Speaker 1: We start off with a classic whatso proby we have?
Speaker 2: I was gonna do more like proud lay Way. Hey,
Speaker 2: what about like the peak of the song.
Speaker 3: Spangle banda and.
Speaker 2: Okay, and were you planning on doing a big riff
Speaker 2: on the end? Okay? I mean we're out of time,
Speaker 2: so get out there.
Speaker 4: Hey, and welcome to No Dunks on Basketball Podcast on
Speaker 4: the Athletic Podcast Network. I'm your host for today, Trey Kirby,
Speaker 4: joined here by Tass Mellice in the classic Factory. We
Speaker 4: got JD behind the boards making the magic happen. No
Speaker 4: skeets today, but we do have a special guest. She's
Speaker 4: a women's basketball staff writer and co host of the
Speaker 4: Athletic Women's Basketball Show, Sabrina Merchant. Sabrina, thanks for coming
Speaker 4: back on No Dunks and talking to us about the w.
Speaker 3: For a little bit here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3: Guys.
Speaker 4: We'll get into the nitty gritty here in a little bit.
Speaker 4: But I mean we're halfway through the season. Good one
Speaker 4: so far. It feels like it to me, pretty good,
Speaker 4: pretty good. I think I think everyone's paying attention. We're
Speaker 4: just one. Yeah, yeah, definitely, everybody's paying to attention, paying attention.
Speaker 4: We'll get into that in a little bit as well.
Speaker 4: But there was a big, big time game in the
Speaker 4: w last night between the first place New York Liberty
Speaker 4: second place Connecticut Son tied going into the fourth quarter,
Speaker 4: but the Liberty were just a little bit too much.
Speaker 4: Really great defense, I thought from New York, even without
Speaker 4: reigning MVP Brianna Stewart, another starter bet Naija Laney Hamilton
Speaker 4: missing as well. Thirty points though from Sabrina Ynescut, do
Speaker 4: you have any takeaways from.
Speaker 3: The Liberty beating the Sun for the third time this season.
Speaker 2: I thought it was really strange that Elisa Thomas was
Speaker 2: on a minister restruction. I understand the Olympics are coming up,
Speaker 2: but this is a team that you have based in
Speaker 2: the playoffs before that you haven't managed to beat since
Speaker 2: facing in the playoffs, and to just give up a
Speaker 2: chance to potentially beat them when Brianda Stewart was out,
Speaker 2: when benigelni Hamilton was out, just super super strange that
Speaker 2: Alyssa Thomas wasn't in the game for the last thirteen
Speaker 2: minutes of the game and kind of just took the
Speaker 2: air out of that one by the end of it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's an odd time of year because we got
Speaker 4: the All Star break coming up, but like you're saying,
Speaker 4: it's also the Olympic break for all of the w players,
Speaker 4: So Stuart's out resting to be ready for the Olympics.
Speaker 4: Exact same for Alyssa Thomas. This isn't the kind of
Speaker 4: thing you encounter most years and the w having to
Speaker 4: actually rest up and load manage for a complete other
Speaker 4: tournament on.
Speaker 3: The other side of the world.
Speaker 4: But that's how it went down last night, and to me,
Speaker 4: it just kind of looked like the way things go
Speaker 4: for the Liberty and the Sun played out the exact
Speaker 4: same way. The Liberty they make a ton of three pointers.
Speaker 4: The Sun they're not a great three point shooting team,
Speaker 4: and when it comes down to it, you got to
Speaker 4: be able to shoot.
Speaker 3: In twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: Four, Yeah, yeah, I'm back to the threes. Sereno's hot
Speaker 1: six and eleven from three, Although she hinted this past
Speaker 1: weekend that she wasn't going to be in the WNBA
Speaker 1: Three Point Contest, which happens on Friday. We still don't
Speaker 1: have the names, Serena, but I wanted to have it.
Speaker 5: Ask you a two park question.
Speaker 1: Number one, do you think Sabrina will take part on
Speaker 1: Friday in the three point Contest. And two you mentioned
Speaker 1: on WNBA Show How watching her last year in the
Speaker 1: three point Contest, and that performance was one of the
Speaker 1: wildest things you've seen in person, So please give us
Speaker 1: a little taste, little memory of what happened there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think, first of all, she has to
Speaker 2: be in this year's three points. She got she set
Speaker 2: a record last year at thirty seven points in that
Speaker 2: shootout out of a possible forty, and she obviously goes
Speaker 2: on to the NBA All Star Weekend where she has
Speaker 2: the shootout against Steph which is this massive event on
Speaker 2: NBA All Star Saturday night, and for her not to
Speaker 2: defend her title would just be a travesty, frankly, especially
Speaker 2: when and one rookie Kaylyn Clark is right there potentially
Speaker 2: waiting to take it from her. So I think it
Speaker 2: would just be a huge miss for Sabrina not to
Speaker 2: be in it. And it's you know, it's just like
Speaker 2: a minute of shooting, just didn't practice all that much.
Speaker 2: Like clearly, clearly things have been working for Sabrina in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. But yeah, going back to twenty twenty
Speaker 2: three was so funny because, uh, you know the michelob
Speaker 2: Alter Arena where the all starking was in Las Vegas
Speaker 2: last year. They were like practicing their graphics ahead of
Speaker 2: time just to make sure everything was ready to go
Speaker 2: for the skills challenge and the shootout, and they had
Speaker 2: Sabrina's name plastered as the winner ahead of time in
Speaker 2: case this happens, we want to be ready to go.
Speaker 2: And then not only does Sabrina you know, what did
Speaker 2: she do any because.
Speaker 1: There's sure you just you just saw it for a second,
Speaker 1: so I had to ask, so go ahead and keep
Speaker 1: on going.
Speaker 2: You kind of forgot how many she had made in
Speaker 2: a row because I think she missed her second shot,
Speaker 2: and so it wasn't like, oh, she like hasn't missed yet.
Speaker 2: But then like you get to the third rack and
Speaker 2: it's like, wait, she made all of those and she
Speaker 2: made the starry ball. Is that what it's called? I
Speaker 2: don't know. Oh yeah, it is the very bright colored
Speaker 2: green ball. You know, that's a little bit deeper, that's
Speaker 2: very much in Sabrina's range. But it's I mean, anytime
Speaker 2: you can get three point legend Ali quickly to say
Speaker 2: like you are the New three point Queen. I will
Speaker 2: not come back to try to challenge you, like, you know,
Speaker 2: you've done something very very cool.
Speaker 1: She has to, she has to this weekend. She said,
Speaker 1: I'm not shooting. Well, maybe it's just not going to
Speaker 1: be for me this year. But then she goes six
Speaker 1: of eleven from three. That's why I included that set
Speaker 1: because now she can't say no, she has to.
Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly, she's on a hot streak right now. But
Speaker 4: thirty seven for forty man, that was, Yeah, that was incredible.
Speaker 3: Last year.
Speaker 4: It was so special that they're like, we got to
Speaker 4: get you in the NBA Three Point Contest and then
Speaker 4: it was the best part of NBA All Star Weekend.
Speaker 4: So hopefully she says yes, Hopefully she defends her title,
Speaker 4: and hopefully.
Speaker 3: Caitlyn Clark goes in it as well, because I think
Speaker 3: everybody would be tuned in to see that.
Speaker 4: I don't know if you saw this from the game
Speaker 4: last night in New York, Sabrina.
Speaker 3: It's the New York Liberty.
Speaker 4: It's an in game, a little bit of entertainment they
Speaker 4: do on the JumboTron and they're talking about how they
Speaker 4: like to put their toilet paper on the whole. Let's
Speaker 4: take a look.
Speaker 5: Because it's driving me crazy.
Speaker 2: It definitely if anyone.
Speaker 4: Puts a favorite own a pray, oh my gosh, over
Speaker 4: come on anything you know under you need to.
Speaker 2: Check in with yourself and see what's going to stop right.
Speaker 4: Probably, Yeah, we're all at ask question because I'm like, hey,
Speaker 4: she's basic to me.
Speaker 2: So he's forty Oh I am me for sure? Yeah,
Speaker 2: and I have no reason for it, and it's oh
Speaker 2: be sure anybody that does it's like any because then
Speaker 2: we take it out play. Yeah, so you just got
Speaker 2: it down because why do you watch your hands on
Speaker 2: the toilet paper and they need why?
Speaker 6: Me?
Speaker 2: So you just pulled out what you need.
Speaker 5: Wow, I can't believe. I can't believe there's so many
Speaker 5: a's exactly.
Speaker 4: I couldn't believe this was so even actually, So two
Speaker 4: questions for you, Sabrina.
Speaker 3: Number one, obviously A or B.
Speaker 4: And number two, is this the kind of division that
Speaker 4: could tear apart the New York liberty? The infighting about
Speaker 4: how people are rolling their toilet paper?
Speaker 2: I think I find myself in the Courtney Vanderslute range
Speaker 2: of its B. But I'm not entirely sure why. It
Speaker 2: just sort of had that that's the way it goes.
Speaker 2: But no, oh my god, Team Chemistry or the New
Speaker 2: York Liberty is just fantastic. I'm surprised I didn't have
Speaker 2: La chime in and with her preferred choice of toilet
Speaker 2: paper arrangement like that seems like a Romsted opportunity to me.
Speaker 4: Okay, So that's a great question because there are some
Speaker 4: serious stars on the New York Liberty and Brianna Stewart,
Speaker 4: a two time MVP, Sabrina Ynescu, one of the biggest
Speaker 4: names in the WNBA, great player John Quell Jones has
Speaker 4: an MVP as well. She's been playing great. But is
Speaker 4: Ellie the biggest star on the team. This is like
Speaker 4: one of the top mascots in sports right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of incredible, right, I Mean, she comes
Speaker 2: out with the head sprung music and the fourth Core
Speaker 2: like does the Ellie Stomp. Everybody's talking about her, even
Speaker 2: people I know who are NBA fans who are only
Speaker 2: really familiar with the Nixon the Nets in New York.
Speaker 2: They know about Ellie. And if I were Stewie or
Speaker 2: sab I would be a little a little wary of
Speaker 2: how much tension now setting Apparently Ellie's doing some some
Speaker 2: clutch babysitting for Brandon Stewart while her kid is running
Speaker 2: out of the court during postgame interviews. So I guess
Speaker 2: that's enough to endear herself to the basketball superstars on
Speaker 2: the New York Liberty.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's the real big three right there, Stewie, Sab
Speaker 4: and Ellie the elephant unbeatable combo. And it's working well
Speaker 4: for the Liberty right now. They're twenty one and four,
Speaker 4: first place in the WNBA. Like I said, Connecticut Sonner
Speaker 4: right behind them in the standings. Then go Seattle Storm,
Speaker 4: Las Vegas, Aces, and Minnesota Links. These are the top
Speaker 4: five teams in the league right now. Realistically, who has
Speaker 4: a chance at the title this year?
Speaker 2: I think there's an inner three. I would say New York,
Speaker 2: Las Vegas and Minnesota. And I say Minnesota because they're
Speaker 2: the only team to have actually beaten Vegas in New
Speaker 2: York this season. When the FISA Collier has played, they've
Speaker 2: been absolutely outstanding. Like we saw them in the Commissioner's Cup,
Speaker 2: you know, convincingly take down New York. They did it
Speaker 2: earlier in the season against the Liberty as well. Just
Speaker 2: the way Collier has been playing like very much MVP level.
Speaker 2: It's a real shame that she is yet another Olympian
Speaker 2: who has missed some games coming into this break. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I think I think it's those three obviously, you know,
Speaker 2: Liberty and Aces coming off of that epic finals meeting
Speaker 2: a year ago, and the other six times they met
Speaker 2: during the regular season and Commissioners Cup were all just
Speaker 2: great games and they were clearly a class of themselves
Speaker 2: ahead of the rest of the league. And I think
Speaker 2: I think Minnesota has entered that circle just with the
Speaker 2: way they've played defense this year, and Collier just you know,
Speaker 2: taking another step where I think she's formally on that
Speaker 2: Stewie level this year.
Speaker 1: Actually, you mentioned the finals from last year. The two
Speaker 1: powerhouses got there at the Liberty and the Aces and
Speaker 1: Trey went through some of the standings of the records
Speaker 1: because it's a little different this year. How yes, the
Speaker 1: Liberty are managing to run the East, but the center
Speaker 1: too far back, and then the Aces are right up there, right,
Speaker 1: very very close with the Storm and the Links. My
Speaker 1: question is we saw both powerhouses get there in the
Speaker 1: end last year, not really an issue. Both got there
Speaker 1: no problem. This year it feels a little different. You
Speaker 1: mentioned those Links and how good they are defensively defending
Speaker 1: the three point ball, one of the best ever. And
Speaker 1: then I heard you talk about Kaylin Clark being in
Speaker 1: Minnesota and it was almost a road game for the Fever,
Speaker 1: And I just mentioned that because I just am curious.
Speaker 1: All the eyeballs are on the WNBA this year. There's
Speaker 1: so many out there. I just wonder is it better
Speaker 1: for the league to go back to to feel like
Speaker 1: what it was last year with the powerhouses getting there,
Speaker 1: or is it the parody being better where the Minnesota
Speaker 1: Links are damn good and they should have more fans
Speaker 1: out there with all the eyeballs out there, is it
Speaker 1: better for the league to go a little parody or
Speaker 1: is it more of the powerhouses they get the eyeballs. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I go back and forth with this a lot because
Speaker 2: I think super teams make it really easy to zone
Speaker 2: in on a couple places, and then like that's a
Speaker 2: very natural entry point for everybody. So I think like
Speaker 2: casual fans find it a lot easier, just like find
Speaker 2: out Goliath and that's like the team I'm going to
Speaker 2: check in and root for the team that's playing against them.
Speaker 2: Or you know, whatever that happens to be. But this
Speaker 2: rookie class has kind of upended everything. Like it's not
Speaker 2: so much that parody has inserted itself into the w
Speaker 2: It's more like, oh, there's all these players like we
Speaker 2: know really really well, and we just want to check
Speaker 2: in on their teams. Like I think if Cameron Brink
Speaker 2: had been healthy, then people would be talking more about
Speaker 2: the Los Angeles Sparks and obviously Caitlin and Indiana and
Speaker 2: Angel in Chicago. We are drawing a lot of interest.
Speaker 2: And I don't know that they're lending like parody to
Speaker 2: the league so much because I still think those teams
Speaker 2: are very much like six seven eight, not really going
Speaker 2: to contend to win a playoff series. So I think
Speaker 2: I think super teams are still very good in terms
Speaker 2: of people like watching greatness and they like watching you know,
Speaker 2: David take down great teams. But yeah, I kind of like,
Speaker 2: I kind of like the concentration talent, especially in the
Speaker 2: league that it's the small with twelve teams, like you
Speaker 2: can get some just absurd collections of talent like we're
Speaker 2: seeing in New York, like we're seeing in Las Vegas,
Speaker 2: And I think that's really fun to check in on.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely, New York has been dominant all year. They
Speaker 4: had a chance last season. The Aces slow start for them, though,
Speaker 4: six and six, I think that was as many games.
Speaker 4: Six losses was as many as they lost the entirety
Speaker 4: of last regular season. They're ten and two since eight
Speaker 4: and two, I suppose with Chelsea Gray returning to the lineup.
Speaker 4: What did you make of the Aces slow start? Was
Speaker 4: it just kind of a complacency mixed with injury.
Speaker 3: We'll turn it on when it really matters sort of deal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting because they didn't have any complacency coming
Speaker 2: off of the twenty two title. And you know, there's
Speaker 2: this thing with great teams that they constantly find ways
Speaker 2: that people are theoretically disrespecting them and using that as
Speaker 2: like chips on their shoulders to motivate them going forward.
Speaker 2: And I think there was a lot of that. Oh,
Speaker 2: nobody respected us in twenty twenty two. We're going to
Speaker 2: show you what we're actually made of in twenty twenty
Speaker 2: three for the Las Vegas Aces. But they can't really
Speaker 2: use that to rely on in twenty twenty four. It's like, Okay, well,
Speaker 2: you not only won the title, you set a regular
Speaker 2: season wins record and one game four without two of
Speaker 2: your starters. So like, clearly there's a lot of respect
Speaker 2: for what Las Vegas is doing. And the only person
Speaker 2: on that team that seems to have a giant ship
Speaker 2: on her shoulder is Asia Wilson because of the way
Speaker 2: the MVP vote transpired in twenty twenty three, where she
Speaker 2: finished third and obviously got the one anomalists fourth place
Speaker 2: vote that presumably that voter will take that vote to
Speaker 2: their grave before explaining what happened in that situation. So
Speaker 2: I think I think it's really just like kind of
Speaker 2: like a we did this, like we're not going to
Speaker 2: really year up again until October, you know, when it
Speaker 2: really counts. And I think, honestly, the Olympics will a
Speaker 2: big part of this, Like Chelsea and Jackie and Kelsey Plumb,
Speaker 2: you know, like they're all gearing up for Paris, and
Speaker 2: it takes a lot of effort, you know, to go
Speaker 2: win a GOO medal and they want to be big
Speaker 2: participants in Team USA, and it's kind of hard to balance,
Speaker 2: you know, going all out in a WNBA season while
Speaker 2: still trying to make sure that you're ready to go
Speaker 2: with this time of year for the Olympics, and obviously
Speaker 2: Chelsea Gray had the injury that she was coming back from,
Speaker 2: and frankly, I don't know that she would even even
Speaker 2: come back when she did were it not for the
Speaker 2: Ace's poor record in the fact that they kind of
Speaker 2: just needed to bank some wins. So I wouldn't be
Speaker 2: too concerned with the Aces, like I think, you get
Speaker 2: them into the postseason, they'll be just fine. But it
Speaker 2: is a little disappointing that we saw like such the
Speaker 2: sustained run from greatness from them last year and now
Speaker 2: it's like, all right, well, we know we can do it.
Speaker 2: We're going to become one of those like flip the
Speaker 2: switch teams which are just significantly less interesting to me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's never fun to wait and see when you
Speaker 4: know how great a team can be. But like you mentioned,
Speaker 4: one person who hasn't had any complacency so far, Asia Wilson,
Speaker 4: averaging twenty seven points a game twelve rebounds alongside two
Speaker 4: steals and three blocks. Last year, we had an incredible
Speaker 4: MVP race in the w Like you said, basically three
Speaker 4: players were coming down to it and Brianna Stewart, Alyssa
Speaker 4: Thomas and then Asia Wilson. Of course, from what I
Speaker 4: can tell at this point halfway through the season, Asia
Speaker 4: Wilson is your choice as MVP.
Speaker 3: She seems to be the front runner.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's pretty clear that it's Asia Wolson.
Speaker 2: Just like you mentioned the numbers that she's putting up,
Speaker 2: and you know, I kind of think like it gets
Speaker 2: lost when you have a forty minute game that she's
Speaker 2: averaging twenty seven points in twelve rebounds per game, but
Speaker 2: that's also you know, if you've extrapolated to a forty
Speaker 2: minute game that's like thirty three and sixteen rebounds or
Speaker 2: something of that nature. So just the ridiculous numbers that
Speaker 2: she's putting up are absolutely insane. And the level of
Speaker 2: dominance that she's playing with, like defensively, offensively, there's so
Speaker 2: many things that she's doing on to the court, like
Speaker 2: the blocks, the way she's protecting the paint without kandas
Speaker 2: Parker this year, I mean, I've just really never seen
Speaker 2: a season like this. I mean, you can look into
Speaker 2: the advanced stats and all of that, but it's just
Speaker 2: unbelievable what's happening with Age Wolson this year.
Speaker 4: Is there anybody else you think who could maybe knock
Speaker 4: her out of the top spot or at least give
Speaker 4: us a close race down the stretch here this season.
Speaker 2: I think the problem with New York is that there's
Speaker 2: too many good players, Like I don't really know who
Speaker 2: their MVP even is, Like Stewie is the defending MVP,
Speaker 2: but John Quell Jones was really really good to start
Speaker 2: the season, and Sabrina has come on incredibly well in
Speaker 2: like the last fifteen games or show. So it'd be
Speaker 2: really hard for me to pin one of the Liberty
Speaker 2: as the potential MVP. And I think that like cannibalizing
Speaker 2: of votes is going to work against them. But you know,
Speaker 2: and if Fisa Collier I mentioned her earlier earlier had
Speaker 2: a really great stretch, and if she comes out of
Speaker 2: the Olympics similar to the way she was playing back
Speaker 2: in May and June, I think is a you know,
Speaker 2: at least a first team All WNBA candidate, if not
Speaker 2: an MVP candidate. Well it's Thomas. Like the numbers are
Speaker 2: down a little bit this year, and I think part
Speaker 2: of the magic of her case last year was that
Speaker 2: Connecticut loses a starter and they're still just as good
Speaker 2: during the regular season and having a fully healthy lineup
Speaker 2: kind of dims like the story with Elissa Thomas, So
Speaker 2: I think it would really just have to be Collier
Speaker 2: going on as super sick run for Minnesota coming out
Speaker 2: of the break to give Asia any competition. But like
Speaker 2: I mean, we're kind of heading towards like unanimous territory
Speaker 2: for asuals and which is absolutely insane.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's the coolest thing that can happen in an
Speaker 4: MVP race outside of like a legendarily close MVP race
Speaker 4: as somebody being the unanimous choice. But the Sun are
Speaker 4: interesting to me because when we talked about teams who
Speaker 4: could realistically win the title, you left them out, even
Speaker 4: though they are second in the league right now. Played
Speaker 4: the Liberty pretty well last night. Connecticut has made the
Speaker 4: finals or the semi finals in each of the last
Speaker 4: five seasons. They've been one of the final four for
Speaker 4: five straight years. They've got an MVP candidate and Alyssa Thomas.
Speaker 4: But I'm kind of with you, it just feels like
Speaker 4: it's never going to happen for the Sun.
Speaker 3: How are they ever going to get over the hump?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I mentioned like Minnesota being the team
Speaker 2: that has beaten Vegas in New York this year, Like,
Speaker 2: not only has Connecticut not beaten Vegas, they have also
Speaker 2: not beaten New York. So you had a breakthrough that
Speaker 2: duopoly at some point for me to take this team
Speaker 2: seriously as a title contender. And you know you mentioned
Speaker 2: the threes, Like they just don't get a lot of
Speaker 2: volume from their three point shooters. It's kind of what
Speaker 2: happens when you're starting DJ Carrington, who's like more of
Speaker 2: a defensive player at point guard. And Ty Harris's shooting
Speaker 2: percentage has gone down significantly from last year when she
Speaker 2: was admittedly the number one three point percentage in the WNBA.
Speaker 2: But there's just not enough spacing. I think, like you
Speaker 2: can kind of congest in on Alyssa Thomas and Bree
Speaker 2: Jones and unless to want of Bonner's having like a
Speaker 2: spectacular night, it's really hard for me to see Connecticut
Speaker 2: having the type of offense to really keep up with
Speaker 2: a Las Vegas or New York. Yeah, it's it's a
Speaker 2: bummer because, like there's such an interesting style of play,
Speaker 2: and like Aelissa Thomas is unlike almost anyone you will
Speaker 2: watch on the basketball court, you know, mainly because she
Speaker 2: has no working shoulders. But it's just like a unique
Speaker 2: specimen and I would really love for something like that
Speaker 2: to manifest itself in you know, ultimate glory.
Speaker 5: But I don't know.
Speaker 2: I just I don't see enough perimeter help in Connecticut.
Speaker 2: And it's it's just a bummer because like that's the
Speaker 2: Aces and the Liberty. You're just bursting with guards who
Speaker 2: can just diice you up, and Connecticut hasn't proven have
Speaker 2: an answer for that yet.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that seems to be the problem.
Speaker 4: Is that the Aces and the Liberty are great defensively
Speaker 4: just like Connecticut is. But then the Aces and Liberty
Speaker 4: are also great offensively, whereas Connecticut is a meager third
Speaker 4: on offense behind all of their offensive rebounding and physicality.
Speaker 4: I don't know, we made it twenty minutes without doing
Speaker 4: a big time Caitlin Clark discussion. But what's it been
Speaker 4: like covering the w this year with Caitlin Clark in
Speaker 4: the league. One of the biggest like indicators to me
Speaker 4: was the All Star voting. Asia Wilson went from ninety
Speaker 4: five thousand All Star votes leading the league last year
Speaker 4: to over six hundred thousand All Star votes this year,
Speaker 4: and I was like, what six times as many people
Speaker 4: are watching the w right now.
Speaker 3: It kind of feels like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it absolutely feels like that. I mean, you know
Speaker 2: this is like very inside basebally, but like when I
Speaker 2: go to cover practices for teams that are visiting Los Angeles,
Speaker 2: it's usually like just me going to hang out, you know,
Speaker 2: if there's not a lot of interest in road teams
Speaker 2: from the usual Sparks crew, And when like the Fever
Speaker 2: were in town, they were like the thirteen people just
Speaker 2: there ready to go. It's like, oh, yeah, like this
Speaker 2: this is the thing that happens now, Like people are
Speaker 2: interested in watching Caitlyn Clark even if that's a practice.
Speaker 2: And you know, you've seen the attended summers just rock
Speaker 2: it up across the country. I mean, they fit more
Speaker 2: people in Crypto dot com Arena to see the Indiana
Speaker 2: Fever play the Sparks than they do during a normal
Speaker 2: Lakers game, which is just astounding. And it's not just Caitlin.
Speaker 2: It's like Angel and Kate Martin gets louder cheers on
Speaker 2: the road for three pointers than just about anybody I've
Speaker 2: ever heard. You know, the Iowa effect is very real.
Speaker 2: It's been really really fun just seeing more people come
Speaker 2: in more people have like a vested interest in wanting
Speaker 2: to see Indiana do well or wanting to see Chicago
Speaker 2: do well, and making their way to games and having
Speaker 2: things to talk about. Like I've had so many of
Speaker 2: my NBA friends who just randomly text me with questions about, like, well,
Speaker 2: why is in Indiana running this? At the end of
Speaker 2: the game, I'm like, there's not even a game on
Speaker 2: right now, like are we watching a replay? Like what's happening?
Speaker 2: But it's it's been great, you know, just more people involve,
Speaker 2: more people interested, and it's been it's been really really fun.
Speaker 1: It was great because I always saw those votes as well,
Speaker 1: they increased by six times, and I wondered, is this
Speaker 1: a social media thing? Are we just increasing everything by
Speaker 1: four x now? Because that happened in the NBA All
Speaker 1: Star voting as well. But then you see the attendance
Speaker 1: numbers and those are real here being in Atlanta, the
Speaker 1: dream went from the Gateway Center Arena to State Farm
Speaker 1: Arena for both Indiana Fever games because people were coming
Speaker 1: out to washing them, so that is obviously what is happening,
Speaker 1: and just the conversations around I mentioned social media how
Speaker 1: much it is happening. It did suck to see can
Speaker 1: Brink get hurt, But there's because there are so many
Speaker 1: fans that are people are just behind these stars.
Speaker 4: Now, Yeah, a lot of stars came into the WNBA
Speaker 4: this year, Sabrina, are you has the rookie class been
Speaker 4: like as good as you expected? Because everybody was talking
Speaker 4: this class up. Obviously Caitlin Clark at the top. Cameron
Speaker 4: Brink came in as a great defensive prospect as well
Speaker 4: as playing great until she got hurt. Angel Reese uh
Speaker 4: had won of Angel Reese was a big time player.
Speaker 4: Kamila Cardozo big time player as well, a lot of
Speaker 4: known rookies were coming into the league gonna be stars.
Speaker 4: Have they been as impressive as you thought they would? Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's kind of wild that they've lived up to expectation.
Speaker 2: I mean, Caitlin, you know, obviously the tough start to
Speaker 2: the season with the schedule that the Indiana Fever were handed,
Speaker 2: like did them no favors. But you put a little
Speaker 2: practice time in, she gets to like learn a lea
Speaker 2: of Boston's middle Dane Like, good things have happened in
Speaker 2: Indiana since that toward like eleven game stretch to start
Speaker 2: the season, and I think people are seeing just what
Speaker 2: kind of playmaker she is and how exciting that can
Speaker 2: be at the professional level. Angel Rees has been honestly
Speaker 2: much better than I expected. I didn't really think that
Speaker 2: her her rebounding would translate to the WNBA because she
Speaker 2: is a bit smaller than most of the four she's
Speaker 2: gone up against, but like that motor is unbelievable. I
Speaker 2: rarely seen a player play as hard as angel Resa
Speaker 2: is on a possession of possession basis, and she's been
Speaker 2: really good for Chicago Sky team that I expected to
Speaker 2: be out of the playoffs and is probably going to
Speaker 2: end up at least in like a seven seed this season.
Speaker 2: So just really impressive from her. Eliah Edwards and Washington
Speaker 2: I think has been really good. Obviously. Injuries have kind
Speaker 2: of kept her in and out of the lineup, and
Speaker 2: pretty much everybody who's going to the Olympics has been
Speaker 2: in like some measure bubble wrap for the last two weeks,
Speaker 2: so I haven't seen a ton out of Edwards recently,
Speaker 2: but she was great during that month of June. Rakia
Speaker 2: Jackson in LA just like a boocket all the time.
Speaker 2: The Sparks are running their offense through Rakia Jackson down
Speaker 2: the stretch against the Las Vegas Aces, like not once
Speaker 2: but twice this regular season, which is just an astounding
Speaker 2: thing to think about. So, yeah, you're just seeing so
Speaker 2: many rookies who have the potential to be real franchise
Speaker 2: defining players down the line, like true all stars. And
Speaker 2: we've seen classes like this before. I think twenty nineteen
Speaker 2: really stands out. That was the year that and Ifisa
Speaker 2: Collie or Arique Goumbalwalle Jackie Young came out and they've
Speaker 2: obviously all been really great for their respective teams. But
Speaker 2: for these players to have the star power coming into
Speaker 2: the WNBA, to have all of the expectation and to
Speaker 2: live up to it, I think is just like remarkable
Speaker 2: and exactly what the league needed to take the next
Speaker 2: step forward and build finally, you know, carry that college
Speaker 2: momentum into the pro Sason.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's hard not to be an Angel Rees fan.
Speaker 1: After watching her against Kaitlin Clark the last time they
Speaker 1: played the postgame interview and said, I've got some dog
Speaker 1: in me in this obvious like you just said, she
Speaker 1: may be a little undersized against fours, but she is
Speaker 1: out there working extremely hard against Kaitlin Clark's team, but
Speaker 1: they play far different positions, And everybody talking about this,
Speaker 1: these two teams being a rivalry. Do you see that
Speaker 1: happening in the future for the Sky and the Fever.
Speaker 2: I think the geography really helps, you know, anytime two
Speaker 2: teams are that close to each other, you know, it's
Speaker 2: easier to create a rivalry. Like conferences don't really mean
Speaker 2: anything in the WNBA other than Commissioner's Cup groups, And
Speaker 2: like that's a five game starts during a forty game
Speaker 2: regular season, So I can't imagine that's going to be
Speaker 2: like the main impetus for the rivalry. But like just
Speaker 2: the level of intensity in the three games thus far.
Speaker 2: You know, we've seen like just incredible crowds, a little
Speaker 2: extra intensity during the course of the game. Obviously the
Speaker 2: flag are files which I don't really want to get into,
Speaker 2: but like just a little you know, extra oomph in
Speaker 2: the matchup between the two of them, Like they clearly
Speaker 2: don't want to talk about each other, like at a
Speaker 2: really extended level, which is always a good sign that
Speaker 2: there's some animosity there. That great comeback that Chicago had
Speaker 2: against Indiana in the last game, I think you know,
Speaker 2: Angel and Caitlin have just been placed on stages where
Speaker 2: they had to compete for in really big stages before,
Speaker 2: and you know, for it to be a rivalry, I
Speaker 2: think they like have to meet in the playoffs at
Speaker 2: some point, or at the very least, Like I don't know,
Speaker 2: they'd have to bee in the playoffs, because there's the
Speaker 2: only way that you're going to really really build some
Speaker 2: stakes between the two of them. But I do think
Speaker 2: that just them coming in, like having such fastly different
Speaker 2: fan bases out of college. You know, the way they
Speaker 2: play is so different, it's very easy to latch onto
Speaker 2: one or the other. And the fact that both of
Speaker 2: the teams have like really good young talent that you
Speaker 2: can still grow along with, like the fact that Kennedy
Speaker 2: Carter is there and Aleah Boston is there and Kimilla Cardoso.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's just so much that could keep getting
Speaker 2: better with both of these teams, and I think as
Speaker 2: Indiana reaches its potential in Chicago becomes even better than
Speaker 2: they thought they could be. I really hope that this
Speaker 2: is a great robbery because you know, Indiana hasn't been
Speaker 2: the playoffs since twenty sixteen. Chicago obviously won the title
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one, but like ownership group is a
Speaker 2: little weird and like we don't know if free agents
Speaker 2: want to go there, So for them to have like
Speaker 2: this built in core of Cardos so recent Carter is
Speaker 2: just it's great. And I do think that we're going
Speaker 2: to get like some real enmity between the two. And
Speaker 2: I'm just so pumped for their fourth regular season game
Speaker 2: because like that thing is just going to be a massive, massive.
Speaker 4: Viewership every Yeah, it's going to be awesome, and both
Speaker 4: teams are like playing a lot better.
Speaker 3: I'm with you. I'm surprised that the Sky are this good.
Speaker 4: I thought after James Wade left the team to go
Speaker 4: coach the Toronto Raptors that it was going to be
Speaker 4: a long time before Chicago was even sniffing the playoffs.
Speaker 3: But the fever.
Speaker 4: They started out zero and five, bottomed out at one
Speaker 4: and eight. They're ten and six since playing Caitlin Clark
Speaker 4: style basketball a little faster, I think, And then the
Speaker 4: Sky are like an Angel Rees team. They play hard,
Speaker 4: they're really physical, they rebound, they played defense. Maybe there'll
Speaker 4: be a kinetic Sun in a few years, but who cares.
Speaker 4: We'll worry about that later. It feels like both of
Speaker 4: these teams are made immediately in their franchise players' images.
Speaker 4: So who's the rookie of the year, I think is
Speaker 4: going to be the question a lot of people are
Speaker 4: asking during the second half of the season, because they
Speaker 4: both have really solid cases and are huge reasons why
Speaker 4: their teams are having these surprisingly good seasons.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be quite the decision to have to
Speaker 2: make down the line, It's already been quite the decision
Speaker 2: to have to make this far. I mean Ben Pickman,
Speaker 2: our fellow WNBA writer at The Athletic and I have
Speaker 2: had this discussion so many times already if you want
Speaker 2: to listen to the podcast or readar debate like it's
Speaker 2: all there for you at the Athletics dot com. But
Speaker 2: I mean, I've kind of leaned Caitlin thus far, just
Speaker 2: because I think the degree of difficulty for being a
Speaker 2: point guard as a rookie and the WNBA is really challenging,
Speaker 2: and for every defense to be keened on her as
Speaker 2: the number one item want the scouting report, when like
Speaker 2: Elia Buston exists and Elissa Smith ex sas just shows
Speaker 2: how important she is to what Indiana is doing, and
Speaker 2: you know, the last ten games or so, she's been,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe the second best point guard in the WNBA,
Speaker 2: which is like a crazy thing to think as a
Speaker 2: rookie in this league when it's so veteran heavy. But
Speaker 2: I mean, I wouldn't be grudge anyone voting for Angel
Speaker 2: like the sky or just like you said, so much
Speaker 2: better than we expected heading into the season, and Angels
Speaker 2: on off numbers, like really paint that picture. She has
Speaker 2: been a genuine source of like positive impact for Chicago
Speaker 2: all season. It's just so hard to compare because stylistically
Speaker 2: they're so different, right, Like what Angel is doing versus
Speaker 2: what Caitlin's doing, the amount of responsibility that Caitlin has
Speaker 2: to direct the offense versus what Angel's doing defensively, they're
Speaker 2: just completely different cases. And honestly, like at this point,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't care who won. It's gonna be a good
Speaker 2: story either way. But I think it's so cool that
Speaker 2: we actually have this discussion because Rookie of the Year
Speaker 2: hasn't been contested like this since maybe twenty seventeen, and
Speaker 2: even then, like Alicia Gray versus Britney Sykes was not like,
Speaker 2: you know, everybody's talking about this kind of race.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a little bit different.
Speaker 4: It's exciting to have like two of the biggest names
Speaker 4: actually playing well and up against each other.
Speaker 3: It just feels like, with the way.
Speaker 4: Their careers ended in college, the way they came into
Speaker 4: the WNBA, the fact that they're in Illinois and Indiana,
Speaker 4: it's just perfect for them to continually smash into each other. So, Brina,
Speaker 4: what you think about Angel Reese chasing the double double
Speaker 4: streak set a WNBA record with fifteen consecutive double doubles,
Speaker 4: though it did end just recently against the New York
Speaker 4: Liberty when they were quadruple teaming her in the post
Speaker 4: to keep her to eight points.
Speaker 2: It got a bit much for me, honestly, I thought
Speaker 2: we were going in the stat patting direction, you know,
Speaker 2: like there was definitely some hey, one and a half
Speaker 2: minutes left, Angel still in single figures points or single
Speaker 2: fiegars rebounds, we need to address this. I think it
Speaker 2: really hit like a peak for me when they were
Speaker 2: playing Atlanta last week and they're up by seven points
Speaker 2: with like a position to go. I think there's like
Speaker 2: fifty seconds left on the clock, and like this is
Speaker 2: traditionally a dribble out the clock situation, and Angel calls
Speaker 2: for the ball on the post because she only has
Speaker 2: nine points, and that's why I lost it. I was like, no,
Speaker 2: I'm out on the streak. But we have jumped the
Speaker 2: shark here. And kudos to the New York Liberty for
Speaker 2: throwing the quadruple team at her and just ending this discussion,
Speaker 2: because it is very cool obviously that she had set
Speaker 2: a mark that was originally held by Candice Parker, probably
Speaker 2: one that no one's gonna chase for a little while now.
Speaker 2: So we have the record, we don't need to, you know,
Speaker 2: inflate it to any degree. And I'm glad that someone
Speaker 2: you know gave her a little taste for rown medicine
Speaker 2: at the stat adding because it's just not basketball.
Speaker 3: Come on, guys, no, not at all.
Speaker 1: Serena, I have an odd question for you, because you're
Speaker 1: so close to the WNBA. Is there a reason that
Speaker 1: players like Asia Wilson and Angel Reese wear just one
Speaker 1: like sleeve? Is it a medical issue? Is it something
Speaker 1: that they're doing just for style? I need to know
Speaker 1: the second part. Why do they call a like cover
Speaker 1: le like sleeve a sleep? I mean that's just a
Speaker 1: weird word. Don't you think will they change that.
Speaker 5: It is right sleeve? Anyways?
Speaker 2: Do they do call it like a pant? Like call it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was totally thinking that as soon as I said,
Speaker 1: as soon as I wondered that, what would you call
Speaker 1: something that covers one leg?
Speaker 5: Yeah, pant? I don't know.
Speaker 1: There isn't a really good one to rival sleeve. I
Speaker 1: was cover is what I say when I say it.
Speaker 1: But I don't know even even what an NBA player
Speaker 1: wears on just one arm. I guess it's called a sleeve,
Speaker 1: but what it's just like it's even that word.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't understand why you object to an arm
Speaker 2: sleeve when sleeps literally a sleep. I think a leg
Speaker 2: sleeve pretty adequately describes what we're talking about. Like you
Speaker 2: can just, you know, pick somebody out of a crowd
Speaker 2: who doesn't even know Jah Wilson and say that she
Speaker 2: wears a leg sleeve and they would be able to
Speaker 2: envision what it is you're referring to. Yes, yeah, but yeah,
Speaker 2: I think I think Asia is the first one to
Speaker 2: do it, and it is purely style related. Asia's got
Speaker 2: a lot of style quirks, like the shorts come up
Speaker 2: really high, the shoulders get a little twisted in, and
Speaker 2: the people who have worn leg sleaves have followed Asia,
Speaker 2: like Deja Kelly is one of the prominent ones in college.
Speaker 2: She's been playing Oregon next year. Angel Reese obviously one
Speaker 2: of them. Tea Cooper another SEC guard. So I think
Speaker 2: this is an Asia just like look situation, and because
Speaker 2: Asia is the greatness that is Asia Wilson, other people
Speaker 2: have followed in her her steady.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's going to happen in the NBA
Speaker 5: as well.
Speaker 4: I saw Lebron in practice was wearing one one single
Speaker 4: leg sleeve like going through Lakers.
Speaker 2: Why isn't san Attabayo doing it?
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, exactly. People need to get on this nothing man,
Speaker 4: Now that you mentioned it, I think we should call
Speaker 4: pant legs pant slaves because you don't call it. You
Speaker 4: don't call your shirt slaves. You don't call them shirt arms.
Speaker 4: Doesn't make sense. We got a standardized things here. I
Speaker 4: saw a report today I'm the Athletic from Mike vorkanoff
Speaker 4: Sabrina that to WNBA media rights deal is wrapped up
Speaker 4: in the NBA's media rights deal, so the league is
Speaker 4: going to be receiving up to two point two billion
Speaker 4: dollars over the next eleven years since their rights deal
Speaker 4: is done. Alongside the NBA's rights deal, they'll be partnering
Speaker 4: with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon. Still obviously waiting to see
Speaker 4: what Warner does in this whole thing, and I guess
Speaker 4: it's actually possible for the w to get some more
Speaker 4: partners as well, up to six they're eligible for. What
Speaker 4: kind of impact is all of this money coming into
Speaker 4: the w NBA going to have.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So just to set the table real quick, I
Speaker 2: think the baselines for this deal were the NWSL just
Speaker 2: signed a deal that was four years, two hundred and
Speaker 2: forty million, so that's about sixty million annually. So the
Speaker 2: WNBA deal is, you know, within three or four times that,
Speaker 2: And the MLS signed a deal a couple of years
Speaker 2: ago that was two point five billion over ten years
Speaker 2: and heading into this season, and the WNBA had very
Speaker 2: comparable levels of viewership, and you know, for the MLS
Speaker 2: to get that number and WNBA to still be living
Speaker 2: in it's like fifty million dollars total didn't make sense.
Speaker 2: So for them to get closer to that number is
Speaker 2: a lot better. Obviously for their financials. I think the
Speaker 2: big thing here is the WNBA has the opportunity to
Speaker 2: opt out of its current collective bargaining agreement at the
Speaker 2: end of this season and then write a new one
Speaker 2: that would go into effect starting in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: And you know, one of the main factors in terms
Speaker 2: of WNBA players not getting as much money is the
Speaker 2: revenue in the league hasn't been as high, and so
Speaker 2: for revenue on the TV deal to jump six times,
Speaker 2: you know, over the average life of this yal to
Speaker 2: what it currently is obviously puts a lot more money
Speaker 2: into the player's pockets. It gives them an opportunity to
Speaker 2: potentially ask for greater share of the basketball revenue. I
Speaker 2: think they get around like ten percent of the br
Speaker 2: at this point, which is you think about the NBA
Speaker 2: they get fifty percent, So it's a big difference, and
Speaker 2: I think this just gives the league the opportunity to
Speaker 2: improve player experience across the board. Like you know, there's
Speaker 2: been a big talk about charter flights in WNBA, and
Speaker 2: this is the first year that every team has had
Speaker 2: charters around the country. And part of the reason for
Speaker 2: that is that the league didn't have enough revenue to
Speaker 2: sustain it. And now you look at all of this
Speaker 2: money coming in from TV deals and if the price
Speaker 2: of charter flights is twenty five million dollars a year,
Speaker 2: that can easily be sustained by the extra money that's
Speaker 2: coming in from media rights. And just think about all
Speaker 2: the other levels of player experience like housing and practice
Speaker 2: facilities and all these things that could be augmented by
Speaker 2: extra revenue coming in. It. It's really exciting for what
Speaker 2: is possible for the players. It just gives them more options,
Speaker 2: like when you're talking about what you can ask for
Speaker 2: in the next CBA, because the league can't say that
Speaker 2: they're cash poor anymore.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was pretty eye opening for a lot of people.
Speaker 4: I think when Caitlin Clark went from planned in college
Speaker 4: to join in the WNBA, you saw all the graphics
Speaker 4: about what her salary was going to be as a
Speaker 4: first year player.
Speaker 3: But all this.
Speaker 4: Money coming in expansion teams joining as well. The business
Speaker 4: side of the w seems to be going pretty well.
Speaker 4: We got a couple of teams coming into the league soon.
Speaker 4: Do you think that this additional this new media rights
Speaker 4: deal means that outside of the couple of teams. We
Speaker 4: already know that there will be more expansion coming to
Speaker 4: the WNBA, or is that still like five years.
Speaker 3: Down the line.
Speaker 2: I think Commissioner Kathy Ingelbert has said that she wants
Speaker 2: two more teams in place by twenty twenty eight. Okay,
Speaker 2: so we get up to sixteen teams by twenty twenty eight,
Speaker 2: and I think that's a good number just because there's
Speaker 2: only so much you can expand the league scheduling to
Speaker 2: keep it in that summer window, you know, between college
Speaker 2: basketball seasons. So I think sixteen is probably the right number.
Speaker 2: You know, any more expansion and you turn into like
Speaker 2: MLS territory for lack of better word. But I think
Speaker 2: that's probably a good place that they're going to stop,
Speaker 2: unless there's just like this insane demand for teams, you know,
Speaker 2: to want to get into the league, which you know,
Speaker 2: I'm still not sure is exactly the case.
Speaker 4: Wow, interesting to know one of the teams near the
Speaker 4: bottom of the standings. I got to ask because they're
Speaker 4: to my heart, close to my home here, the Atlanta Dream.
Speaker 4: Last year they made the playoffs for the first time
Speaker 4: in five seasons. They added a future Hall of Famer
Speaker 4: and Tina Charles. They started four and two, they beat
Speaker 4: the Aces. Since then three and fourteen, they've lost seven
Speaker 4: straight heading into a matchup with a great Minnesota team tonight.
Speaker 4: What is going on with the Atlanta Dream this season?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm the wrong person to ask that, because I
Speaker 2: just truly hate the style of basketball just does nothing
Speaker 2: for me. I'm I'm sorry to be the one.
Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, it hasn't been a great season to watch.
Speaker 2: You know. I mean a lot of it is Ryan
Speaker 2: Howard is out. She is like the primary source of
Speaker 2: spacing on this team in one on one shot creation,
Speaker 2: Like Alicia Grace had quite a good year. But I think,
Speaker 2: you know, Ryan is comfortably the best player on this team,
Speaker 2: and to be missing her for such a long stretch
Speaker 2: another Olympian going into Paris with some tough injury issues
Speaker 2: just really bums me out. You know, they tried to
Speaker 2: address the point guard issue from last season because this
Speaker 2: was a team that was just like always getting sped
Speaker 2: up and not being very disciplined when they had leads.
Speaker 2: And then of course Jordan Canada gets hurt immediately and
Speaker 2: has played like just a couple of games this season.
Speaker 2: Eryl Powers recently has been out. Hayley Jones not really
Speaker 2: a point guard despite what Atlanta's trying to pigeonhole her into.
Speaker 2: So it just is really hard to address any of
Speaker 2: the you know, the issues that they had last season
Speaker 2: in terms of, you know, their offense, and then defensively,
Speaker 2: they just they just give up so many threes. Like
Speaker 2: I don't understand why the system hasn't changed yet. It's
Speaker 2: it's a really weird theory, like we're just going to
Speaker 2: pack the pain as much as possible and let you shoot,
Speaker 2: and I guess against Connecticut.
Speaker 3: It could work.
Speaker 2: But like most teams in the W like that seems
Speaker 2: like an invitation to have a really good offensive night. So,
Speaker 2: uh yeah, a lot of a lot of weird things
Speaker 2: happening out. They don't even know their draft pick for
Speaker 2: this upcoming season, which is a real problem if you're
Speaker 2: the Atlanta dream Like, you really have to get into
Speaker 2: the playoffs. So you know, best of luck for Ryan
Speaker 2: Howard's health in Jordan Canada's health, because that's what you're
Speaker 2: going to need in the second part of the season.
Speaker 4: So you're saying to start prepping for the next season already,
Speaker 4: get healthy.
Speaker 2: You really got to get into the eight seed. You
Speaker 2: don't want to give up a lottery pick. That's just embarrassing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a that's a great point. We got the
Speaker 4: w NBA All Star Game coming up this weekend. It's
Speaker 4: in Saturday, or it's on Saturday in Phoenix. We've got
Speaker 4: events prior to that this year because we've got the
Speaker 4: Olympics going. It's going to be Team USA versus the
Speaker 4: w NBA All Stars, led by Caitlyn Clark and Angel
Speaker 4: Race amongst many other players. What are you watching for
Speaker 4: on Saturday, Sabrina.
Speaker 2: So many things. I'm excited for dear Cahanby to get
Speaker 2: to play against fur members of the Las Vegas Aces,
Speaker 2: because dear Camby loves playing against Las Vegas. I'm excited
Speaker 2: for want of Honor and was Thomas fiance Is to
Speaker 2: have to guard one another in that game since they've
Speaker 2: been teammates for the last four years in the entirety
Speaker 2: of their relationship. I'm excited for Caitlin Reece and Angel Clark,
Speaker 2: sorry Kaitlynd Clark and Angel Reaes to share the court
Speaker 2: together and potentially Clark to throw some you know, assist
Speaker 2: Angel inside. But you know, I kind of just want
Speaker 2: to see like Team USA healthy. I feel like it's
Speaker 2: been a theme that I've brought up a lot over
Speaker 2: the last half an hour or so. It's just a
Speaker 2: lot of these Olympians have not been a great place physically,
Speaker 2: and I just want to see what that team looks
Speaker 2: like altogether as twelve players. And I worry that it's
Speaker 2: not going to happen by Saturday. But you know, I'm
Speaker 2: a huge homer when it comes to international basketball, and
Speaker 2: I just want them to look as overwhelming and dominating
Speaker 2: as possible. And it'd be nice if that started out
Speaker 2: with a win against the WNBA All Stars.
Speaker 4: Yeah, everybody says we when it comes to international basketball,
Speaker 4: and nobody has a problem with it.
Speaker 3: That's we.
Speaker 1: Yeah, going into Saturday, I mentioned the Olympians injuries and
Speaker 1: so many of them across the board, and wondering how
Speaker 1: they're going to go about it. Will they just kind
Speaker 1: of make sure that they're healthy through it, or are
Speaker 1: they going to take down Team WNBA the way they
Speaker 1: weren't able to do in twenty twenty one, the last
Speaker 1: time this happened the Team WNBA one. Obviously, I can
Speaker 1: say we now had no problem winning the.
Speaker 5: Olympics at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: But how do you see that playing out in terms
Speaker 1: of the Team WA versus the Olympic team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's just a lot more motivation on
Speaker 2: the WNBA side than there is on the Team USA side, because,
Speaker 2: as you mentioned in twenty twenty one, not only did
Speaker 2: the Olympic team lose to Team WNBA, they then lost
Speaker 2: an exhibition and the next came to Australia before going
Speaker 2: on to you know, win the gold medal in Tokyo.
Speaker 2: So it's not like they really need this tune up
Speaker 2: to prove that they're ready to go, you know, for
Speaker 2: Paris next in a couple of weeks. Whereas everybody on
Speaker 2: the WNBA, like you have somebody like Arique Goumbawale, who
Speaker 2: has talked about the politics of Team USA and her
Speaker 2: not being able to be on the Olympic team, and Nkokumaka,
Speaker 2: who is famously snubbed multiple times for the Olympic team
Speaker 2: and probably has a little bit of an extra grind
Speaker 2: with the Olympic committee. And then you have players like
Speaker 2: you know, Caitlin Clark and Angel Rees who would love
Speaker 2: to be on the Olympic team at some point. And
Speaker 2: this is sort of their like audition and also like
Speaker 2: why didn't you select me this year type of things.
Speaker 2: So I think the motivation is just so much higher
Speaker 2: on the WNBA side, and the fact that they can
Speaker 2: afford to play really hard and if they get a
Speaker 2: little nicked up, it's fine because they're off for four weeks,
Speaker 2: Whereas you get a little nicked up on Team USA
Speaker 2: that could, you know, be potentially problematic when you get
Speaker 2: to Paris. So I think just like the stakes are
Speaker 2: so much clearer for Team WNBA, other than like Diana's
Speaker 2: Rossi and Kalia Copper and Britney Griner who probably want
Speaker 2: to put on a good show for their home crowd
Speaker 2: in Phoenix. I just don't think the motivation is there
Speaker 2: for Team USA. So rather than try very hard and
Speaker 2: potentially get embarrassed store potentially get hurt, I think the
Speaker 2: key is just to take it easy, you know, try
Speaker 2: to put on a little show for the fans and
Speaker 2: get started with your meaningful prep on Sunday.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's such a unique situation where you're named an
Speaker 4: All Star but you're somehow still a snub. So the
Speaker 4: motivation for the WNBA All Stars is just built.
Speaker 3: In right there. Here's a dumb take.
Speaker 4: I think that the WNBA All Stars will win every
Speaker 4: time they play versus tam Usa, just because they care
Speaker 4: a little bit more, and like you're saying, Sabrina, they can.
Speaker 3: Go all out because they got four weeks.
Speaker 4: Afterwards, you mentioned some of the Phoenix players wanting to
Speaker 4: put on a show. One guy who is going to
Speaker 4: be putting on a show, Pitbull, announces that halftime act
Speaker 4: for the WNBA All Star Game this weekend. In his tweet,
Speaker 4: Pitbull said, I was raised by a woman, and a
Speaker 4: woman made me a man. You excited for Pitbull, Sabrina.
Speaker 2: I was more excited before the tweet, but now generally
Speaker 2: very excited for pitball.
Speaker 4: Dalle should be fun. That is Saturday. But then the
Speaker 4: league has taken a big break. You said four weeks
Speaker 4: for the Olympics. The regular season will resume August fifteenth.
Speaker 4: What should we be watching for in the second half
Speaker 4: of this season?
Speaker 2: A few things. I think if Vegas finally decides it's
Speaker 2: time to play like a real basketball team, you know,
Speaker 2: they haven't played really good defense for the majority of
Speaker 2: this regular season, so I think if they recognized it,
Speaker 2: these last week team games are meaningful to them like,
Speaker 2: you know, you mentioned the top five teams I think
Speaker 2: are all realistic contenders. You don't want to be number
Speaker 2: five because then you don't get home court advantage in
Speaker 2: the first round of the playoffs, and you could potentially
Speaker 2: have to go to the number four seed and like
Speaker 2: play two home games there and not even get to
Speaker 2: come back to your own arena, you know, in that
Speaker 2: first round, which is the best of three. So I
Speaker 2: think seeding is gonna be really important for those top
Speaker 2: five teams. Can Vegas turn it on, Can Connecticut like
Speaker 2: get a good win against Las Vegas or New York
Speaker 2: in those upcoming games, and then you know, obviously I
Speaker 2: always have my own the lottery because Page Becker's coming
Speaker 2: out in the twenty twenty five draft. You've got Dallas
Speaker 2: who probably didn't want to be here at this point,
Speaker 2: but they're they've fallen pretty far back. And do they
Speaker 2: still try to pack it in with Sathusavali or do
Speaker 2: they try to win some games and maybe get an
Speaker 2: eight seed and realize, like is there that big of
Speaker 2: a difference between a lottery pick and the number five pick?
Speaker 2: Who knows? And then that race, you know, for the
Speaker 2: final playoff spots with Indiana and Chicago and Atlanta, I
Speaker 2: think it's going to be really good. So yeah, i'd
Speaker 2: say the number one thing I have an eye on
Speaker 2: is like, what do the Aces look like after the break?
Speaker 2: Just because on paper that's another championship team, but like
Speaker 2: the way they've looked against Chicago last night or you know,
Speaker 2: in some of their recent games doesn't exactly scream three
Speaker 2: pet So yeah, those are probably the top items on
Speaker 2: my list.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm looking forward to the ACE as it feels
Speaker 1: old school NBA ish where teams are just like, all right,
Speaker 1: flip that switch.
Speaker 5: We can do it. You know, we've seen it, We've
Speaker 5: done it before.
Speaker 1: Although I like, speaking of the NBA, the tray that
Speaker 1: you mentioned the WNBA team and how motivated they are,
Speaker 1: I'm very much looking forward to that because, yeah, you're
Speaker 1: totally right, going up against the Olympic team.
Speaker 5: That should be something that the NBA does at All
Speaker 5: Star weekend.
Speaker 1: We're trying to find some motivation for this as West
Speaker 1: it does not happen so some way, somehow. I mean,
Speaker 1: we've got we used to see Pitbull. I mean that's
Speaker 1: they're crossing over. We're seeing this crossover. Yeah, you're getting
Speaker 1: flow right of next year. I can already tell Yeah,
Speaker 1: I saw how excited you were for Pitbull Serena. It's
Speaker 1: got to be big for nothing.
Speaker 2: Screams high level basketball to me, like Pitbull. I hear
Speaker 2: his voice when I think NBA playoffs. Exactly, I'm here
Speaker 2: for it.
Speaker 3: What are you going to do this month?
Speaker 4: Four weeks until the w comes back, Like you mentioned
Speaker 4: that other stuff will be going on obviously with the Olympics,
Speaker 4: But how do you plan to spend these four weeks.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm really excited to watch the Olympics, first and foremost.
Speaker 2: I mean, I love handball and like canoeing and all
Speaker 2: these random things that come into my life once every
Speaker 2: four years that I will you put on the back
Speaker 2: burner again until Los Angeles in twenty twenty eight. But
Speaker 2: now I'm spending some time on the beach, you know,
Speaker 2: kind of check in with some college friends. It'll be
Speaker 2: a good time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you want to talk about things that the NBA
Speaker 4: should steal four weeks off in the middle of the season.
Speaker 3: That's incredible, like the bubble all over. Yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 4: We'll just take a break here, everybody get healthy, come back,
Speaker 4: and we'll have an awesome stretch run. I can't wait
Speaker 4: to see what happens. We'll keep reading your work, Sabrina.
Speaker 4: Can you tell people where they can find you and
Speaker 4: what you got I'm an out or anything else you
Speaker 4: want to plug?
Speaker 2: Yeah. So at the Athletic dot Com is all of
Speaker 2: our women's basketball stuff during the WNBA season. I've got
Speaker 2: like a weekly wrap up power ranking thing that comes
Speaker 2: out every Monday, where, incidentally, I also talked about Angel
Speaker 2: Ray's stat padding this week, so that's a fun little
Speaker 2: way to get into every week of the season. And
Speaker 2: Ben and I have a debate that comes out every
Speaker 2: Thursday where we pick one topic and just get at
Speaker 2: each other about why the other one's wrong, so that's
Speaker 2: always really fun. And we have the Athletic Women's Basketball
Speaker 2: Show that releases every Tuesday, so that's I think the
Speaker 2: best women's basketball podcast out there, so you should listen
Speaker 2: to it.
Speaker 4: I think so too. I'd love the debate you and
Speaker 4: Ben had about the Rookie of the Year. We linked
Speaker 4: it in the chat here, so people go and check
Speaker 4: that one out. Sabrina, Thank you so much. We'll have
Speaker 4: to talk to you soon once we get the w
Speaker 4: back at our Lives and get a little bit closer
Speaker 4: to playoff times.
Speaker 2: Thank you so Marina, Yeah, thank you so much. I'll
Speaker 2: have to bring my own WNBA jersey to wear next time.
Speaker 2: That was an error on my part. O.
Speaker 4: There we go, Candice Parker the goat. I'm sure you agree.
Speaker 4: We're going to take a look at tweet of the night,
Speaker 4: real quick.
Speaker 5: Tweet o the night.
Speaker 1: Wow, this was making the way around tweeter yesterday. It's
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown and Kaiser Gonzerjig at the game a summer
Speaker 1: league where the best mouth reading, the best lip reading
Speaker 1: happened with Jalen Brown and Kaiser Because Jalen Brown, as
Speaker 1: it's being quoted everywhere, comments about Bronnie not being a pro,
Speaker 1: and then they have this discussion. So it is Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown saying, I don't think Bronnie is going to be
Speaker 1: a pro, and con Drick says, I think he'll be
Speaker 1: on the G League team for sure, and Jalen says,
Speaker 1: I don't think so, I think because of his name
Speaker 1: he'll be on the Lakers. So he literally doesn't think
Speaker 1: he'll be a pro, doesn't he can't be a pro.
Speaker 1: And you could see Angel Reese, who is also there,
Speaker 1: listening to Jalen Brown when he says I don't think
Speaker 1: Bronnie is a pro.
Speaker 3: She not.
Speaker 1: She gets a little not although she says, I'm not
Speaker 1: taking part of this. But the next part with Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown actually commenting on this suite was really interesting. He
Speaker 1: said on a retweet on a re x whatever you
Speaker 1: call it, it's a flex to have your son alongside
Speaker 1: you in the NBA. It reflects greatness and longevity. Bronni
Speaker 1: has all the tools around him to be successful. I
Speaker 1: look forward to watching his growth. So he did not
Speaker 1: take back his statement whatsoever, and I like that about him.
Speaker 1: He's basically saying this is how I feel, and I
Speaker 1: can say that because people watching Bronnie James definitely felt
Speaker 1: that way. I know we had this discussion in Vegas.
Speaker 1: I think it's good for him to go to the
Speaker 1: G League. That's where he belongs. He needs to get better.
Speaker 1: I think his defense is solid, but obviously his offensive
Speaker 1: skills can improve a lot, and so that's where he
Speaker 1: should play. As Kaiser said, I think he's going to
Speaker 1: be in the CHI League, although Jalen says, nah, I
Speaker 1: don't know about that. I think his name just makes
Speaker 1: him a Laker for life. That being said, he can
Speaker 1: do both. He can play for a few games or
Speaker 1: be on the band for the Lakers and basically not
Speaker 1: play and come out with Dad at times like rare situations.
Speaker 1: I think that's that's what should happen. Anyways.
Speaker 5: I like how Gellen's defending himself and not just.
Speaker 1: Saying that that saying yeah, yeah, yeah, I said that.
Speaker 3: Yeah I said that.
Speaker 4: And it's hard to argue when you can literally see
Speaker 4: my lips moving and people are able to read the lips.
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 4: You're a pretty good lip reader, actually, and much better
Speaker 4: than me. I'm always impressed when people are able to
Speaker 4: figure out what they're saying.
Speaker 3: But I think you nailed that.
Speaker 4: They're both right because I think that Bronni will probably
Speaker 4: start the season with the Lakers. There's already been talk
Speaker 4: about him playing alongside Lebron during the first week of
Speaker 4: the season, and then he goes down to the G
Speaker 4: League to work on his game and hopefully for the Lakers,
Speaker 4: become a piece that can actually stick around and maybe
Speaker 4: even get into the rotation in the next couple of years.
Speaker 4: Because the Lakers are still a team trying to win
Speaker 4: a championship, right. That means they don't want to rely
Speaker 4: on any second round pick. They don't want to rely
Speaker 4: on any fifty fifth pick, and clearly Bronni just isn't
Speaker 4: quite ready to be contributing to a team like the Lakers. So,
Speaker 4: like Kaiser Gondrachek said on Twitter, though I think she
Speaker 4: may have deleted it already, the G League is a
Speaker 4: great place to work on your game. You'll get more touches,
Speaker 4: you'll get more opportunity, You'll have to play defense because
Speaker 4: that's why coaches are going to put you on the floor.
Speaker 4: It's a chance for Bronnie to prove that he actually
Speaker 4: deserves to be in the NBA.
Speaker 3: So, I mean, nobody.
Speaker 4: Wants to get sent to the G League, I don't think,
Speaker 4: but a lot of second round draft picks do.
Speaker 3: And it's nothing that's a big deal.
Speaker 4: Just go down there, prove that you're good enough to play,
Speaker 4: then come up and be a part of the real team.
Speaker 1: It is great to go down there and try and
Speaker 1: make yourselves better. That's exactly what Kaiser Gondrizi was implying,
Speaker 1: for sure. But they don't have that luxury like NBA
Speaker 1: players do to be able to go down to a
Speaker 1: G League team. It is good for them. It was
Speaker 1: interesting just following along the Summer League in this conversation
Speaker 1: because it is automatically thought of as a four year
Speaker 1: contract and Brian James is going to be there for
Speaker 1: four years.
Speaker 5: It's not all guaranteed. I was surprised to see.
Speaker 1: That actually after a while that it is only a
Speaker 1: couple of years guaranteed, and so who knows what happens
Speaker 1: beyond that that it's basically matching. No, it isn't past matching.
Speaker 1: It it lines up with your senior a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not completely, but yeah, it's a good thing for Rich
Speaker 1: Paul to have him signed this type of contract. This
Speaker 1: is a second round number fifty five pick to get
Speaker 1: money number one and to get to get this type
Speaker 1: of G League reps. Beside me, that's that's the important thing.
Speaker 1: But as you said, late second round picks don't usually
Speaker 1: help teams.
Speaker 5: They just do not.
Speaker 1: Second round picks don't usually help teams. Now, they drafted
Speaker 1: an old connect in the first line in the first
Speaker 1: rounds as their pick, and he looked good and Summerly's
Speaker 1: he's just looked solid period. He just looks like he's
Speaker 1: going to be part of the rotation, so they went
Speaker 1: Old there to help him out. But it is an
Speaker 1: interesting team because you see guys like Gary Trent. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you'll talk about it on Friday's drop, but guys
Speaker 1: that could have helped the Lakers, yeah in some way,
Speaker 1: shape or form getting signed somewhere else. So all in all, yeah,
Speaker 1: I bet it's some sad times, But really I don't
Speaker 1: think Barnie James is gonna be.
Speaker 5: He ain't starting, he ain't playing a.
Speaker 1: Ton of minutes on this team. So really it's it's
Speaker 1: not all that bad anyways. When it all comes down to,
Speaker 1: is Jalen Brown just comfortable saying stuff like he said
Speaker 1: about not being on the Olympic team And he said, Nike,
Speaker 1: what do you do?
Speaker 5: And I deserve to be on the Olympic team.
Speaker 1: And he backed that up as well, saying I think
Speaker 1: Nikki has something to do with it. Anyways, Winning Finals
Speaker 1: MVP gives you lets you do whatever you want.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's living his life.
Speaker 4: He just signed a three hundred million dollar contract in
Speaker 4: one Finals MVP. But my guess is that we don't
Speaker 4: see a lot of uncovered lips from Jalen Brown when
Speaker 4: he's sitting courtside anymore. After the way this sput down,
Speaker 4: I think if I'm the Lakers or a Lakers fan,
Speaker 4: the only thing I'm really feeling any type of way
Speaker 4: with Bronnie is that he does take up a roster spot.
Speaker 3: Gary Trent Junior just went for a veteran minimum.
Speaker 4: He would help a team like the Lakers a lot
Speaker 4: more than Bronnie is going to help them.
Speaker 5: Does take a roster spot. That is that is true.
Speaker 1: It's not a two way contract, which Rich Paula's agent
Speaker 1: said that ain't happen and we're not doing that.
Speaker 5: He got a contract, which which is true.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wonder if Gary Trent would have been comfortable
Speaker 1: going to the Lakers or I mean it took for
Speaker 1: it took a long time here mid July for Gary
Speaker 1: Trent to be signed, So I wonder, ye what the
Speaker 1: situation was with the.
Speaker 3: Lakers there we shall see.
Speaker 4: I would go down to the Gateway Center arena to
Speaker 4: see Bronnie playing good point Bronni.
Speaker 3: Versus Kobe Buffkin.
Speaker 4: Yeah, exciting times in the A TuS yesterday you talked
Speaker 4: to Joel about the MLB season, Yeah, about the All
Speaker 4: Star Game?
Speaker 5: Yeah, who won?
Speaker 3: It the Golden Glizzies.
Speaker 1: That's the Golden Glizzies were absolutely fun to hand out
Speaker 1: for the first half of MLB because it was it was.
Speaker 1: It was a legitimately fun first half and it was
Speaker 1: great to see show I hit a dinger in the
Speaker 1: All Star Game. Totally fun, it was. It was a
Speaker 1: good one. The discussion actually after the All Star Game
Speaker 1: was who has the worst All Star Game? Because it
Speaker 1: just feels like every like, every every league.
Speaker 4: Which ta like, which league is the least interesting to
Speaker 4: watch them?
Speaker 1: I guess yeah, because league wide, just sports wide. Yeah,
Speaker 1: whether it's NFL the most popular or in North America
Speaker 1: for sure, or whether it's the NBA or whether it's
Speaker 1: MLB or NHL. I love the Skills Contest, but you know,
Speaker 1: it's the same goes for NBA. I love the Saturday
Speaker 1: Night not the skills Contest, but the Dunk contest, Dunk
Speaker 1: Contest and the three point Contest. I like the surrounding
Speaker 1: events the NFL. I mean, they play like dodgeball or something.
Speaker 1: They play some weird stuff, and those are those are
Speaker 1: the more fun things when it comes to these sports.
Speaker 1: But I still to think MLB is is running it
Speaker 1: just because you have to play similarly, they don't play
Speaker 1: I guess as hard like they're not stealing bases, but
Speaker 1: I don't know. I like I like the uniforms. There's
Speaker 1: also debate about that. People are saying, oh, you like
Speaker 1: those ones.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I like them.
Speaker 3: Loud, kind of old timey looking brownies.
Speaker 5: I think you throw the hat on. It's a combo.
Speaker 5: It's a combo of the hat.
Speaker 1: Hat looks fairly new, Jersey's fairly old. So it's like
Speaker 1: old guy, young guy, the old guy down low, young
Speaker 1: guy up top. That's what they should have called them.
Speaker 1: They would have sold. No, I'm not I'm not getting
Speaker 1: physical here. We're not talking.
Speaker 6: About just do it. Funny what you decided NFL worst
Speaker 6: All Star game. They don't even play their sport anymore.
Speaker 6: They play whatever they play flag football?
Speaker 5: Is that right?
Speaker 1: Yeah, they played flag football exactly. There's they don't want
Speaker 1: to get injured, is what it comes down to. The
Speaker 1: NFL says, hey, we're popular enough, we don't need to
Speaker 1: have an All Star game, an actual also game.
Speaker 3: It's after the season.
Speaker 5: Yeah, weird.
Speaker 3: I guess in between the end of the season.
Speaker 5: Right, it's in between the super Bowl and all the playoffs. Yeah,
Speaker 5: that's weird.
Speaker 4: Making me feel good about the NBA though we have
Speaker 4: it during the season, were so exciting.
Speaker 5: And we sure do. Yeah, we can all improve. I
Speaker 5: mean we brought it up here.
Speaker 1: We're talking about Sabrina with Sabrina about the team w
Speaker 1: NBA versus the Olympians. Now, it doesn't work for every season.
Speaker 1: They don't do that in a w NBA every season.
Speaker 1: They do it every four years. Now when it lines up,
Speaker 1: I wonder if the NBA can capitalize on that somehow, somehow.
Speaker 5: It just it's tough.
Speaker 1: But even the discussion we've had before about North America
Speaker 1: versus the world or US versus the world, Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: US versus the world because Canda would be on the
Speaker 1: opposing team and would be freaking awesome.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: That seems to be the way we can make the
Speaker 1: NBA All Star Game good again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe that would work. Paul Skenes, that guy's pretty good.
Speaker 5: He's awesome.
Speaker 4: Flame thrower. Flame thrower al won the All Star Game. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I saw so great stuff for the Chicago White Sox.
Speaker 1: They keep running Itales. The ale is good. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: White Sox don't. Well, have got a lot of good things.
Speaker 4: You don't think they're going to the World Series. Ill
Speaker 4: at home a little advantage.
Speaker 5: You never know what could happen in the second half.
Speaker 3: Turn it on.
Speaker 1: Yeah they're bad, They're very, very bad. But the AL
Speaker 1: is just running the show that keep winning. Although yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it is funny. Yeah, the All Star Game
Speaker 1: in every sport is just not like it's just name
Speaker 1: what it used to be. The show hay thing, show
Speaker 1: hay thing in from the National League, even though they
Speaker 1: didn't win, was the thing that stood out to me.
Speaker 5: Hitting a dinger.
Speaker 4: That's fun, hitting the ding dong. Yeah, so that's no
Speaker 4: bunch yesterday. Yes, talk with Sabrina today, great stuff. Thank
Speaker 4: you so much to her for coming on. We will
Speaker 4: be back on Friday with the drop to talk about
Speaker 4: some NBA stuff. Ain't a lot going on right now,
Speaker 4: Tess Matas Buzzellis is dominating Summer League.
Speaker 3: Love to see that, but otherwise it's.
Speaker 4: Like we might be doing forty five minutes on Gary
Speaker 4: Trent Junior going to the Bucks.
Speaker 3: Is he's the new Malik Beasley.
Speaker 4: People are saying tune in Friday to find out Brus
Speaker 4: you heard it here first.
Speaker 2: Have a great time, turn up, Love you guys, awesome.
Speaker 5: Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1: And remember the thing that Asia Wilson and Angel Rees
Speaker 1: were on their legs. It's called a leg sleeve, but
Speaker 1: I like your suggestion a pant leg pant or what.
Speaker 5: Do you wear? What are you wear on your arm?
Speaker 1: I guess it's a sleep that's so so. That's weird
Speaker 1: too too, because it's like a tight It's like it
Speaker 1: goes back to Allan Iverson, like what does that think?
Speaker 3: It's just a guess.
Speaker 4: He's a fabric on your Yeah, the panel that doesn't
Speaker 4: scratch you. That's why Ray Allen said he wore one.
Speaker 5: At least.
Speaker 3: Embrace the leg sleeves. Embrace the w