's team were there
Speaker 1: and it was just cool because like I'm much older
Speaker 1: than he is, and he came up to me and
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, Sue, like, yeah, I've been
Speaker 1: like dying to me. And it's just like yeah, in
Speaker 1: the back of my yeah, in the back of my head,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I've been done to me. You too, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. But it was just cool to
Speaker 1: have that like mutual respect. And then again, like I said,
Speaker 1: getting to know him not just in basketball terms like
Speaker 1: talking about basketball, yes, but like off the course stuff too.
Speaker 1: It was fun because we were together for like our
Speaker 1: teams were together for like a legit month when we're
Speaker 1: over in the Olympics. So it's just really cool. And
Speaker 1: then the friendship has continued. He we check in every
Speaker 1: now and then. He's been so with like he took
Speaker 1: me up with some like with the Nike shoes and
Speaker 1: he did to keep so fresh, like collapse thing. He's
Speaker 1: just yeah, he goes out of his way and that way,
Speaker 1: and it's just been, um, it's just been really special
Speaker 1: and of course I loved watching him do his thing
Speaker 1: on the court. Hopefully we'll see him back, definitely a
Speaker 1: real one. It's gonna be fun seeing what him and
Speaker 1: k Do can do together next year and Steve Nash
Speaker 1: after him, that's gonna be there, gonna be a fun
Speaker 1: team to watch. Well, super thank you for your time.
Speaker 1: We appreciate it. Um and happy birthday, Thank you, and
Speaker 1: enjoy your championship. Enjoy your birthday. And uh, we're excited
Speaker 1: to hear you're not. You got some more in the
Speaker 1: take and pop a couple of them gummies for me too.
Speaker 1: And remember when you retire, your Smoke team is come
Speaker 1: funk with us. Once you retired, we'll get you right,
Speaker 1: I'll be on my way, don't right. Thank you guys
Speaker 1: so much for having me. I'm a big fan, can
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Thank you, appreciate player, so we appreciate you.
Speaker 1: That's a rap. Thank you to our special guest, future
Speaker 1: Hall of Famous Sue Bird Than You can catch all
Speaker 1: the smoke on Showtime Basketball, YouTube and the I Heart platforms.
Speaker 1: Good show, Jack, the show, my boy, Thank you again.
Speaker 1: So have a great offseason. So thank you. This is
Speaker 1: all a smoke a production of The Black Effect and
Speaker 1: Our Heart Radio in partnership with Showtime