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Ep 1: Born on the Baseline – Full Transcript

Full Ep 1: Born on the Baseline

Intro Music Plays with clips inserted periodically over the music.

Monica Wright: [00:00:00] Please. You jump in some guy’s face you, you talk smack, and you get a, a pat on your ass. Because I’m a female, I get told to calm down and act like a lady. I’m a ball player. Okay?

Dawn Staley: Oh Kamilla! Oh no, don’t do that to Kamilla! Do not do that to Kamilla. I’ma fight. (Laughter).

Diana Taurasi: Look, SVP, um, reality is [00:01:00] coming. Okay. You know, there’s, there’s levels to this thing, and that’s just life. We all went through it, of course. Um, and you see it on the NBA side and you’re gonna see it on this side where, you know, they, you look super human playing against 18 year olds, but you get to come with some grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time.

Not saying that’s not gonna translate. ’cause when you’re great at what you do, you’re just gonna get better. But there is gonna be a transition period where you’re gonna have to give yourself some grace, as a rookie.

Holly Rowe: What does this moment mean to you?

Candace Parker: This is for Pat…..This is for Pat.

Ball in hoop sound, intro music ends with crowd cheering.

Kris Chaney: Welcome to Courtside Raised, where we break down the game of basketball through the eyes of someone raised just off the [00:02:00] hardwood. I’m Kris Chaney, son of a 30 year Hall of Fame, THE Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach, y’all, Kevin Chaney. Today we’re talking WNBA All Star Weekend, CBA talks and the player reactions and WNBA playoff projections along with some highlights across the leagues.

Welcome, welcome everyone. I am super excited about this podcast. This has been a passion project for me. It’s been in talks for a long time and I finally got a good idea of what I wanted to do. Women’s basketball is extremely important to me. You’ll learn through this podcast that, uh, I grew up in a basketball gym.

Um, I was there since I was about three or four years old. In a little community college gym in the Bay area of California. And it was a true pleasure to be around such talented and amazing women [00:03:00] and to be a part of their growth as, uh, I was growing myself and to be a part of my dad’s career and his impact on the game and why he chose to coach women and, um, why we still both continue to enjoy watching them to this day.

The podcast is not entirely about women’s basketball. I am a basketball fan in general, bay Area teams, Golden State Warriors, Golden State Valkyries. NCAA. Definitely a big fan there as well to Go Duke. We’ll get into that throughout, uh, the podcast as we move through the seasons. Um, but we will be talking about all of basketball, uh, with a special emphasis on women’s basketball.

Okay, enough rambling. Let’s get into the starting five All Star Weekend. What was new? Let’s see, what was new this weekend in All Star weekend? Well, there was a 72 hour live stream with the stud buds. Those of you that aren’t familiar with that, uh, Stud Buds are the dynamic duo of Courtney Williams [00:04:00] and Letisha Heideman, better known as T and um, I’m just gonna call her Courtney because I don’t really, you guys will learn.

I am not a Lynx fan. I do really like Courtney though. There’s really only one player I don’t care for in the W, which I will bring up as well too. But, uh, so there was that 72 hour live stream. Uh, Courtney Williams and uh, T Heideman were pretty much streaming everything that was going on, uh, during that weekend.

I highly encourage you all to continue following if they, uh, do that again. They do do streams, I guess 24 to 72 hours. This was the first 72 hour one. Uh, a player comment, uh, made a nice comment about that being the straightest thing that Courtney has ever done, which I thought was hilarious. Uh, there also.

New things to the game. Four point markers. 2023. They also had four point markers, so it’s not entirely new, but it’s another thing that they did this year. Uh, I’m not a huge fan of the [00:05:00] four pointers. Reason being is just because they set records. In these games and while it is a fun exhibition game for the majority of the players, you know, those of us that take the game a little bit more seriously, we probably would’ve liked to.

I just prefer the records to actually be records Arike hold the held holds. I will say she still holds the record for, uh, the most points scored in a WNBA All Star game, which was 34 points. The reason why I say that is because there was no four point option when Arike was playing, and she is known for taking some long threes as well, too.

Napheesa Collier, technically, according to some, broke the record by scoring 36 points. However, she made a bunch of four points, uh, three long, long, three, four points worth. Four points, so I just disagreed with. Updating the record. I haven’t actually double checked to see if they did update the record. Uh, source told me that they most likely [00:06:00] would be updating the record.

Um, but again, like I said, this is not the first time that they have had a four point marker. They also had that in 2023. So you’ll learn that I’m a little bit particular about certain things. But let’s break down the skills challenge because the other parts, uh, to the, uh, All-Star Weekend is not just the All-Star game, but is begins with the skills challenge and then finishes up with the three point contest before they get into the game, uh, which is actually the following day.

So the 2025 WNBA Skills Challenge is a two round competition. So players navigate an obstacle course, uh, where they test dribbling, passing and shooting. The course does include a 2025 Kia Hybrid as well. So the way that the first round works, the obstacle course, uh, the players navigate that course, which includes dribbling, bounce passes, chest passes, outlet passes, and shooting from different spots on the court.

Uh, from like the elbow corner top of the arc. The Kia Sorento hybrid is like kind of [00:07:00] parked in the middle of it, and the two fastest players in the first round will advance to the final round. Then the second obstacle course, the two finalists will run the court, the obstacle course. Again, the winner is determined to be, uh, by the fastest overall time from both rounds combined.

I know there was some questions there. Uh, when we were watching it, there was a lot of missing going on in those, uh, in the, in that little clinic, I guess we’ll call it little clinic competition. Uh, but they did not have to make the shots. They just had to complete the competition or complete the courses in the fastest time overall.

And both Natasha Cloud ended up beating Erica Wheeler, which was pretty good. She beat her by 1.1 seconds. It was pretty good. And who also, I don’t know if that was, uh, widely known information, but we also saw a nice little kiss between Natasha and her teammate girlfriend, if you didn’t see it, I guess I’ll just have to, no, it’s Harrison, [00:08:00] she’s, she’s dating Izzy Harrison.

Uh, let’s see, three point competition moving into that. Um, that was won by Sabrina Ionescu, as we all knew. She probably would. She was a strong candidate. This is her second overall win. Uh, she scored 30 points, just one point shy of her record, so it didn’t beat her record. She beat Allisha Gray, who ended up with 22 points.

Pretty good there actually. Um, I enjoyed watching Allisha Gray. She’s got a pretty clean shot. Um, but you can always tell those that can shoot the three versus those that are three point shooters. As my dad so eloquently put yesterday when we were at the Phoenix game. Finally the final score of the All Star Game.

If you haven’t seen it, stop listening right now, but you know, it was last weekend. Come on. Who didn’t watch that? Uh, we’ll see. I think it was just over 2 million viewers. I think it was down 36% from last season. And, um, they were [00:09:00] saying that it’s because Caitlin Clark wasn’t playing. But you know, that also just lets you know that 36% of the people that watched last year from this year are only watching for her.

So that’s okay. We will do without the newbie fans. Just kidding. We love you Newbie fans. Thank you for joining. Thank you for watching. We appreciate you. But, uh, just know that, um, there are some other women out there that are great and doing great things. Uh, team Collier ended up taking the win 151 to 131 points.

Um, I call that a Stephan Curry game. I do believe Elle Duncan had one of the best comments of the night. There was definitely no defense being played. It was almost as if the players were like, Hey, don’t contest any four point shots. Which, you know, I do understand. You know, they, um, were paying, uh, out money for their charities, um, at every four point shot that was sunk.

So I do understand and I appreciate that. However, it is still a game that some of us do, you know, wanna watch. But it’s always great. Um, I actually was not disappointed in anything. I really enjoyed [00:10:00] watching the. Watching the game, watching the players, watching the action, um, watching the live stream and watching the shenanigans that went on behind it.

Um, I watched Kathy, the WNBA commissioner, as well as the links head coach, Cheryl Reeve, also one of the All-star coaches, also team USA coach dance. And, uh, I think quite possibly that was the funniest and best thing that I saw the entire weekend. So two ladies that I’m not a huge fan of, Cheryl Reeve and, uh, commissioner Kathy.

But, um, definitely great to watch them get loose and have a little bit of fun with the players. So that was a lot of fun. Um, Kathy, I don’t know what you were doing, honey, but maybe take the heels off because it, it didn’t, it didn’t look good. Aside from the shenanigans and of course the fun of the All-Star game and activities, there were some serious conversations that were continuing to take place.

I will play a couple of clips here as well too, from some of the players that were talking about this topic, [00:11:00] but it is the CBA talks, if you’ve heard that in the news. I’m gonna break down exactly what that is, what it means, why it’s important. Just for those of you that it may or may not be as familiar with the current pay structure in the WNBA.

It’s not just about the pay structure. We’re gonna get into the benefits and things like that, uh, that they do not get. Um, ’cause I do know that this podcast, um, hopefully, um, definitely has veterans of the game, but also I would love for new fans of the game or New watchers of the game. Uh, women’s basketball specifically if you’re new to it.

Um, I do want to have a lot of moments where I break things down. So, um, for everybody, the WNBA and the WNB. PA began talks for a new CBA, which is a collective bargaining agreement after the players’ union opt out of the current agreement Last October, the current CBA, which began in January, 2020, was set to expire after eight seasons in [00:12:00] 2027.

But the players opted out mean, which means that it will now end on October 31st, 2025. The first in-person talks began between the two parties, which is the W-N-B-P-A, featuring numerous players that show up for those meetings. President of the W-N-B-P-A is current Seattle Storm player Nneka Ogwumike WNBA current lead commissioner Kathy Engelbert.

Uh, it’s not just between these two ladies. It is between the organization as well as the, uh, W-N-B-P-A and those, uh, first took place in December in Indianapolis.

The WNBA and W-N-B-P-A are working towards a new CBA before the current one expires to avoid a potential work stoppage. The WNBA season ends on October 19th, and the league has an expansion draft for new teams in Portland and Toronto [00:13:00] in 2026, which requires a new CBA to be in place. The WNBA has never experienced a lockout, but the 2003 draft and preseason were postponed before a new CBA was reached that year.

This is probably one of the most discussed topics when we’re discussing the WNBA and there’s a lot of opinions from a lot of different people, and I just want to share a quick breakdown for everybody who may not be aware. Of exactly what professional women basketball players in the United States are doing without as professional athletes.

And I’m gonna keep saying professional athletes, ’cause there’s another point that I need to make before I get into this. That this league, the WNBA is the best [00:14:00] in the world. There are foreigners that come here to play, they get drafted to play, and of course those that play in the United States also get drafted and they play.

And some players that aren’t drafted also are able to still be on teams. Kayla Thornton was undrafted and she is dominating for the Golden State vies right now. So just want everybody to understand that while this is a women’s league, they are the best in the world. Here’s what the best in the world are currently doing without.

The WNBA players receive approximately 9.3% of the league’s revenue. While NBA players receive around 50% minimum salaries for WNBA players are considerably lower than in the DE than in the NBA. For example, an NBA rookie minimum is around 66,000 compared to 1.27 million. In the NBA. The [00:15:00] WNBA teams have fewer roster spots, 12 players compared to the NBA 15 plus three, two-way players leading to less job security.

Four players. Many WNBA players play in foreign leagues during the WNBA off season to earn more money as their WNBA salaries are not sufficient to cover living expenses for many. While the media coverage of the WNBA is increasing, it still lags far behind the NBA in terms of exposure and attention.

Another little tidbit that a lot of people don’t know, when players retire from the WNBA, there is no retirement package for them. In what world do you expect somebody to work 20 to 30 years and not have a retirement package? I wanna play a clip from Gabby Williams here in just a sec. [00:16:00] Uh, just a quick background on Gabby Williams.

She’s a current player for the Seattle Storm. She’s a forward and she’s been very vocal about prioritization. She has dual citizenship in France and did play, uh, for France in the most recent Olympics. She forgo to her WNBA salary, which was 144,000 in 2022 when she was playing for Seattle so that she could play overseas in France where she was making considerable more money like many WNBA players.

And she did return back to Seattle after the Olympics as well too. So it’s great to see her, uh, listen to this. Yeah. Prioritization is just such a weird one because they were just like so harsh on the punishment for missing, but there wasn’t like a reward Right. For it, you know? I’m like, okay, I under, if you want me to be here, it would make sense if you were paying me more to be here, but you’re not paying me even close No.

To like, so we wanna talk about business. Yeah. Like no other person [00:17:00] would do that in any other profession. Right, exactly. So like why would ’cause they’re women that part. Just to explain a little bit about what she’s talking about when it comes to prioritization, the WBAs collective bargaining agreement, currently their current CBA includes a prioritization policy, which is designed to ensure that players prioritize participation in the league over overseas commitments.

The policy outlines the consequences for players who choose to forego the WNBA season or miss any key events. So just to give you a quick, uh, clip of, uh, those players who do not report to training camp by May 1st face fines, players who miss the beginning of the regular season will be suspended for the entire season.

For veteran players, this is third year and beyond. Players in their third season or beyond who miss training camp by the deadline will face fines. There are consequences of not [00:18:00] fulfilling contract requirements as well. When a player chooses to sit out a season, it is treated as a voluntary suspension for not meeting their contractual obligations.

Consequently, their contract does not expire as scheduled, and they do not become free agents. Instead, they are designated as a suspended contract, expired player, meaning they can only negotiate with their former team. This status is akin to that of reserved players, but without a qualifying offer. This rule aims to prevent players from holding out, but it can also affect players who miss seasons for reasons unrelated to basketball.

It is possible that the W-N-B-P-A and WNBA may discuss potential changes to this CBNA in their current discussions, and I certainly hope that they are. I do know that Gabby Williams is obviously clearly very vocal about that. Now I have a friend of mine that, uh, we are united in sports. That is my brother.

And, uh, [00:19:00] on the sports, uh, my brother at work, um, you know, he asked me, he is like, you know, I’m, I was confused about the T-shirts because, you know, I thought they, I thought the WNBA was operating at a loss. And, you know, at first, you know, of course I had a knee jerk reaction, you know, but then I was like, no, no, no, you know, like, this is not, this is, this is an opportunity, you know, to make people aware that aren’t, you know.

And so I was like, no, actually. And I didn’t have any statistics to give him at that time. Um, but I do now, um, TV viewership up 170% on ESPN, up 23% on all platforms from 2024 to 2025. Ticket sales up 145%, 2024 to 2025 merchandising. Up over 600% from 2023 to 2024 Jersey and T-shirt sales up over 1000%. Social media views [00:20:00] up 400,000 from 2023 to 2024.

WNBA players only split nine to 10% of league revenue with the owners. N-B-A-N-F-L-N-H-L and MLB split nearly 50% of league revenue with the owners next year. The WNBA has a $2.2 billion TV rights deal kicking in with Disney, Amazon, and NBCU that could help them turn a little bit of a profit for the very first time in history.

But one of the biggest comments that I’ve heard and that I will make, and I have a couple of clips as well, the WMPA players know their value. They’re asking to be paid the same salaries as NBA players, but they are asking to be respected and paid the same revenue split percentage of the money that they helped generate for their league.

Anytime that it goes into these negotiations and situations, I always know that I have my voice and [00:21:00] I’m gonna continue to use it, um, until I get what I feel like we’ve earned and we’ve deserved. And now we’re gonna continue to do that. And I think the biggest thing is understanding that this is no laughing matter.

This is no trend. This is no moment in just right now, we’re talking about long term stuff. This is a business, this is a brand. You’re, you’re dealing with me, you, my livelihood, my future, the the next generation. So we’re gonna take this very, very seriously. And I think we’re not gonna stop until we understand exactly what we want.

I definitely feel like the league understands exactly what we have and we know and they know that we know how much our voice really, really carries. And at some point, I know that could be a little frightening, but we don’t care. I feel like everybody in this room knows that. Uh, when it comes to us as the w we are gonna always be a united front when it comes to things that really matter and what we care about, and we’re gonna put our best foot forward every single time.

So, yes, I, I do think the league knows, as I mentioned earlier, the current president of the W-N-B-P-A is Nneka Ogwumike who has been in the league since 2012. She was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks [00:22:00] first overall in that draft, she went to Stanford. She is a six foot two guard, or sorry, excuse me, forward for the Seattle Storm currently.

And as my dad puts it, Nneka is not a fool. And if there is anybody a part of the current WNBA organization that does not know that they will learn that through these discussions.

A reporter asked Nneka recently at the All Star Weekend, this past weekend, what she felt about the. League and part, particularly Kathy Englehart, the current WNBA Commissioner, and how they felt about them not understanding certain parts of the business or them being the players, not understanding certain parts of the business, and listen to mecca’s response.

Um, I wouldn’t call them reports. It’s, I’ve been, I’ve, I’ve heard that before, um, from her in one way or another. [00:23:00] And I try to let her know that yes, we understand that there are intricacies to the business that, um, one, we’re not privy to. And of course we’re not in, in the weeds about every day, but the players are very much aware of, um, the business, especially as it’s reflected in these negotiations.

We understand where the league has been, we understand where it is today and where it’s going and where we want it to go. So we wanna make sure that we are offered a fair share of that value, especially because this league would not exist without the players after being here so far, do you feel any more confident that you guys are progressing in the direction you want?

I always feel good, you know, I always feel good, especially when we have players that are engaged. We had a lot, a lot of player turnout for today’s meeting, and Kathy was encouraged by that as well. You know, it’s, it’s great to see all of the players taking it seriously. Um, not that they didn’t before, but in a way that is displaying the awareness of where our league is today and how we wanna be able to leave this league better than when we entered it.

The first clip I played [00:24:00] regarding the CBA talks after Gabby’s clip about prioritization was Asia Wilson and Asia Wilson. If you don’t know who she is, is a post player at the center for the Las Vegas ACEs. We call her MV three for representation of her. Three MVPs. She’s also a two-time WNBA champion.

She played for Dawn Staley, uh, at South Carolina. She’s quite possibly and been described by many, including Dawn Staley as being the greatest in the world. Um, she’s fantastic, but she is new to the league. She’s young in the league, she’s been in for a few years, but she’s young in the league versus players like Nneka who have been in here since, uh, been in the league since 2012.

And you gotta see where they’re coming from and the passion and what they’re, what, uh, she said on the end there about where the league has been, where it is now, and where they wanted to go. You know, they’ve, she’s 35 years old, doesn’t have too much time left in her to play in the league, and [00:25:00] you know, they’re leaving it better than they left it.

And they are, you know, paving the way. For these younger players to actually have their salaries. And I think that’s, uh, something in that contrast is important to understand of the longevity of some of the players that have played for years. You know, Diana, Tarausi just played 20 years and just recently retired.

She’s not gonna get a benefits package because, you know, the CBA talks happened this year. She could have played another year and held out, potentially maybe have squeezed out another two years, you know, and, you know, tried to make up that money. But, you know, that’s, it’s just a, an an, an understanding that these veteran players are doing as much as they can to advance the game and to advance the pay and compensation for the next generation just as much as, uh, they are for themselves, if not more so.

Um, so fantastic job on, um, you know, those talks and, you know, staying strong and the more awareness we can bring to this, the better. Now I do have one [00:26:00] more clip on this topic before we shift gears to, uh, getting into the current WNBA standings and, you know, projections and things like that. Before we close out the episode, I toyed around with whether or not I was gonna play this clip or not, and I think it’s important.

I’m gonna play the clip by the currents WNBA Commissioner Kathy Engelbert, because I have talked about her, we’ve mentioned her a few times in other, um, clips. So I feel it’s important that we at least play the clip that she mentions. And I did have a little bit of a blooper on the end, um, and I decided to leave it in.

Just, uh, I’ll talk more about that after we listen to Kathy. Do you feel confident that the, the league and the players will be able to reach a resolution so there doesn’t have to be a lockout? Yeah, I totally feel like we’re going back and forth. There’s a lot of discussion. That’s good. We’re at the table, which is great news.

And comparing it to 2020, we’re not behind, [00:27:00] we’re not ahead. We’re kind of right on track and, uh, I look forward to doing, to continuing the discussion. Do we put something transformational together? It just sounded like the biggest bunch of bullshit. I’m sorry.

Uh, sorry. I wanted to take that seriously. She’s just like, you know, we’re at the table, you know, we’re, we’re, we’re looking to transformational. It’s just like, okay, I’m gonna give her grace. Let me stop. Alright, so let’s move on from the CBA talks. Let’s get into the current WNBA standings. Now that we’re done with the All-Star weekend, we kinda have a little sprint to the playoffs into the finish line.

We have a couple of teams they could be an upset. So looking at the games from Tuesday, um, we’ve got Los Angeles versus Washington. 93 86, Los Angeles. Indianapolis lost to New York, 84 98. Chicago ended up getting blown out. So by their last meetup of the year, Minnesota and Chicago, [00:28:00] 68 to 91 Atlanta played, uh, this was Tuesday.

Uh, Atlanta also played last night. I’ll talk about that. Uh, but Tuesday night they played against, uh, Vegas lost that 1 72, 87, uh, last night. I actually had a, uh, pretty decent seat to that game. Um. Atlanta visited Phoenix. It was the return of BG back to the Valley. I am born and raised in the Bay Area, but the Bay Area had a number of teams, uh, back in the day, it was the San Jose Lasers.

They left and well, they got disbanded. And then the Sacramento Monarchs of course, got disbanded as well too. So Golden State Valkyries just, uh, became a thing, just became a, a team this year had their inaugural season is currently going on now, so I’m definitely throwing my support behind them. But because I do live out in Coolidge, Arizona.

I did, uh, become a Phoenix Mercury fan because in 2013, Brittney Griner was drafted to [00:29:00] the Phoenix Mercury. Brittney Griner is my all time favorite player. Um, I love Cheryl Miller and it was very difficult to compete, but, uh, Brittney Griner has to take, uh, the top. I’ve been watching Brittney since her and I were into high school together, not at the same high school, but we’re very close in age and, um, I just think she’s phenomenal.

So, uh, I’m definitely very glad to have seen her come back to the Valley. We gave her a very warm welcome. Um, it broke my heart when she left, but I certainly understood. And, um, like they said last night, no matter where she plays, we’ll always stand behind her. So they returned to the valley, blew Phoenix out 90 to 79.

Uh, it was a pretty good comeback. Um, I also really love, uh, who I call Deebo Deanna Bonner, and so, so glad to see her back into Phoenix Jersey. Mercury should have never let her go, and the Slim Reaper was hard at work last night. That was great to see her. So. Getting [00:30:00] into the standings. I’m not gonna go over the entire thing.

’cause really the most important thing is who’s on top, who are the clear front runners? And then I’m gonna get into kind of my projection. I’ll be honest, I’m not the expert. My dad is obviously the expert and I don’t think I’ve seen him, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him be wrong, uh, when it comes to this.

Uh, we both were pretty neck and neck last year. Um, but anyway, so of course on the west side of the conference, number one is the links. Uh, they have the number one record. Um, they’re number one overall in the league. They’re also leading the Western Conference, 21 and four. Uh, Phoenix is third overall in the league.

They’re second in the West conference. 15 and eight is their record. Seattle is, is third in the Western conference. Fourth overall in the league with a 15 and 10 record. Um, some upsets potentially on that side or what I’m calling wild card. Are, uh, the ACEs, uh, they are 12 and 12 right now, which is very, uh, not really, I don’t wanna say surprising, but, [00:31:00] um, they’ve won, let’s say six out of their last or four out of their last six games.

They are on a three, uh, three game win streak and, uh, golden State Valkyrie is also potentially another upsets. Uh, their 10 and 12, uh, they are on a three game losing streak. Um, they have won, oh wait, excuse me. ACEs won six out of their last 10. And, um, IES have lost six out of their last 10. So, um, not really too close on the.

Wild cards there or the potential upsets I’m calling them. Unfortunately the ACEs would be an upset. Um, not necessarily upsetting, but um, because of their record and just what they’re doing this year, they are, um, most likely what we’re calling, what I’m calling, not necessarily a wild card, but they would be an upset if they came, um, if they ended up beating Seattle or Phoenix.

Um, uh, I think Lynx is gonna take the Western Conference. So, um, that in my opinion is a clear winner and I will get into that. [00:32:00] Well, that’s pretty simple. I can actually take that right now. Um, links, uh, Cheryl Reeve, uh, Phoenix. Nate tidbits the end. Now Noelle Quinn is not to be counted out. Um, I have this, uh, little joke that I make with my dad and pretty much everybody that knows me, I secretly think Noelle Quinn, it might be a psycho.

Uh, I love her. I think she’s just very passive aggressive. Um, I live for her halftime interviews and the first time I saw her last season in doing the interviews. I was like, oh, well she’s really sweet and you know, she’s very knowledgeable about the game and you know, she coaches her team really well.

She, you know, so I really liked her. And then of course, the, um, allegations came out, which were, you know, just what they were, allegations, you know, no investigation was done and everything was dropped. Um, and then obviously Jewel Lloyd kind of made her exit. That could have been for a number of different reasons.

I didn’t necessarily hear too much about it. I kind of appreciated the fact that that didn’t get very widely [00:33:00] broadcast, but like secretly, what’s the t Anyway, I just feel like with his calm as Noelle Quinn is during that post, um, half interview or the halftime interview, I just feel like she’s just, she’s gotta be like losing her mind in that locker room.

Everybody comes out, all business. I’m just saying. Moving into the Eastern Conference. Uh, obviously clear front runner there. Um, clear winner number one in the Eastern conference. Number two, overall in the league, New York, 16 and six. Uh, I know that New York is, you know, that’s six games that they’ve lost.

But listen, they didn’t have Jonquel Jones. They do now. So listen, don’t count them out. Uh, Atlanta is, uh, fifth overall in the league. They are second in the Eastern Conference. 14 and 10. Do not count them out. That is my center. Indiana unfortunately is seventh overall in the league, and their record is 13 and 12.

Well, listen, um, [00:34:00] I know my dad, uh, I think he calls them, I think he would probably consider them the wild card. I don’t think he necessarily thinks an upset, but here’s the thing. Indiana, Kelsey, Mitchell, Aaliyah, Boston, obviously Caitlin Clark, you know, but. Here’s the thing, you’ve got a team that plays just as well, if not better, without whom many would consider their star player.

Um, obviously they’ve got Lexie Hull, they’ve got Sophie Cunningham. Sophie Cunningham is a personal favorite of my dad, and then also me. She grew on me. She was drafted by Phoenix. Phoenix, made a mistake and making her part of a trade that sent her to the Indiana Fever. So heartbreaking there. But Sophie Cunningham is a baller and she balls hard and uh, they, they are deep.

They are deep and I will give them that. However, I’m a little bit. Biased in the fact that if there is gonna be an upset, um, I’m gonna have to go with the deepness of Atlanta. They were good last year and they were also underestimated and they actually did pretty well and went pretty far. [00:35:00] So, um, I think with a healthy Ryan Howard and along with my center and got our girl Allisha Gray, um, I really think they’ve got a, a good, uh, solid little, uh, I mean, let me not count on Jordan Kennedy.

There’s a lot of great players on that team, but I’m just, you know, highlighting the keys there. Um, and then again, anybody that upsets anybody’s gotta go through New York. So that brings me down to my projections for this season. I’m toying with it. I know this is gonna hurt. Um, I, for the record, am not a Minnesota Links fan at all.

That is my Los Angeles Lakers of the WNBA also. There’s not a team that I dislike more than, than the Los Angeles Lakers, whether that’s in any sport, basketball, football, hockey, all the rivalry and Team hatreds. I hate the Lakers more than I hate any other team, but the links is, they’re pretty close.

In terms of female teams, um, I pretty much like every other team. I’m only a fan of technically two, but, um, you know, I just appreciate the league. I think [00:36:00] unrivaled the Women’s three on three league has definitely, um, expanded that as well too. So I’m gonna go with overall projections. My final Four, um, uh, gosh, I’ve gotta make a decision.

It’s just tough. It’s tough, it’s tough. Um, but I’m gonna have to go with the Final Four. Lynx, Phoenix, New York, Atlanta Lynx, New York. In the final two. And unfortunately, I do think that the Minnesota links are probably gonna take it this year, but yeah, it’s gonna be just as good of a series as it was last year.

Now there could be some upsets, and I feel like if it doesn’t end up going that way, that it’s got to be one of the other teams that’s gonna upset. So I would think the strongest likelihood of an upset, um. You know, are the, are those four? So, uh, well, I guess the, that I believe Indiana would be a better [00:37:00] upset on the Eastern Conference than Seattle.

Uh, or I guess Indiana is a bigger upset, um, or has a better likelihood of upsetting than I think Seattle does. Which hurts to say, because I love Skyler Diggins, whom I have nicknamed Sky Digs from, like forever, but they fall apart. I’ve seen them play really good halves and then completely come undone and lose.

Um, the game that I’m gonna break down right here, um, is the reason why. Uh, so there was many games that happened the other day. On Tuesday, I chose to switch over from Chicago and Minnesota. Once I saw that, that was a clear whooping, um, I switched over to Dallas and Seattle because I thought that was a decent matchup.

Um, Dallas Wings defeated storm. With this final score of 87 to 63, we got vintage Arike Ogunbowale in the house. She was lighting it up. She had 20 points, six assists with [00:38:00] Nneka scoring. 22 points for the storm. Dallas outscored, Seattle 53 27 In the second half, that is what I am talking about. This is Dallas.

Now give Dallas credit. I’m gonna go through their stats here in a second. Then, you know, I love Paige and we’re gonna get into that too in the next episode. But listen, 53, 27, and they were leading, listen, before that half, they came back over. I believe it may have been, if it wasn’t 20 points, it was close.

So it was almost a 20 point pull away, and then in two minutes before. The half they scored 10 points, making it 32. Or sorry, was it 34? 36 going into the half and Dallas came back and beat ’em. So, uh, let’s get into the stats. Uh, talked about Arike’s numbers already. Uh, what I mean [00:39:00] by vintage Arike was the way that she slams those threes.

Uh, she was four for four, uh, going into the second half. I think she ended up at four for five from the, uh, three point line. I thought she was about to go off, but decent game for her. Paige Buecker’s, I was, I I combined Buecker’s and buckets and it comes out weird, but Paige Buecker’s, uh, 14.6 assists.

Louisa, I’m not gonna go. Geisel, Soder, Louisa, I’m gonna talk about a situation that happened with her, um, in just a second here. But Louisa scored 13 points, uh, um, scored eight points, 10 rebounds. Fantastic. I remember I asked my dad, I was like, who is that? And he’s just like, oh yeah, that’s the big girl. I don’t even know how tall she is, but she is a giant.

When I saw her standing next to most of the team, I was like, wow. Yeah. 10 rebounds. There you go. Seattle Storm. Uh, we gave ne STAs, [00:40:00] 22 points. Gabby Williams, 14 points, eight assists. Izzy Mac, begger, 12 points and nine rebounds. Sky Diggs was outs. Um, she was their, uh, she’s typically Seattle’s leading score and their assist leader.

She did not play due to personal reasons. Um, so additions here. The wings snapped a four game losing streak with this victory. They also outscored, uh, the storm as I mentioned, and, uh, the storm were without sky, so that was kind of the big thing. It was a fight, um, throughout that, that game. Seattle really just, I mean, they crumbled and it’s pretty much the only way that I can, you know, that I can kind of describe it.

Anyway, getting into the situation that I was gonna mention about Luisa. So there was a little bit of a, a tiff. Uh, when I tell you, for those that don’t know Nneka, she’s classy. Okay? She’s been in the league, like I said, since 2012. She’s experienced, she’s smart, she plays well. She always has a decent game.

Love Nneka. She’s fantastic. Has anybody [00:41:00] ever seen Nneka fight before? Has anyone ever seen her lose her temper before? It is a rare form The other day, a few games ago, I saw Allisha Gray get visibly frustrated and it seemed like with her own team, but Nneka, um, and Luisa were, um, Luisa obviously were guarding each other.

And Louisa literally just straight up shoved her and the refs, I don’t know how they missed it, but they missed it. And Nneka just got right back up and ran to defend her. And then Louisa hooked her arm and kinda wrapped her up and that’s when Nneka was just like, Nope. And just threw her to the hardwood.

And if you know Louisa, and you know how tall she is, she’s a big tall girl and she’s not the, the, the skinny rails that you see some of these big tall post players. Like no, she’s got the, the thickness to her too. And uh, Nneka just threw her to the hardwood, stood up and yelled at her. And, well, I don’t know necessarily if she was yelling, but we could see that she was pointing and clearly [00:42:00] saying something to her.

The referees called it taunting. It’s definitely not what was going on, especially if, you know Nneka, that’s not what was going on. Um, but the team, you know, of course they separated her. I’m, uh, what’s her name, Ingle or whatever her name is, Ingle Quin. Quin Lee. She ran up and shoved Nneka and I was like, why?

Not smart, not smart. Um, but uh, yeah, I think they assessed, uh, all three of them a technical actually for that. Um, Louisa got a, uh, actually I think Louisa got a flagrant too. I don’t think she, she may have got a technical, um, NNEKA definitely got a technical, um, but that was pretty much it. Um, after, um, and Nneka really got the technical for taunting was kind of the reason what they gave for her technical.

But even after that, Nneka was still saying something to her and I just really wanted to know what she was saying. I was like, y’all couldn’t mic her up for that. I won’t highlight negative parts of the game very often, but, you know, in that [00:43:00] situation, since it is a rarity that NEA gets that upset, I felt like I needed to call that out and it was one of the more entertaining things that happened at the end of the game.

Alright, so shifting gears a little bit to the highlights across the league. Uh, not too much going on, um, outside of the. Um, summer League that concluded the Hornets secured their first Vegas Summer League championship. They beat the kings. Uh, Nick Crawford was, uh, the rookie. He had a memorable performance.

He contributed in a number of different ways. Um, shout out to my Duke boy, Khan k Knupple Knupple. Um, he’s on, he’s on the Hornets. He was the number fourth overall pick. He had a strong showing up. He had a team high 21 points in the final. Ugh. How many of you want to hear about Ronnie James? Does anybody care about Ronnie James?

But I mean, okay. In his second summer league, he’s displayed a noticeable growth. He’s averaging 14.3 points, 3.8 [00:44:00] assists, and then uh, 2.5 rebounds per game. Good for him. I’m glad. Uh, other notable performances, um, of course another shout out to Duke Cooper flag, the number one overall pick. He did have a little bit of a mixed debut, but he showed some flashes of his potential, so we’ll see.

Um, just as a quick note, I am a Duke guy, but listen, I disagree with the fact that there is one, that there’s an age requirement for the women. There’s not one for the men, but I just think that men should have to play at least two years. And I know that there’s gonna be a lot of guys out there that are like, how are you gonna justify that if they’re just killing people?

Listen, you mean to tell me that you can’t benefit from further development at a program like Duke? First of all, Cooper Flag was supposed to be a senior in high school, so he essentially is a, a freshman in college right now playing in the league. So I hope he has a great career and he is great. He’s, you know, he’s a dominant player.

But listen, you’re not gonna ever be able to convince a son of a coach that, you know, kids can go in for one year and then just, [00:45:00] they’re ready for the league. Especially not the professional at that professional level when you’re talking about the best in the world. So, you know, again, N-B-A-W-N-B-A best in the world, um, other notable performances to continue, Kyle.

Kowski, he was named MDP of the Summer League. Terrence Shannon, Jr. Is one of the standouts. He also earned first Team honors. Um, that’s pretty much it. Um, the Summer League is a rookie league. I don’t typically watch throughout the year, that year or throughout the season. I guess it’s kind of a, it’s a summer league, so I usually don’t watch throughout the summer, but I will catch a game here or there just to see, um, the key rookies that I want to see.

Um, just not as entertaining. Um. Uh, let’s take a look at NCAA. So, um, let’s, we’ll look at the men basketball updates first. Uh, they are looking at tournament expansion, uh, while the NCAA President Charlie, uh, Charlie Baker, supports that expansion. Logistical [00:46:00] hurdles is making it a little bit improbable for the upcoming season.

So there is probably gonna be some continued discussion about the tournament expansion, but, um, nothing implemented just yet. Um, if it is approved, the expansion to 72 or 76 teams is more likely to occur the following season. Uh, it looks like Yahoo Sports is the one reporting that, um, USC injury, uh, there was an injury to USC freshman.

Elijah arenas, he’s expected to miss, uh, six to eight months with a knee injury. Big devastation. There. Never like to see anybody get hurt, but freshmen, no, that’s tough. Um, Memphis basketball, uh, has been placed on probation by the NCAA due to academic integrity violations. I do not know the t If anybody’s interested.

Write me a message. I’ll dig into that. Um, I honestly can’t think of anything I care less about, but, uh, that’s interesting. Uh, women’s basketball updates. So women’s basketball, A-N-C-A-A tournament expansion similar to the [00:47:00] men’s tournament, expansion to the women’s tournament is also being considered, but, um, obviously unlikely for the upcoming season.

Um, the American Athletic Conference, better known as the a a C has rebranded as the American Conference. Um, Vanderbilt’s forward. Camille Pierre is no longer a member of the team. We’re gonna talk about, uh, players staying in college because of the nil deals. UCLA softball player standout. Uh, Janea Grant is also going to be playing basketball for UCLA this season.

UCLA is gonna be interesting this year. Um, I don’t remember her name, but I know Betts’, uh, little sister is gonna be joining. I believe she’s a freshman this year. I thought she was a sophomore, but I guess she’s a freshman. Um, coming in. I know my dad’s like, no, I’m not that. I don’t know all of this stuff, you know, I’m getting there.

But, um, yeah, UCLA was powerhouse. Um, I am a, I’m a Trojan through and through. I’m a big USC Trojan football fan. [00:48:00] Um, I love Cheryl Miller. So, um, Juju Watkins, listen, I can’t talk about that yet, but, um, shout out to Juju. We love you, girl. Stay strong. You’re gonna come back stronger and better and, um, we just love you.

Um, that was a devastating blow for anybody who was watching. Um, I watched that live first, um, just as she was running and I saw it and it was a normal basketball play, but. Listen, I’ll tell you something. A long time ago I asked my dad, how come pe people don’t, you know, defend when, you know there’s players running on a break and they’re running up like that?

And it’s just like, well, in that situation, the likelihood that you’re gonna defend and foul, you know, unless it’s like a crucial moment, you know, it’s, it’s difficult. It increases, um, your, your likelihood of fouling. Not to mention you could potentially hurt players, um, trying to stop a shot, that’s probably already gonna happen.

So, you know, it’s just an example of some things that you let go and, um, if you saw the juju replay, um, yeah, it was a basketball play. Nothing intentional, but it was a mistake and [00:49:00] Juju paid for it and it was heartbreaking. So. But anyway, getting back to the point U-C-L-A-I think is gonna be dominance. Um, I was glad to see them.

Um, having a nice powerhouse team, UCLA men has obviously been a powerhouse, so it’s nice to see them continuing. They’re gonna be interesting this year. Um, I love a post player. Um, bets is pretty good. She was dynamite. She was a problem. So it’s definitely gonna be an interesting tournament again. Um, I did want to get into just a quick note because it kind of does have to do with salaries and it does have to get into, um, the, uh, which just has to do with like the nil, um, the nil deals.

It’s a tough one. Say that a couple times fast. I’m gonna play a short clip from Gabby where she makes a pretty decent point. It’s actually a point that my dad made, um, a while back. Listen to this. We talk about these new players coming in, especially Caitlin and uh, especially like, you know, Indiana fans.

They’d love to talk about the publicity and everything and the money that she’s bringing in, but the W’s not even rewarding her. Right? Like she’s on, she’s on that rookie contract making I think like [00:50:00] 70 k. Luckily now they have like NIS and everything. Yeah. Which has changed the game, right. But now these kids don’t wanna leave college even, right.

How backwards is that they don’t wanna leave college ’cause they’re making more money there than they are here. Yeah. So it’s just very backwards. But I think we are definitely taking a step in the right direction. So I’ll be honest, I was not aware of the transfer portal. I call it a problem because I’m a coach’s son, but the transfer portal thing, we’ll call it, and I was made aware of this kind of actually with Celeste Taylor last year because I was like, how in the hell you play for three or four different teams and you only play three to four years of college?

Well, four years of college for the women. And I’m like, that’s wild. Like, so I’m thinking it’s the player, like did she get dropped from this many teams? Was she unsure or whatever. But no, it’s the, you know, the whole new thing of, oh, I’m just gonna enter the transfer portal. I’m gonna go play for, you know, LSU and TCU and just kidding, shout out, love you Hailey.

Um, but that’s just wild to me. I didn’t realize that this [00:51:00] was really a thing players could play for four different universities in four different years. And like, how wild is that? Um, but also a very valid point, um, you know, with um, certain individual I think. I can’t remember who it was that they were talking about, but they were talking about, oh, I do know, um, I believe it was Olivia Miles that they were talking about of saying, you know, it makes sense of why she would, instead of going back to playing for Notre Dame, that she would enter the, the transfer portal and also not choose to enter the draft.

I think, um, AZ Foot is another one that, um, potentially was eligible to but didn’t. Um, but honestly it’s because they’re gonna make more money in college with the current CBA talks going on right now. They could potentially be making more money, you know, with their, in their rookie contracts. So it’s a lot smarter.

They’re making more money in college on their NIL deal deals than, you know, they would playing in the WNBA. How backwards is that? Alright, let’s switch gears to timeout. Take. [00:52:00] Every once in a while, I’m gonna have a little bit of a mini rant on certain things because there’s a lot of things in this league that can be upsetting.

There’s a lot of great things and there’s a lot of underestimating that can happen. And there’s something that I want to bring some attention to real quick. And I’m gonna start off with my girl, as my dad would say, angel Reese. And it’s gonna segue into the negativity and why we need to protect this league from it.

So I just want to give a little quick look for those of you that don’t know who Angel Reese is, um, she played at, uh, Maryland first, then transferred to LSU, won a championship with LSU, and she was the My Rookie of the year last year, but also part of the rookie class that was drafted last year made an amazing record setting first year.

Let’s take a look at what she’s doing this year. She was an all star selection. For the second consecutive year, so this is her sophomore year, second year as an all star. She leads the league in both [00:53:00] total rebounds, 265 and rebounds per game 12.6. She’s averaging 14 points, 3.8 assists, and 1.5 steals per game.

She played 17 minutes off the bench for a team Collier in the All-Star game, scoring six points and grabbing nine rebounds. Um, she’s having a strong sophomore season, as I mentioned. Um, building on that in on the, the impressive rookie season that she had. She is also the new 2026 NBA 2K cover athlete.

She is unveiling color by colorway, I believe her shoe is called the Angel. Reese won and it is dropping soon. She hasn’t released him yet. Uh, as everybody knows, Shaquille O’Neal is, uh, currently the president of Reebok basketball with Lan Iversson being the vice president of Reebok basketball. So, um, she, Shaquille O’Neal is obviously very close with Angel.

He’s been kind of a mentor of hers [00:54:00] and kind of, uh, what he calls, as he calls himself her protector. But he signed a number of WNBA players, um, to, um, shoe deals and, um, to be. Reps for, uh, Reebok. Um, so Angel Reeses getting her own shoe and him recognizing her value. He’s always been very vocal about her and, uh, the value that she brings.

Um, he’s also kind of close with her. He’s been, uh, on her podcast a couple of times as well too. Um, but one of the things that I really appreciate Shaq for is his don’t give a attitude. And, uh, that definitely comes out. Um, when it comes to Angel Reese. Um, like he says, he’s not really a, a vocal person when it comes to certain things and responding to negativity and things like that.

But, uh, I wanna play his clip. Uh, before I comment on this, I will say that I do not know what RG three said. I, I am make it a point that when I start reading negativity, especially about Angel Res, I am very quick to remove myself from the conversation, just because I’m very outspoken myself and I [00:55:00] have zero tolerance.

For ignorance and people just being negative and spreading hate when they just really don’t need to. Um, so listen to Shaq RG three, tweet. Tweet another monkey post about my girl injury. I’m punching your fucking face. Okay. It, it’s enough. Like I don’t usually do stuff like this, but just stop it, bro. You got your job.

You got your podcast. Leave my angel Luis alone. I’m the one calling her and telling her not to respond. Fucking stop it. That’s the last time. Okay. Thank you. It’s not real hate when we look around what’s going on in this real country? That’s hate. Mm-hmm. This is, this is sports. I’m not supposed to like you.

It’s a shame that all the stuff you did in your life, you gonna be remembered for your podcast. You’re gonna be remembered for your podcast. That should tell you you’re not that fucking great. I don’t wanna be remembered for Shaq’s big podcast. I do not like lay those girls alone. You already spoke on it.

Let go. So what? He hates us so fucking what? Hmm. I hate you now. [00:56:00] We’re messing with her now what? Say something about me. Hmm. She’s not gonna respond ’cause I’m the one calling her and be like, baby, keep it classy. ’cause she’s not soft by any means. You’re from the streets. But I’m like, you’re beautiful.

Don’t indulge with these fools ’cause he’s a fool. You don’t even have G 14 classification to say that. I’ll respect it more if Lisa Leslie said it. Like, that’s y’all category. Stay out of them people’s category. Mm. Okay. You sports, whatever you do, you talk about sports, but bro, don’t, you don’t need to be going deep.

Y’all can go deep. Y’all are females. Y’all, y’all, y’all understand what, what that’s like if he hates us. So what? Mind your business, like, I don’t mind you doing your job with anyone, but don’t pick on that little girl because guess what? I’m her protector. Now pick on me. You pick on me. I’m gonna punch you in your fucking face.

Oh, I love Shaq. And you know, I’m very, I’m a big Angel Reese fan. Um, just, I mean, I became. Aware of her because she was all over the court. [00:57:00] She was just dominating. She had like a, a six point break where on both sides steals rebounds. Scoring was just, you know, and of course I love my post players. Um, for those that, uh, don’t know have it mentioned before, my dad, um, kind of his big specialty.

I mean, he’s a great overall coach, but one of his, um, specialties was his ability to coach the post players. Um, he, like I always say, he recognizes their talent, their value, and how you can leverage and utilize that position to the fullest. And, um, I challenge you to find a team that my dad coached where his post players didn’t shut people down.

Uh, but anyway, um, besides the fact that I care a lot about Angel Reese, um, I care a lot about the league in general. This league has to be different. We have to protect it. And one of the biggest things that annoys. The crap out of me. I’m trying to watch my language. Um, I swear when I talk and I hardly ever notice it, but I’m really trying to keep this family friendly.

Um, so you all will [00:58:00] keep listening to me, but what really bugs me, and that’s a, a very light way of putting it, is I really don’t like to see women dragging down other women with all eyes on the league right now, or maybe not all eyes, but with more eyes than have ever been on the league before. There is just simply no place.

You have to support each other. You have to back each other up. You have to be there and be a united front. As Nneka mentioned earlier, you know, Kathy was encouraged by the unification and by the, the turnout of the players that were a part of the CBA conversations We cannot allow. This kind of behavior.

I’m gonna bring up two, um, situations. I’m not highlighting too much about it. There’s a reason why I’m not including the clips because it’s not important. Um, but an example of what I mean by don’t drag down other women is, um, you know, Satsu Ali made a comment, um, actually at the beginning of the season.

So it was before, um, she had even done the things that she was doing at Phoenix. Um, she’s an amazing player. Um, [00:59:00] Jennifer Chen, um, who, if anybody doesn’t know Jennifer Chen, she, uh, played for Yale, or actually, I don’t know if she played for Yale. She was at Yale and ended up transferring to Yukon because, you know, she, while she’s smart, she’s a ball player, she wanted her chance to get some, uh, get some championship gold.

And she did, uh, with, uh, with Paige Becker’s, um, at Yukon this last season. And, uh, she was drafted by the Golden State Vies. I was super excited. And she was also released by the, um, golden State Vcur, or waived by the Golden State rival, uh, vies because. Honestly, there was not released for, there’s a number of different reasons why players get released.

Um, a lot of the time. Um, we, as we just mentioned earlier, they only get 12 players. So when you only have 12 players, you may not get to keep every person that you draft. And it may not be because they’re not good enough. It may, and usually likely in this league is because they just didn’t have the salary cap room.

Maybe they loved what you did, but maybe there was another player that could also do that, but not as [01:00:00] well, but could also do some other things, you know, and they just had to make a difficult decision. But guess what? The Golden State V East picked her back up and she’s having an amazing season with them.

Um, but Satsu Sali made a comment about her, um, you know, having a chance and she just simply wasn’t good enough. And it was just a completely unnecessary comment because. You don’t know that, you don’t know why that she was released. And it’s also in this league, as I mentioned, is not very likely that that was the case.

And you know, now what do you look like now that she’s playing for the vol again and she’s doing well. You know, just things like that. People pay attention to it. Um, I didn’t appreciate it. I went off about it for a little bit, but it was just, it was just unnecessary. Um, another little, uh, another little, uh, comment that was made over this All Star weekend.

There was a lot of comments made over the weekend and a lot of it was comical, but, um, Kelsey Plum made a comment, um, and you could tell, um, I kind of laughed it, it, uh, Sabrina looked like she was held [01:01:00] hostage up there. She was just like. I really wish that I could move chairs. But she was sitting next to, um, Kelsey Plum when Kelsey plummet, and she made some comment about, so the fact that the majority of, you know, team Clark wasn’t made aware of the t-shirts and things like that.

And it’s just obviously Com comments have been released where that was disproven and that team Clark was aware of it. I mean, the shirts had to have been ordered. You know, it’s hard to believe that there was just no notice. But, um, nobody has said that. Nobody has said that. Um, nobody else I should say, has said that they weren’t a part of the conversation.

In fact, we’ve heard several comments come out about how they were a part of the conversation. Um, but Sabrina said it, she was just like that really needed to be said, you know, it was just that moment where it is just not a comment that you needed to make. And, you know, plum is like my friend says, a little bit of an oddball.

And that’s true. And I, I definitely, I pick and choose. There are certain situations where she makes comments and it’s totally, totally, you know, uh, valid when they were. [01:02:00] There was some fans that were stalking the players basically and had whole books full of cards for them to autograph. Like, dude, no, I completely supported her comments there and, but she’s known for saying unnecessary comments and I did not appreciate the timing and the platform and the particular topic that she was talking about when you were.

Bringing to light or even just making a, a crappy comment. It may not even bring something to light. It may just be just a crappy comment because you feel a certain kind of way about something. Maybe she felt, felt left out, who knows? But you know, it’s just comments like that, it just drags down the unification of what they’re trying to do.

And, you know, the CBA and your career, your salary, you know, the, the league, everything else is more important than these stupid comments. So can we not, that’s the end of my mini ran. Alright. All right. It is final buzzer time. We are gonna wrap this episode up. Thank you everybody for joining in and bearing with me.

Um, I promise you [01:03:00] I’m a little rusty. I do have two other podcasts. I promise it’ll be a little bit more smooth going forward. I am gonna have a number of guests. Um, I do not want to do this by myself. So, um, with the number of people I know that are passionate about basketball, that are knowledgeable, former players, coaches, I will let you know, kind of just a little quick highlight.

We will have the infamous coach on. I will, uh, nudge him and get him on here as well too so you can all see where I learned everything that I know and, um, can actually, hopefully experience, um, the majority of what he knows. ’cause he knows a lot. He’s one of the best. Um. Also, of course, um, a number of his former players.

Um, a number of, uh, I know there’s a number of coaches actually that I know as well too that I used to coach with him that ever like, oh, this is gonna be super cool. Let me know when you wanna have me on. So I’m excited about that. Um, we also do know some former WNBA legends. Um, hopefully my dad can use his contacts and, uh, you know, I wanna put out a couple of episodes and, you know, see what they think about the podcast before inviting them on.

But, um, yeah, if anybody [01:04:00] listening is a former athlete, a former basketball player, um, and would like to come on and be a guest, I would love to have you. Um, I love this game. I love this time. Uh, the WNBA is fire right now and, uh, it’s just, it’s just continuing. I’m me really excited about the growth. Did want to talk real quick about unrivaled, um, some of the other things that we’ll be talking about.

I know I mentioned W-N-B-A-N-B-A-N-C-A-A, but we’re also gonna be talking about unrivaled. As well as Athletes Unlimited, because these are other areas where, uh, not just women actually in, uh, athletes Unlimited, but majority, um, a athletes Unlimited and unrivaled gives women the opportunity to play here in the off season and make money here, um, in the off season.

And there was a lot of women. I think the majority of the players that were playing in unrivaled last season made more money playing in that than they did in their regular WNBA salaries. There were a number of rookies that were playing. Uh, angel Reese, Shakira, Austin. I know there’s a number of other ones.

Caitlin, uh, Caitlyn Clark did not choose to play in any [01:05:00] of those, so sorry if I don’t mention her very much. Um, but no, we will of course. Um, unrivaled is the three on three Women’s basketball League or Club league that was formed by Current NBA, uh, or WNBA Center, New York Liberty, Breanna Stewart, as well as Minnesota.

What do we call her? A flex player? Uh, but Napheesa Collier, dead ringer for, uh, dead, ringer dead. Um, front runner for MVP, I’m tired, sorry, y’all, um, for MVP this season, but Napheesa Collier played at UCONN and uh, she’s having an amazing career with the Minnesota Lynx. So the two of them got together along with a number of other people, um, and sponsors, um, and created the unrivaled three on three league.

It is full court, three on three. So those of you that know three on three is typically played in a half court function. This is actually a full court. It is 72 inches though, or 72 feet, excuse me. So. [01:06:00] Uh, this means it’s short of a, of a standard full court, um, but does still give you that full court experience.

And let me tell you the untimed fourth, we are here for it. So the way that that rule works is that the first three quarters, you just go hard. And then whoever is leading at the end of the third quarter, they add 11 points to that score. And then that is the, that is the winning score. So it’s an untimed fourth quarter, first team to that score wins.

Fire, fire, fire, fire, six clubs, six players on each club. I cannot wait to see who they bring on in the next, uh, in the next season. Uh, they do have a number of NCAA players that they’ve signed to NIL deals. They also have, uh, Paige Buecker’s and FJA FlowJo. I call her FlowJo. ’cause you know, FJA Johnson, um, they are, I guess, what are they spokes.

People, [01:07:00] brand ambassadors, front face people, they’re face people. But either way, I am excited to see Paige play in unrivaled this season. Join us on the next episode. We are going to talk about officiating in the WNBA, Paige and Caitlin Awards of the sbs. And of course, we’re gonna get into the WNBA standings and where we are at, uh, with the projections, the records and things like that.

Um, plugs. We have a pod page. That’s pretty much it. Find us subscribe, uh, leave a review. Uh, send us a message if you want to be a guest. Uh, or if you just have an opinion you’d like me to read or share, I have no problem with that either. Um, go ahead and go to the pod page. Leave us a comment, leave us a review, uh, wherever you like to listen to pods.

Um, we we’re on Spotify, apple Podcasts. There’s so many different ones. iHeartRadio, Amazon, so we’re everywhere. [01:08:00] I really like good pods. For those of you that don’t know about Good Pods, if you know about Good Reads, we’re recommends good books. Um, good Pods is pretty much the good reads of podcasts. So if you are a podcast fan, I definitely recommend listening on that platform.

You might discover some other great pods out there just by being on that platform. I didn’t have time to grab a good quote or a memory from my dad to share. Um, I’m pretty exhausted. I’m gonna go catch the end of this game, uh, that I missed and then I’ll give you guys an update on that on the next one.

Uh, but I will say current coaches, listen to this. This is a key. This is a free tip from Coach Chaney and, uh, I don’t mean me, I mean the real coach Chaney. Fresh legs. Rotate your players out. Substitute, substitute, substitute. That is the reason why there are subs. That’s the reason why there’s five people on the court and at least 12 people allowed on your team.

Fresh legs, win ball games. Thank you everyone. Watch women’s basketball. Thanks for listening to Courtside Raised. Don’t forget to subscribe so you [01:09:00] never miss an episode. I wanna catch up on past episodes or connect with the show. Visit our pod page, link in the show notes. If you’ve got thoughts, questions, or want to be a guest, head to the contact link on the pod page and send us a message.