← No Offseason: The Athletic Women's Basketball Show
No Offseason: The Athletic Women's Basketball Show
Who was WNBA All-Star Weekend’s biggest winner?
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- [00:00]
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- [04:57]
Zena K
For the Athletic I'm Zena K and this is the Athletic Women's Basketball show presented by AT&T. Welcome back to the Athletic Women's Basketball show where we are here to talk all things things women's basketball. Whether you're a die hard fan that eats, sleeps and breathes the game or you're a casual fan looking to find out where Jason Sedis got a French version of that Together shirt, I'm looking forward to make sure to subscribe to this pod wherever you get your pods to stay up to date with us. Also subscribe to the Athletic. You do not want to miss out on the year round in depth coverage of the game you love. I'm joined today by athletic women's basketball writers Ben Pickman and Sabrina Merchant, as always. And let's go through what we're going to talk about today or what we call the scout. The scout's super easy this week, y'all. It's All Star Weekend. Excuse me? It was All Star Weekend. We went, we saw Conquered. We're tired. Ben Pickman himself came in at 4:30 this morning. Yes, everyone probably experienced this whole airline situation if you were out in Phoenix or if you were out anywhere because that was the craziness of the airline situation this weekend. But that was after all the fun was had at All Star Weekend. My very first All Star Weekend. I had a ton of fun, meeting a lot of folks, being able to see the players in real time and in real life, not only on the basketball court, but of course also off. And Ben, Sabrina, I want to break down this weekend because there was so much going on. I am exhausted at nothing like the experience that Ben did traveling back, but there was so much going on. So I want to first start with the both of you. Sabrina, I'll go to you first in terms of what your expectations were for this year's All Star Weekend and then your actual experience.
- [06:49]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah. So I'll just take it back a year. You know, in 2023, we had basically the first full on WNBA live plus separate day skills challenge plus separate day all Star game that everyone was allowed to attend in the league's history. And it was just this massive party and success and people, you know, making their way through all of these different activations and lots of brands participating and just activities to do all day for both of the days of the weekend. And it was very cool to see the WNBA just build off of that. We had even more activations, even more silly cool things to do in the WNBA Live setup. You know, you could find out what kind of fan you were and they were like boots on WNBA history and a mock skills challenge and three point shootouts and there was just everything that I felt in Vegas was just even bigger in Phoenix, including the even more deathly heat. But I just think it was a really good amount of progress for the league to show that this doesn't have to be a one off. This is the standard that should be expected for the league every year to put on this type of marquee premiere event. The fans came out, the players made it feel like an event with their participation, with their effort during all of the events. So I Mean, I just thought like it lived up to all of my expectations.
- [08:03]
Zena K
And that's the thing. For me, I had no expectations because I'd never been to one. But man, if this was your first All Star weekend, they set the bar high. I very much felt like fans were fully engaged all weekend long. And exactly what you're mentioning. It wasn't just the way that brands came in and activated and to ensure that fans were engaged, it was the way that the players really leaned into it too. You could hear a lot of them, you know, exclaiming that this was the most impressed they'd been with the experience at All Star. So definitely, definitely felt just enlarged from anything that had potentially happened before. Ben, what about you? When you thought about All Star Weekend, this weekend, this for this year, versus everything that you've been to in the past, like, what stood out to you?
- [08:52]
Ben Pickman
I mean, Matt Ishbia, the owner of the Mercury and Suns, had kind of boasted heading into the weekend that, you know, he had hoped and planned that this would be the greatest All Star weekend in WNBA history. And frankly, I don't have enough personal first hand context to, you know, say whether that's true or not. But I do think to what Sabrina said, like they went all out. They certainly invested as a franchise. There were events, brand engagements, the game itself. Like there were things literally all day, like you could go, you know, from 8, 8:30 in the morning till late at night, the wee hours of the morning, I guess, doing things with people who were there at Phoenix, WMA All Star Weekend. And downtown, you know, there were huge billboards up that Nike put up. There were you know, other signage all over, all around the arena kind of promoting the game. And it seemed like everyone who was, you know, in the downtown area was there for All Star Weekend. And you know, one of the things that I think was kind of impressive that is hard for us, I think the layperson to understand is for 12 of the players there, the US Olympians, they did all that and also had legitimate Olympic basketball practices. We've been like that I think was one of the things that was so impressive for the weekend for them is like they went to these panels, they did some of the partnership activations, they went out to these parties and then they came back the next day and had real practices as they prepare for, you know, the upcoming Paris game. So, you know, was it the greatest All Star weekend ever? I'm not really one to say, but I think everyone being so tired and drained coming out of it, you know, flight issues aside is a sign that it was definitely a successful one, right?
- [10:35]
Zena K
Yeah.
- [10:35]
Sabrina Merchant
I'm glad Ben brought up the signage because that's actually a really important point. Just from the second you got into the airport in Phoenix, there was immediately clear that something big was happening in the WNBA that weekend. There was the welcome to WNBA All Star. As you were, you know, exiting the terminal into baggage claim. There was just a massive amount of WNBA All Star signs in baggage claim. Like, you couldn't walk 10ft without seeing something else that reminded you of what was happening in downtown Phoenix this weekend. You know, giant billboards of Asia Wilson and Diana Tarazi and Sabrina Unescu in the downtown. Like, if somehow you stumbled upon this weekend without knowing it was WNBA All Star, like, it just hit you in the face over and over and over again. And I think that's really cool because, you know, in some other cities, it's, I guess, possible for other things to drown out WNBA events. But Phoenix made it very clear that this was the main thing and everybody knew what was happening at all times.
- [11:22]
Zena K
I spoke to people in the elevator specifically about that. That had been to Las Vegas All Star last year, and that was the number one thing they discussed was this year. You could tell that this was the focal point in this city. This was the main thing, the main attraction, why you should be in Phoenix for this weekend in comparison to Vegas, which was happen at the same time as summer league, NBA summer league last year. And then, of course, I mean, how many signs are there in Las Vegas? That would be a wonderful, fun fact. There's just a million signs of just a million different things to be promoted. And so, of course, a WNBA All Star can be drowned out in the midst of all that. So it was just this beautiful display of this weekend. The only thing you need to be concerned about is All Star Weekend. WNBA is in the building now thinking about, like, the success of this weekend and what that looks like for multiple people. Ben, I'm happy you talked about, you know, the Olympic athletes preparing for the games at the same time of having this really cool meeting and opportunity to see their friends and their family members and enjoy and celebrate, you know, the sisterhood of the WNBA while also preparing for one of the biggest competitions in the world. Right. For their sport. It was, to me, well done. It didn't seem as if anyone felt as if there was too much going on if you were an Olympic athlete. But I know that that's a different goal than someone that was a WNBA All Star that just wanted to come in and have Fun and enjoy themselves and hang out with their friends and their family again. And then I know that's very different than Kathy Engelbert probably had in terms of what was successful. So looking at all the different stakeholders within this ecosystem that we were in of All Star weekend in terms of goals and the success of the weekend, I want to ask, who do you think had the biggest win in terms of having a good All Star weekend? Ben, I'll start with you.
- [13:25]
Ben Pickman
I mean Arike Gumbawale I think might be the singular person who had the biggest win with her unbelievable second half of Saturday's All Star game. You know, 34 points, which is the record, all in the second half. I think that's a huge win. Alicia Gray of the Atlanta Dream, I think, you know, another All Star for a two time All Star now multi time all star. Someone who won, you know, the skills challenge and the three point contest back to back and took home, you know, more than 60% of her salary because of a, you know, a unique bonus from AFlac and the PA that we can talk more about. I think she's a big winner. Flashy Johnson, a big winner from the college level. She was all around the party and event circuit. I think she was performing on three straight nights during the weekend. She's got to have, you know, big winner for her. And I think, you know, if we're gonna go macro for a second, like for the reasons I think Sabrina and I said at the top, I mean the league has to feel pretty good with how this weekend went. There were no, like major issues. There were more, no major logistical challenges or hiccups or anything of that. Like, like the events were really good. I think the player experience was very positive and you know, all the brand partnership and engagement was also positive. We'll see what the viewership number is. I imagine it was pretty high too. So I think for a lot of different stakeholders, it was a pretty successful weekend.
- [14:45]
Zena K
Sabrina, when you think about the fact that, you know, the skills competition didn't quite have the same the marquee names, I think that a lot of people were expecting with what Ben just mentioned about Alicia gray taking home 115k in an hour. Right. Such a great story, such a fun story. There was still a lot of sparkle around the game and the competition. Do you think for the league that they got what they wanted out of those two major events?
- [15:15]
Sabrina Merchant
I mean, this was best case scenario once it was revealed that Caitlin Clark and Sabrina Unescu were not going to be participating in the three point Shootout. I hate to call the WNBA winner when the marquee three point shooters in the league declined to participate in the event. Like that's, I'm sorry, that's objectively a loss. And you know, whatever reasons they wanted to give out for why they didn't participate, like, yes, it was very cool that John Quill Jones had one shot to beat Alicia Grant. It was a very big moment and the players got really excited. I'm not sure how much that resonates down the line compared to, oh, we got to see, you know, two former number one picks going at it like the two college basketball over the last eight years. So, you know, the WNBA like recovered I think about as well as it could have in the skills challenge and three point Shootout, but I think it was still a general loss considering the lack of, you know, mega star power. Like even angel restopping in the skills Challenge, for example.
- [16:06]
Ben Pickman
Sure, let's get into that event a little more. And I have a story going up on the site. Might actually be live when this episode's post on like how that deal came about. And it was one of the things that was most interesting for me over the weekend because really this was a last minute thing that the wnbpa, the Players association and Affleck put together, you know, calls for. It really formally started on Friday morning a week before the event when someone at the PA had reached out to another person at their commercial arm, one team, and was like, hey, do you know any potential partners or brands who would be interested in, you know, upping the prize pool? And initially the ask from the players association and one team, the, the commercial arm again that they work with was just to have the prize pool around 10 times what players in the would be allocated in the CBA, which is around $2,500. So it wasn't even initially $55,000, which is, you know, what AFLAC eventually came in at. Basically like these conversations happen between Monday and Wednesday evening. And by Wednesday evening like this deal was done. Affleck had come on, you know, in the course of their conversation they had asked like, what do the men get paid in their skills challenge? And the answer is $55,000. And they were like, great, then we're doing $55,000. It was a very easy decision their chief marketing officer told me to do. And so, you know, then Alicia Gray, you know, she had committed already not knowing about that what the prize pool would ended up being. Brittney Griner did the same and Gray ends up winning both. And for Me, it. It became one of the moments that will stick with me for the weekend was there were very few people that went into Alicia Grace post game press conference after the skills challenge. And she was kind of asked, like, do you want to do photos after, like, her literally three minute press conference. And Gray and Atlanta Dreams PR person were both like, no, we'll do photos later. Like, we'll see you guys back here in 30 minutes. And they ended up seeing us back in that room in an hour or so after she had won the three point shootout. But they kind of did like a little bit jokingly, a little bit serious, like, call their shot as to that they were going to win the three point shootout. And then, you know, she ends up winning it. They are sure enough back in the room. The photos were even better because she's now posing with two trophies under her arms. And eventually later that night, she had to juggle how to hold two big checks, two oversized checks, because they were literally separate checks for separate events. And she had to figure out a way to hold them both up with also balancing a little aflac plush duck on her shoulder. And so that was one of the other memories that will kind of stick out from Alicia Gray and the Friday night and the skills challenge.
- [18:52]
Zena K
For me, I think it's wonderful that that particular night allowed the world and the country that was watching to learn more about Alicia Gray, because it's like kind of her brand that she's the one, the South Carolina Gamecock, that people forget that she went to South Carolina as well. She is a product of the Dawn Staley kind of empire that's. That's been built. And there's always been this dynamic, particularly of because she's a South Carolina Gamecock, her and Asia Wilson are very close. They've. They go up against each other and, you know, earlier this season when Asia Wilson was able to block Alicia Gray shot, like there was a whole thing on Twitter on that. And then when you watched Alicia participate in the competition, you've got Asia Wilson on the sideline rocking her what we now know are not prescription goggles, but a replica of Alicia's goggles and, you know, carrying her like retro camera millennials. We know it's not retro carrying her camera, just like cheering her on. And there's a lot of people that now know about Alicia Gray out of the Atlanta Dream that probably did not know about her before. And that's a really, really beautiful moment to me and a huge win for, I would say she's probably the biggest winner of the weekend, getting her name out there, people hearing her adorable accent, like, I'm from the south, so I live for it. And just getting to know, like, she's a really good basketball player.
- [20:15]
Ben Pickman
Zena, can I just say I was a little disappointed, though, to learn about that glasses fact. As someone who plays pickup basketball wearing glasses and runs wearing prescription sunglasses or glasses, like to know that she is not a part of the prescription glasses, sports wearing family. There's not many of us out there, but she's probably. I thought she was one of the best, but, you know, she's been taken off that island at least. But, you know, the point you. You raised is a good one. Right. She did spend. She started her college career at North Carolina before transferring. So I think that's partly why she's not always associated, you know, as strongly with some of the South Carolina, you know, the Gamecocks as some other players. But there was another piece of, like, kind of perfect symmetry with her winning it. And it's that Don Staley is also an AFLAC partner. Right. And someone, you know. Right. She's so prominent in these ads with Coach K. And they are together so often in these TV spots. And so dawn was really promoting, you know, the 55,000 as well. And so then to have one of her players win it, I think made for an extra sweet moment online, too.
- [21:22]
Zena K
I also just enjoyed when Alicia Gray.
- [21:25]
Sabrina Merchant
Was introduced for the All Star Game on Saturday and came out doing the Money Hands, because at this point, you.
- [21:33]
Zena K
Know, all the drinks were on her this weekend. I mean, obviously they were clearly free for the players, but if they were being paid for. Alicia Gray were picking up the tab, though. I completely forgot about Dawn Staley being in the Aflat commercial. I feel like it's like, ingrained in my brain of her being like, coach K, there's a goat. No, there's a real goat behind you. But yes, that's amazing. And let's keep going on, like, winners for the weekend, because I think so. I was at Orange Carpet, and that was an interesting experience in the sense that I didn't realize that there was a reception that they're walking into for the orange carpet. But, like, I'm going to give you guys some background. A lot of those players wear that outfit for the orange carpet and then take it off the second they leave because it's like, it's beautiful clothing. They're not very comfortable. It was really funny to see some of the players on the orange carpet looking amazing and then me going to dinner, like, right after and them already having switched out of their clothes or having gone to some of the brand parties afterwards and haven't taken off some of the heels. So if you're out there wondering how do they do it, they are practical humans and end up taking some of their heels off. But Orange Carpet was super cool. Being able to see some of what we've been highlighting as a positive for the wnba, the celebrity dom, being able to see them as more than just basketball players. These are walking, talking brands right here. And it was, it was dope to see all the All Stars just participate. We did some content, check it out online in terms of just asking the players some silly questions at the Orange Carpet. But then when you fast forward to Saturday night's game, that's when you saw the players in their element obviously preparing for this huge All Star game. And I love that. Cheryl Miller, who was the coach of Team WNBA said in her presser the day before on Friday that she like they want to be they, she's got a team that wants to beat the brakes off of Team USA and I want to dive into that game because a lot of folks have thoughts on, oh, a lot of new folks, I don't remember what happened last year, think that this game is indicative of what may happen in the Olympics. And we're going to talk this week with Chantelle Jennings who's covering the Olympics with the with and covering Team USA for the Athletic. More about what that game means. But when you think about team WNBA being able to walk away with the win 117, 109 over team USA, that's that's pretty fun. That's a pretty big win as well. Sabrina, when you look at that team and you look at all the different storylines within Team wnba, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese getting a bucket together. You know, Neca McKay showing out, Brianna Jones showing out and of course Arika Gowale showing all the way out, 34 points, making a record. What was your favorite storyline out of Team WNBA beating Team usa?
- [24:27]
Sabrina Merchant
I mean it's got to be a rike. You know, this is her second WNBA All Star MVP and both of them have come in this USA versus WNBA All Star format. She did the same thing when she scored 26 points back in 2021 when they had this send off on the way to Tokyo. It looked like maybe that wasn't going to happen this time around because as Ben mentioned earlier, she had zero points at halftime. You know, everybody on Team WNBA had basically been like, we don't really know who's gunning for MVP right now. But whoever has the hot hand early will just feed them. And that was decidedly not what happened because A Rique did not have a hot hand at all in the first half. And yet according to, you know, all the players who spoke post game, Cheryl Miller basically decided during the halftime that Arika, you got to get going. Like she pointed at her in the halftime huddle, said take a deep breath, do what you got to do. And you saw what happened in the third quarter. She puts up 21 points followed by another 13 in the fourth. Just like the degree of difficulty on these shots, absolutely amazing. I mean I know Cheryl Reeve was disappointed with the defense that Team USA put up overall in this game. I don't think you really can defend what Arika Gumboale was doing in that second half. Just like the one legged runners step backs, just the type of space that she can create. There are no guards like her in the world. I know there was a TV interview that said when she was the best one on one player in the world that Caitlin Clark called her that during the broadcast. I think that's pretty clear. Like it makes me even more excited to watch her play 3x3 in this upcoming unrivaled league. But she just has like this unique capacity to really like have the crowd in her hands and just like get everybody on their feet. I mean we've been talking about her ability to hit big shots since Notre dame in the 2018 Final Four and this is just what she does over and over and over again. So yeah, I mean it's pretty obvious but like you watch that game, you want to see stars do what they do best. And that is exactly what arigated.
- [26:12]
Zena K
I'm really happy you brought up that shot. If you are a new listener or a new watcher of basketball, probably didn't pay attention before this season. That's okay. That's why this is a safe space. Go look up that shot of Arika and Gubbawale hitting the shot in 2018.
- [26:27]
Sabrina Merchant
Who was that against shots actually, because she hit the game winner in the final four and the national championship game.
- [26:33]
Zena K
That's right, that's right. Definitely go just look up her resume. Ricobole is one of those people that obviously can play within a system. She played within the NORDE system, she plays within Dallas wing system. But she is also one of those players that you could easily, easily see a record part going off for like 30. She just has a loose way of playing. She has a very playground esque way of playing and she can just create so well for herself. And that's what you saw on full display during the All Star Game. And it was just so fun how much the bench got into it. You saw everyone just like any single time they could just give her the space to move and groove. They were like, you got it, do your thing. As opposed to trying to set plays, you know, run set plays. My question is for Team usa, I think they're equivalent to what Arike Gumbawale can do is between a Jackie Young, but particularly a Kalia Copper. And yet Kalia Kopra didn't come in until the very end, you know, towards the bottom end of the third and the bottom end of the fourth. And I felt as if she should have played more minutes. Now this game was tight all the way through, but it also should simulate a real time game because this was like a practice for Team usa. I was curious about that decision not to play Kalia Copper more when Arika Gumbawale was heating up. And I was curious if you guys had thoughts around that.
- [27:59]
Ben Pickman
Yeah, I mean, Cheryl Reeve seemed like she was playing, you know, sampling different rotations throughout the game. You mentioned, you know, Copper, she checked in pretty late in the first quarter. To me, the most interesting actually sub decision that she made or didn't make was Jackie Young who didn't enter until around the four minute mark of the second quarter. That was the first time that Jackie entered the game. Overall, you look at the box score for Team usa, I mean, other than Stewie and Asia Wilson who both played more than 25 minutes and Nafisa Collier who Cheryl Reeve made after is basically like she's going to be in bubble wrap until, you know, until the Paris games actually start. I mean, they have this exhibition coming up in London and I wouldn't expect Fee to play much of a role in that one. Based on Cheryl Reeves comments post Game of the All Star Game, Fee played just three minutes. A complete non factor, not applicable grade in my grades of the All Star Game. But everyone else played between again like 10 and 21 minutes coppers in that group. So there was a lot of sampling that kind of went on from Chari's perspective. And you know, I think she was just kind of trying out different lineups, seeing what fit, seeing how different players played with one another. I thought, you know, one of the most interesting roster decisions you mentioned, the Copper one in the third quarter, just not having her defend a Gumbawale. The thing, one of the, the choices that stuck out more to Me, frankly, Xena was playing Sabrina Unescu the entirety of the fourth quarter. You know, she is someone who has gone up a whole nother level as this WNBA season, you know, has taken place. And so to see, you know, her play such a big role in the fourth quarter, that's one of the big questions I have overall is what role is she going to play. So, you know, that's one of the things that stuck out to me overall. You know, I think defensively is where Team USA clearly has the most to learn and grow. And you know, Shelf Reed was saying the 50 point paints that they allowed is not good enough obviously, but she also joked that she's pretty happy they don't have to guard a player as skilled as Ricky Gumawale in the Olympics, so they'll at least be spared a little bit on that front.
- [30:06]
Zena K
You just never know. Someone might get hot. Marine Johannes comes to mind if they have to face France of someone that can just put up 10 points in two minutes if she really, really wants to. Definitely was curious as to see what Team USA is going to do in order to when someone's in the kitchen cooking, who are they going to send to cook for themselves? Not just defensively, but particularly offensively as well. I also would be remiss if we didn't talk about the rookies, the rookie All Stars. I absolutely adore that. The way that they showed up in this game is the way that they've been showing up this season as All Stars within their what made them All Stars, right? Caitlin Clark ending the game with 10 assists and I think she had like five in the first quarter or something. I mean it was like in the first half at least. It was unbelievable how how much she was just creating with her teammates and not just with Aaliyah Boston, which she did get some beautiful passes off to her teammate, but also getting a bucket with Angel Reese getting several buckets with Neca Gumaque and and John Paul Jones. I was just like this is a wonderful preview of what it could look like to have a Caitlin Clark join a Team USA one day and then double Double Barbie, which according to her media presser there are and they are in talks with getting that to be officially a thing where she's, you know, she Angel Reese mentioned in her presser that Mattel has been allowing her to use Barbie for the last two years and they are in talks of just figuring out what that will look like officially. But double double Barbie did her thing with 12 points and 11 rebounds and what was really cool was offensive rebounds. It was exactly what she's been doing all season long. Just going in there with tenacity and finally getting to see her play in person, it was unreal. Like, you want to talk about speed and strength, seeing both of them really just was really fortifying for what we've been saying about them all season long. But seeing it in person, Caitlin's floor vision and then Angel's speed and strength, it was very clear to me that angel used to be a guard that just happened to grow really, really fast and really, really quickly. Sabrina, when you think about Caitlin and Angel potentially being on Team USA one day, like, what are the things that you're most excited to see flourish for them and that they can bring to that system?
- [32:40]
Sabrina Merchant
I mean, I think it's just what you said, like they stepped into an all star stage and regardless of the fact that this is a different pace of game than usually happens during the regular season and there's more talent on the floor, you know, you're not just trying to box out against regular old average WNBA power forwards. You're boxing out against Alyssa Thomas and Brittney Griner and you know, Brianna Stewart, like, that's a, that's a big difference than the normal day to day for the Chicago Sky. They just did everything that they do. Like Angel Race gets into the game, gets a steal, gets an offensive rebound, put back Caitlin Clark, like you mentioned 10 assists, you know, like missed all of her three pointers but still has a positive impact because she's, you know, making the plays, helping the WNBA team break traps that USA was setting, which is maybe the first time I've seen an all star team actually full court press in the second quarter of an All Star game. So, yeah, it was just fun to watch the two of them just be exactly who they are even in this entirely different showcase scenario. And I mean, it was kind of surprising to me because, like, I don't usually associate an All Star game with like boxing out and yet, like, what else is angel risk going to do? Like, this is what she's expected to do. This is what she comes in. Like why the fans voted her in, right, why the coaches voted her in. And I mean, we saw USA make an adjustment and like send three players to the defensive glass in the second half so that angel would stop the offensive rebounds. I understand that kind of all Star game where USA has, you know, elevated stakes, but the type of, you know, adjustments that the USA was making to account for what the rookies were doing, like, it's been the case throughout their regular seasons. But again, it's like unprecedented for an All Star game. So for them to have this level of impact with this type of talent, I mean, I just think this is what you want to see on Team usa, right? You want to see players who play this fast, play this hard and just own their zone regardless of who else is on the court.
- [34:34]
Zena K
Absolutely. Exactly what you're mentioning, the type of attention that these two players garnered for an All Star game that's supposed to be fun, that's supposed to be a little loose, it was really, I don't know, unprecedented for me to see that. Best part of the weekend for when it comes to those rookies was Angel Reese mentioning in her presser that, you know, finally people get to cheer for both her and Caitlin to be on the same team. They'll be rocking their get along shirts finally and being on the same side of things for once. There was not much talk about the rookie race and I think that people were particularly sensitive to not have that be a focal point for this weekend. Both Caitlin and Angel saying they're very excited for a break. Angel Reese on her way to Paris. I think she's in Paris now. I believe she just tweeted that she lost her bags actually, but she's there. She's going to go vintage shopping. As she mentioned, it's got workouts lined up and she is just excited to get her mind off the basketball. Caitlin Clark came into her postgame presser in after the All Star game, I believe and said this is the last time I'm talking to the media for the next two weeks, so goodbye. Clearly getting her space as well. But it was beautiful to see both of these rookies on the same team showcasing everything that everyone has been saying about them all season long. And regardless of where you stand of in the debate of the rookies, you could have appreciated the way that they both showed up. Last but not least, before we start wrapping it up and start thinking about next All Star, this Team USA loss, does it mean anything for what can happen in these next two weeks?
- [36:18]
Ben Pickman
I don't really think so. I mean I think the world, as everyone is saying, has a lot of talent and they will play teams. Belgium, potentially France, you know, Spain. There are, there are plenty of teams. You know, Germany has some WNB talent. Like the world is rich with basketball talent overall. But still there is not a, there are not as many global stars who, you know, have the individual ability that someone like Arike Gumbawale does. Right. If you look at the men's side for a little bit. Like yes, you know they talk about globalization and you know how the gap between Team USA and other competitors are shrinking. But if you look at the men's side and the Olympic draw in particular, there are some, you know, true, true heavy hitters. The Giannis onto Takounmpos, the Gobert's and Wemby's. The, you know, you can list some of Shay, Gildrich, Alexander for Canada, right? There are some of the best players in the NBA are from other countries and are participating in this Olympics. Whereas you know, you look at the women's side and someone like Emma Miseman is playing for Belgium and you know she has been a multi time Euroleague mvp, a Finals MVP in the WNBA and she's probably the best individual player in the tournament. Not on Team usa, but I don't think, you know, Team USA is really deep in the front court and I don't think people would make the argument that she is currently better than Asia Wilson, Brianna Stewart or Alyssa Thomas. Right. And so you know, there are a ton of good players out there in the world, but Team USA both has depth and high level talent that I'm not too concerned overall about the implications of this loss. Could USA theoretically lose in a one game scenario? In 40 minute games anything is of course possible. But I wouldn't read too much into the result of this game for being a harbinger of what might be to come in Paris.
- [38:12]
Zena K
I feel the same and I think that's important that a lot of fans see that. Especially considering the almost exact same thing happened. The last Team USA team, WNBA All Star and they went on to win gold that was in Tokyo. So definitely could be a little bit of fortune telling from that event. Before we go, and I do want to mention, you know, shout out to WNBA Live. I know we kind of slightly mentioned that at the top, WNB Live was an unbelievable showcase of the way brands are showing up for the wnba. And I commend every single brand for the thoughtfulness and ways to engage the fans. Not only just from like the free giveaways which were awesome and I overstuffed my luggage with, but just from the storytelling that was happening, the ways that fans, from little kids to adults could enjoy themselves. It was truly really well done. And I'm just telling you like if you're a brand looking to get into the space, the bar was set. This time you're going to really have to come come with it. And then last but not least, Ben.
- [39:25]
Ben Pickman
Two small thoughts just On a news gathering standpoint, Kathy Engelbert in her press conference acknowledged that the league is consider expanding its regular season to 44 games. That's a potential item that I think is decently. There's a pretty good chance with a 13 team coming into the league next year that that goes into effect. And the wnba, you know, calendar won't have this month long break, so scheduling should be a little bit easier next year. Also on the news front, the ongoing Aces investigation or the Aces investigation we discussed on this show a little bit earlier this summer that is ongoing for Kathy. So that is two little news items to watch for coming out of her press conference. One other small thing that, you know, Sabrina raised it when she was talking about things that she had never seen before in the All Star Game. Cheryl Reeve in this game, it won't make any recaps or any, you know, of note, but she used a coach's challenge with like 20 seconds to go in this game and her team was down. You know, I want to say double digits at that point. And then like literally seconds later she called the reset timeout. And I just got to say, like, this is truly, I know it was a tune up for Team USA and they're trying to run stuff and get as many cracks as they can doing different things. And so I don't fault her at all for doing so. But you know, to see that, see those things both in sequence in an All Star game, that result had been decided at that point was it was just amazing. Like from a basketball nerd, like sicko standpoint, like that she's doing that late in an All Star game was like truly just chef's kiss, like unbelievable job from Cheryl Reeve to value every possession, even in an exhibition shout out to her.
- [41:01]
Sabrina Merchant
I mean, she was standing up and coaching in the first half. Like, I don't know that Cheryl Miller got up at all other than maybe like one ATO that she called at the very end of the first half.
- [41:10]
Zena K
I'll tell you, when Cheryl Miller got up, Cheryl Miller got up because she was talking to the refs all game. Now there was genuine conversations happening and complaints happening from Sharon Miller to the rest. I love both of these coaches genuinely coaching their teams and genuinely actively being involved with the outcome of the game as much as they could be as a coach. It was great coaching, in my opinion. Now for the record too, that challenge from Cheryl Reeve unsuccessful, which made it even more entertaining that this went through. Like the rest were like, okay, I guess we're really doing this. Let's go review and see what we think. Sabrina, tell us a little bit about. There is one crazy thing that has nothing to do with the WNBA and is probably the best note we can end on this show with of just how random some things happen this weekend. This was probably the most random by far. Let us know.
- [42:06]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, so there's certain celebrities who you can expect to see, you know, courtside of these games. I think Jason Sudeikis obviously comes to mind. Big New York Liberty, big Caitlin Clark fan who always makes himself present at big WNBA events. Aubrey Plaza is another such comedic actor who is often present at New York and Los Angeles games and has a certain way about her, you know, kind of giving no Fs to the camera when they put it on her during games. So Aubrey Plaza was there on Friday night for the skills challenge and three point shootout. Camera comes on her. I believe she said some sort of expletive to get them off of her as the event were on.
- [42:41]
Zena K
Yeah, wtf. That's what it was.
- [42:43]
Sabrina Merchant
Then the next day Aubrey Plaza comes to, you know, the All Star Game on Saturday night and is in crutches because apparently she tore her ACL playing knockout at the recently unveiled Phoenix Mercury practice facility. So she has literally four people around her who are just like saying acl, acl. She tore her ACL to anybody who's asking as she's walking. I gotta be honest, I did not believe that this was something that actually happened. I thought this was a bit that Aubrey Plaza was putting on, just that she wanted to feel like more of an athlete as she came into the All Star Game. I thought it was just like a, you know, a little joke like she's going to come in crutches, pretend that she suffered some sort of, you know, traumatic injury. Apparently not. Apparently she did actually suffer a torn acl. Cheryl Miller One of the times she got up during the game was to talk to Aubrey Plaza about said injury on the sidelines. But yeah, just one of the many celebrity dumb things that has now crashed of the NBA All Star Weekend.
- [43:43]
Zena K
And then Sue Bird was helping her ice her knee. I mean it was just the perfect intersection between culture, pop culture and athletes and just the world of sports. Loved, loved that little tidbit. All right, folks, I keep saying we're going to end this show, but then something else comes up and I just, it's just because it was so much fun. It was a lot of good things happening this All Star weekend, for the record, because I heard a lot of different things over the course of this. This weekend. We do not know where the next All Star weekend is. It has not yet been announced. I heard Vegas. I heard Indiana. I heard different things. For the record, All Star Weekend for next year has not yet been announced. We are working on it and keep tuning in and keep subscribing to the athletic to find out, of course, but if you hear it from anybody else, they're lying to you. Okay? Zena's here to help you out. They're lying to you. All right, folks, appreciate all of you tuning in today. Thank you, Ben and Sabrina, for that amazing recap of the weekend. It was a ton of fun. Make sure any one of you listening, you need to subscribe so you can get the grades that Ben gave for each player in the All Star Game. You can get the power rankings from Sabrina that she's been doing all season and will definitely continue in the second half of this season. And you can also keep up with our Olympics coverage. On that note, we're going to be having more shows of these shows, the athletic podcast coming out covering the Olympics, because we've got our writer, Chantelle Jennings, that's going to be actually in Paris on the ground giving us all the background scoop and recapping games and such for us. So make sure that you are subscribed to this pod so you don't miss out on that coverage as well. And as always, leave us comments, send us emails, do whatever it is that you want in terms of communicating to us that you like the show, you have questions, or you can be like our girl Sarah. Shout out to Sarah in Arizona who sent us the most unbelievable guide to Phoenix. Sarah, we ate at the Arrogant Butcher. We try to eat there twice because of how much you posted it up on our list of places to go. And we went there and you were right. Every single one of us found something we liked on the menu. So shout out to Sarah, shout out to anyone that comments on our show and gives us some feedback. Please continue that. We want to show you guys the love. We want to make sure that we're talking about things that you want us to talk about. So for now, on behalf of Ben, on behalf of Sabrina, I'm Zena Kada, thanking you for your ear, encouraging you to keep listening, keep watching, keep learning, and keep loving the game because that's the only way you're going to keep growing it. All right, until next time.
- [46:29]
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- [47:49]
Zena K
Acast powers the World's Best Podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend.
- [47:56]
Kim Holderness
Hey guys, we have an exciting announcement about our podcast.
- [48:00]
Pen Holderness
For the past seven years, the Holderness Family Podcast has been the most favorite thing we do.
- [48:04]
Kim Holderness
We love getting to talk to experts, we love having meaningful conversations just the two of us and we also love hearing from.
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Pen Holderness
But the thing we love most is being a place where you can laugh.
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Kim Holderness
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Pen Holderness
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Kim Holderness
The Laugh Lines podcast will be all about aging together better and also being able to laugh about getting older.
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Pen Holderness
We hope you'll join us. Search Laughlines with Kim and Pen Holderness New episodes every Tuesday.
- [48:41]
Zena K
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