Remember a few years back when there were a bunch of people who were around hoops, but didn’t really actually hoop, and they were trying to tell hoopers to quit shooting the midrange? Yeah, nah, Kahleah Copper didn’t listen to any of that. The former WNBA champ and two-time All-Star possesses a middie that’s something out of an instructional video. It’s been a big reason she’s scored the ninth-most points in the W at the time of this writing.

The foundation of her shot is a fluid two-foot hop. It helps her establish momentum on the way up. Her release point is high, at the top of her rise, and it’s followed by an extended and long-held follow-through. Copper’s textbook progression should be studied everywhere.

Her journey to get here should also be studied. Not just the evolution of her shot into a two-dribble automatic machine, but the resolve she’s shown during her eight seasons in the League. It should be a lesson to young hoopers everywhere: This all takes time.

Copper as a freshman at Rutgers (5.1 points and 3.5 rebounds a game on 41 percent shooting) looks like a whole different person when compared to her as a senior (17.7 points and 8 rebounds a game on 50 percent shooting). Patience paid off when the Washington Mystics selected her with the seventh overall pick of the 2016 Draft. She had a solid rookie campaign for Washington, appearing in 30 games, and she was good enough that the Chicago Sky wanted her to be a part of the trade that sent former WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne to the nation’s capital.

Copper played through four full seasons averaging between 14-16 minutes and 6-7 points a game. She couldn’t crack the rotation in a real way in DC or Chicago. Her career drastically changed during head coach James Wade’s second season in the Chi in 2020. Coach Wade increased her minutes by more than double what she played in 2019.

Copper delivered.

In the 2020 wubble, Copper’s stats were more than solid: 14.9 points, 5.5 boards, 2.1 dimes and 1 steal per. Included in 2020 were a trio of 20-plus point games (all wins for the Sky), marking the first time in her career that she went for 20 or more on three separate occasions. The signs that she was evolving appeared in other ways, too. She recorded at least 1 steal in over half the games she played, her rebounding was way up (she got her first career game of 10 rebounds at IMG) and her three-pointer was much improved.

Though the Sky lost in the first round of the 2020 postseason, Copper and her squad were about to get a major roster addition, one that would fully unlock the potential of the North Philly kid. The arrival of future Hall of Famer Candace Parker in Chicago was the final push to get Copper’s game all the way turnt up. Parker was vocally adamant about Copper for the entire summer. She was constantly praising the energy she brought to the floor. With the voice of a legend in her ear, Copper realized what she was capable of.

The 2021 playoffs belonged to No. 2, who was officially stamped by winning the 2021 WNBA Finals MVP trophy. But before she accomplished that, she put up serious numbers: 17.7 ppg and 5.3 rpg. And she shot 52 percent from the field.

Her offense featured a lot of that still-improving jumper with a ton of attacking the rim. She’s both fast and quick, so anybody trying to stay in front of her? Best of luck. Surprisingly, though, as her individual star rose, she played more efficiently within the system that Coach Wade had constructed. About two-thirds of her buckets came off assists, swung from the fingertips of Courtney Vandersloot, Parker and Diamond DeShields. Copper was playing high quality, high efficiency basketball. She maximized success for herself and for her team.

During her cover shoot for SLAM 236, Copper said that her competitiveness has been nurtured since she was a young kid. It had been waiting to burst out of her from the days when she couldn’t get off the bench in DC. That championship run was the truest form of Kahleah Copper. It was her honest aggression in the brightest spotlight, merciless and unrelenting. Her numbers in the Finals tell part of the story: 17 ppg and 5.5 rpg on 50 percent. The rest of the story can be told in Parker’s own words after the final buzzer sounded in 2021.

“Just playing against [Copper] in L.A. all the time and just not being able to guard her, like, I feel like our games could be compatible, we could make each other better,” Parker told NBC Sports Chicago. “I’ve just been so proud of how she’s stayed the course all the time and just been great. I always tell her before the game, like, Show them what we already know. Every game. She did that this entire season.”

That season ended.

The next one began.

Copper continued to ascend as a singular talent in 2022. Her points per game, her rebounds per game, her assists per game and her shooting percentage elevated, and she notched the highest point total of her W career with a 28-point outing against the Indiana Fever. Copper was hooping at an even higher level than before, but the Sky lost in the second round of the postseason. Then Parker and Vandersloot left, and then deadeye three-point shooter Allie Quigley and former WNBA champ Emma Meesseman departed, too. All of a sudden, Copper was alone in the driver’s seat, responsible for leading her team.

That brings us to 2023. Coach Wade has clearly defined the role of his former Finals MVP. He needs her to score, create and compete as well as possible. Those two-dribble pulls in the midrange are out of necessity. Copper is running more pick-and-roll, responsible for reading more of the defense than ever before, even with her new and reliable backcourt mates Marina Mabrey and Courtney Williams along for the ride. This is officially her franchise now, as evidenced by the 16.6 ppg she’s currently averaging, which of course marks a career-best in that category.

It’s likely that by the time you’re holding this magazine in your hands, Copper has been named to her third All-Star team, where she’ll get the chance to build on what she did against the League’s best in both 2021 and 2022.

“I think I was the ultimate competitor,” Copper told us in her SLAM 236 cover story. “Even re-watching the games and seeing how locked in I was and seeing my intensity on defense. Getting hyped, just every little detail. I think that my competitiveness hit another gear.”

Copper got to feel the warmest sunshine imaginable with that championship in 2021. There were difficult times before that win, and there will be difficult times ahead. But it ain’t nothing. Don’t you dare ever count out the kid from Philly.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post With the Keys to the Chicago Sky, Kahleah Copper is Elevating Her Game to New Heights appeared first on SLAM.

The first-round series between the Sun and Wings was full of double-digit wins, with no win being more impressive than Connecticut’s 15 point Game 3 win. The Sun put on a defensive clinic after they held the Wings a season-low final score of 58 points, including holding Dallas to 22 points on 6-27 shooting from the field during the secone half. Connecticut also forced Dallas to commit 11 turnovers during the final 20 minutes of Wednesday’s contest.

“I think the biggest thing they learned is they’re very good,” Johnson said per ESPN. “I told them when Arike went out to just believe in themselves. Play together, play with energy and effort, and that’s what we did.”

Dallas’ troubles began after Isabelle Harrison suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter that was severe enough to make Dallas hold her out for the remainder of the game. Not even Arike Ogunbowale’s short-lived return from abdominal surgery could spark Dallas’ stagnant offense. The former national champ went scoreless in six minutes, going 0-3 from the field and 0-2 from beyond the arc.

The loss led to interesting postgame introspection from Dallas, specifically from Marina Mabrey and Veronica Burton about the culture and the kind of team that the Wings are looking to build.

“I feel like we’re growing here in Dallas,” Mabrey (team-high 20 points) said. “We had so many fans and they’re always so supportive. They know we gave it our all, we put our hearts in it so they’re always super proud of us and I can’t thank them enough from our whole team.”

Sentiments that Burton echoed, going on to say that the fans “supporting us means the world” and the Wings appreicate the consistency of the fans in the building too.

We’re building something special, and we couldn’t do it without you, fam pic.twitter.com/GN1htO2F4u

— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) August 25, 2022

The Wings have now made their first back-to-back playoff appearence since 2017-2018 where they lost in the first round to the Mystics and Mercury, respectively. After consecutive stinging losses to end their season, Dallas will look to make the next step towards winning a playoff series, than on to becoming a Finals threat. The Wings haven’t won a WNBA title since moving from Detroit to Tulsa and now Dallas as of 2016.

The original Detroit Shock franchise won three titles during the 2000s, taking home the Finals Trophy in 2003, 2006, and 2008.

“When you see yourself do something, you believe it more,” Mabrey said. “Not that we didn’t believe before but watching this horn go off and winning in COnnecticut, (it’s) just a confidence booster. Now we know we can do it and (now) it’s back to work.”

“We played a veteran team that’s lost plenty of times, they won so they know exactly what it feels like, they know exactly what to do with their backs gainst the wall and we lacked that a litle bit so that’s okay. It comes with experience so take the good with the bad.”

“When you see yourself do something, you believe it more.”

– @mmabrey1 pic.twitter.com/2wbDKxGAUa

— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) August 25, 2022

The post Dallas Wings ‘Believe it More’ Despite Season-Ending Game 3 Loss appeared first on SLAM.

HOW DOES IT FEEL, SUN FANS??? #CTSun pic.twitter.com/3twme5dlRy

— Connecticut Sun (@ConnecticutSun) August 25, 2022

DeWanna Bonner led all scorers with 21 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Alyssa Thomas followed up with 13 points, eight rebounds, and two assists. Jonquel Jones dropped 11 points, 10 rebounds, and two assists, and Natisha Hiedeman rounded out Connecticut’s double-digit scorers with 11 points, two boards, and two dimes.

Bonner also became the 10th player in WNBA history to knock down 300 career field goals and passed Angel McCoughtry in the process of doing so.

“Our team is incredibly confident in what they do and who they are,” Sun Coach Curt Miller said, per ESPN. “We’re back to the semis for four straight years. This group wants to take another step, and there’s not one person that’s going to pick us to beat Chicago. So we’re going to go with the underdog mentality and give it our best shot.”

.@DEEBONNER24 with a BIG 21-5-5 Game 3 to lead the @ConnecticutSun to the Semifinals of the #WNBAPlayoffs presented by @google pic.twitter.com/eJAZpTCFrM

— WNBA (@WNBA) August 25, 2022

Marina Mabrey posted a team-high 20 points, Veronica Burton contributed 10 points, six rebounds, and four dimes, and Teaira McCowan followed up with eight points, 12 boards, and two blocks.

The Sun won Game 3 after holding the Wings to perhaps the worse scoring effort of the season. Connecticut held Dallas to 22 points in the second half, and their final tally of 58 was a season-low. Dallas shot just 6-27 from the field in the second half and turned the ball over 11 times.

Part of Dallas’ offensive struggles could be attributed to Isabelle Harrison suffering an ankle injury in the first-quarter that she wouldn’t come back from. Not even Arike Ogunbowale’s short-lived return from abdominal surgery could spark Dallas’ stagnant offense. The former national champ went scoreless in six minutes, going 0-3 from the field and 0-2 from beyond the arc.

Bonner credited Connecticut’s defensive clinic to second-year guard DiJonai Carrington. The 35-year-old forward believed Carrington’s “defensive pressure was unbelievable,”, especially in the last 20 minutes of the game.

Carrington was so successful as a defensive pest that she got into a squabble with Mabrey midway through the fourth. The two guards were jaw-jacking as Mabrey set up to inbound the ball from the sideline.

“Forget all that; the credit to this game goes to DiJonai Carrington,” Bonner said. “I think she was the difference maker for us this whole game. Her defensive pressure was unbelievable; she kinda jump-started us the whole game. So take the ball out of my hands and give it to her cause tonight was all about her and her pressure. She definitely jump-started us that second-half, and (I’m) definitely so proud of her.”

The semifinal matchups will start on Sunday, with Las Vegas and Seattle kicking off the action at 4 p.m EST on ESPN. The Sun and Sky will play at 8 p.m. EST on ESPN 2. The Sky swept their regular-season series with the Sun, 4-0, winning by an average of 4.5 points per game.

The post Connecticut Advances to Second-Rounds After 73-58 Rout Over Dallas appeared first on SLAM.

Allisha Gray led the Wings with 17 points and five rebounds, followed by a 13-point, five rebounds, and three assists outing from Tyasha Harris. Marina Mabrey contributed 11 points, and four rebounds, and Satou Sabally rounded out Dallas’ double-digit scorers with 10 points, two rebounds, and two dimes in 15 minutes of action.

SUN TAKE GAME 1

— WSLAM (@wslam) August 19, 2022

Created to create separation in the third quarter after going on a 13-0 run that helped build a 20-point cushion in the third seed’s favor. The Suns kept the Wings scoreless for over five minutes, leading to the Sun closing out the third quarter with a 17-5 run that gave them an 18-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

After the tough Game 1 loss, Coach Vickie Johnson told assembled reporters that she didn’t “recognize” who the Dallas Wings were on the hardwood and noted that some players were noticeably “complaining” and “not taking accountability.”

“The first thing I told my team is ‘I didn’t recognize my team tonight.'” Johnson said. “If we can think we can do it individually and beat Connecticut, it’s not gonna happen.”

Vickie Johnson: "The first thing I told my team is 'I didn't recognize my team tonight.'"

Said players were "complaining," "not taking accountability."

"If we can think we can do it individually and beat Connecticut, it's not gonna happen."

— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) August 19, 2022

Arike Ogunbowale, Dallas’ leading scorer, is still not healthy enough to play due to an abdominal injury she aggravated during the final days of the regular-season.

It’s really that simple for DB pic.twitter.com/do0bk85mpV

— WSLAM (@wslam) August 19, 2022

The Wings will look to tie the series up with a Game 2 win over the Sun on Sunday.

The post Vickie Johnson Didn’t ‘Recognize’ Dallas Wings Team That Lost Game 1 appeared first on SLAM.

“In that locker room, we knew that we had the opportunity to make the playoffs for the second year in a row, but we want to go deeper. We want to finish sixth, and once the playoff starts, it’s a new season. Anything can happen.” Wings coach Vickie Johnson said per ESPN.

The Wings securing the sixth seed leaves only two spots left in the WNBA playoffs, which begin next week.

Once again, the WNBA playoffs system has changed this year. It will consist of the top eight teams playing with no byes. Every team will begin to play in the first round with the standard bracket format, which has the No. 1 seed vs. the No. 8 seed, the No. 2 seed vs. the No. 7 seed, the No. 3 seed vs. the No. 6 seed, and the No. 4 seed vs. the No. 5 seed. The bracket will not be re-seeded after the first round.

The current playoff clinched standings:

1. Chicago Sky (25-8)
2. Las Vegas Aces (23-10)
3. Connecticut Sun (20-11)
4. Seattle Storm (20-13)
5. Washington Mystics (20-14)
6. Dallas Wings (17-16)

The Five teams still in contention for the remaining two playoff spots are the Atlanta Dream, Phoenix Mercury, New York Liberty, Minnesota Lynx, and the Los Angeles Sparks.

The Phoenix Mercury might have an uphill battle with Diana Taurasi’s untimely season-ending quad injury, which was announced Monday. The Mercury (14-19) still has a chance of clinching a playoff spot as they rank eighth right behind the Atlanta Dream (14-18).

The post Dallas Wings Secure Sixth Playoff Spot; Two Spots Remain appeared first on SLAM.

Even without their star player Arike Ogunbowale, who ranks third in the League in scoring at 19.9 points, who is out with an ankle injury, the Wings still managed to get the job done.

Mabrey movin' mad pic.twitter.com/EEvaNdMKXl

— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) August 3, 2022

Marina Mabrey and Teaira McCowan stepped up for the Wings. Mabrey scored a season-high of 26 points, and McCowan followed up with 20 points and 12 rebounds, her third straight double-double outing.

Double at your own risk pic.twitter.com/bS7tCYTqDK

— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) August 3, 2022

For the Sky, Kahleah Copper led Chicago with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Azurá Stevens, Allie Quigley, and Emma Meesseman each scored 14 points.

With less than two weeks left in the regular season, the Sky holds a one-game lead over the Las Vegas Aces in the League’s . The Wings truly needed this win in order to fight for a playoff spot Dallas was able to move 1 1/2 games ahead of the Phoenix Mercury who lands at seventh place.

Now the Wings need to lock in and focus on winning the next couple of games to secure one of the final three playoff spots.

The post Dallas Wings End Chicago Sky’s Franchise-Record Home Win Streak appeared first on SLAM.

Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings to the win with a team-high 27 points, followed by Marina Mabrey (21 points) and Allisha Gray, who had 20. 

Gray also got her first double-double after securing 12 rebounds on Sunday. Coach Vickie Johnson said she told Gray that her defensive effort must be consistent regardless of her matchups playstyle or if she respects who she’s guarding.

“You don’t fall back. You don’t bring your defensive effort down because of their style or the respect part of it. I was very happy for her, but she made it known that she needed one more rebound. ‘Coach, you got to put me back in; I need one more rebound,’ so I said alright, I got you,” Johnson said.

The Dallas Wings were on fire beyond the arc, too, knocking down at least 10 threes for their third straight game while tallying at least 20 assists for the sixth time this season. 

Johnson was asked during postgame about the improvement of the Wings from last season to this season and acknowledged the offensive and defensive changes. 

“We’re becoming a good team. We’re becoming what we can. We have stats – team, individual, game – we’re not there, but we’re becoming that. And once we become that, then that’s when we’re going to be very scary to deal with.”

The Wings, 8-8, remain the third seed in the Western Conference and have now won back-to-back games at home.

The post Dallas Wings Make Franchise History Against Los Angeles Sparks appeared first on SLAM.

In the midst of one of their franchise’s most successful seasons, Aces guard Kelsey Plum was recently voted as the WNBA’s Sixth Woman of the Year after a record-breaking regular season.

The baton was finally passed down to Plum for the first time in her career after Aces forward and 2021 All-Star Dearica Hamby reigned as Sixth Woman of the Year for two consecutive seasons (2018-19).

A year after tearing her Achilles, the former first overall draft pick came off of the bench in every game this season, averaging 20 points in eight of those games, the most in a single season by a reserve in the W.

Plum averaged a career-high 14.8 points this season, along with 3.6 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 steal per game. For the 2021 season, Plum ranks 16th in WNBA scoring and 14th in assists.

The fourth-year pro blew other contestants out of the water in voting, earning 41 votes from a national panel of 49 sportswriters and broadcasters. Hamby followed behind with five, Marina Mabrey (Dallas Wings) with two, and Natisha Hiedeman (Connecticut Sun) with one vote.

In honor of being crowned Sixth Player of the Year, Plum will receive $5,150 and a trophy designed by Tiffany & Co.

The post Aces Star Kelsey Plum Takes the Crown as Sixth Woman of the Year appeared first on SLAM.

The past two matchups have seen game-tying and game-winning shots by Seattle’s Jewell Loyd but, last night, the basketball gods evened the score as Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale hoisted a high-arching last second three-pointer for the win.

Take another look at this @Arike_O game-winner pic.twitter.com/QBWaHoxXNS

— WNBA (@WNBA) June 7, 2021

Ogunbowale, now in her third season with the Wings, scored 24 points and grabbing six boards in a stunning 68-67 win over the Storm. Dallas—who trailed the entire second half—went on a 8-0 run strung together by Ogunbowale (who scored the final eight points for the team).

The Wings successfully curtailed a third straight overtime contest between the two teams, which Seattle won last Friday’s contest and on May 22 by a combined six points.

In each of their five losses this season, Ogunbowale has willed the Wings with 20+ points.

Last night’s game-winning 3-pointer finally rang poetic justice for the Wings who have lost their past five by six or less points. Both Marina Mabrey and Ogunbowale have stepped up their game against the defending champs, each averaging 25.0 points per game in their three games against the Storm.

This combo crossover and deep three from Arike Ogunbowale is not fair pic.twitter.com/DbkKUngl48

— WNBA Got Game (@wnbagotgame) June 5, 2021

Mabrey added 15 points (on 7-12 shooting), seven rebounds, two steals and a block, while Isabelle Harrison chipped in 14 points, eight boards and a block off the bench. Dallas (3-5) is now in sole possession of ninth place, 0.5 games out of the final playoff spot.

Midway through a five-game road series, Dallas travels to Phoenix to face the Mercury on Tuesday and Friday, their respective final matchups of the season.

The post Arike Ogunbowale, Wings Hand Storm Second Loss of Season appeared first on SLAM.

Taurasi had her own kicks back in 2006. The Nike Shox DT came and went quickly and it’s already, unfortunately, been forgotten. It was a funky-looking silhouette built on Nike’s patented Shox technology. The cushioning was mixed with Zoom Air and it trailed up to a big overlay that covered the midfoot and eventually wrapped around the collar. Taurasi only played in them for one season. She’s been playing in LeBron PEs ever since.

Taurasi, a three-time WNBA champ and four-time Olympic gold medalist, is the last woman sponsored by Nike to get a signature sneaker. The last woman to get a signature in the WNBA is Parker, who has two WNBA MVP trophies, two gold medals and a WNBA title. She’s consistently been laced in the latest adidas options ever since the early 2000s and adidas hooked her up with three of her own pairs, the last of which was in 2012 when the Ace3 came out.

It’s a stark, stark contrast from when women’s basketball exploded into the mainstream in the mid-’90s. Chamique Holdsclaw, Dawn Staley, Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper, Rebecca Lobo and Nicki McCray were all given their own kicks by Nike, adidas, Reebok and Fila back in the day.

And then there was Sheryl Swoopes, a pioneer in basketball sneakers. Nike made seven different signature sneakers for Swoopes and she wore them as she was winning four consecutive WNBA titles with the Houston Comets and three Olympic gold medals. The impact of the first Air Swoopes still moves the Hall of Famer.

“I remember going to Portland, walking in the room and just seeing all of the stuff,” Swoopes told SLAM at the 2019 WNBA Draft about the first time she saw her signature sneaker. “It seemed so surreal to me at the moment. To walk in and, not only see any shoe, but to see my shoe, with my name on it, and to know that there were gonna be little girls out there, and hopefully little boys too, that have an opportunity to wear a women’s basketball shoe… I love Michael Jordan, but you don’t have to go and buy the Air Jordans anymore. You can go and buy the Air Swoopes. Even today, to say that, I’m like, ‘Wow that really did happen.’ I still get emotional to this day when I think about it.”

But there hasn’t been another player able to feel that type of emotion in nearly 10 years. Even as the talent level has soared across the W and players have taken strong stances against political and racial injustices, developing rock-solid personal brands, no company has stepped up with a sneaker.

The most that the brands do is give a select few players their own team-specific colorways. Parker is always playing in purple and gold kicks, Bird has been given the reigns to the Kyrie line and Taurasi has gotten Phoenix Mercury-themed LeBrons ever since Nike did away with her sneaker. Some of the league’s best young players get featured in marketing campaigns by Nike and adidas, where the spotlight shines on them briefly. But it’s not enough for Breanna Stewart and Nneka Ogwumike, two former MVPs, to get a couple of seconds of airtime in a branded Instagram video that also shows men with their own kicks.

If the high level of skill and the social awareness weren’t enough, the W is filled with huge sneakerheads, now more than ever. There will be old pairs of Kobes, the newest adidas and a wild custom pair on any given night during the summertime. Sneakers matter to them and to their fans.

“I remember in middle school I had Cynthia Cooper’s sneaker,” the W’s Sneaker Queen, Tamera Young, says. “Our team, actually, had it. It’s something for the kids as well that looks up to us. If you had WNBA players that have sneakers, it’s something that little girls could look up to.”

“It would just be an inspiration to young players to be able to wear shoes of their favorite women’s player,” the Chicago Sky’s Diamond DeShields says. “Visibility is key. I believe this would help promote that and ultimately contribute to the common goal of growing the league as a whole.”

The 24-year-old DeShields debuted the “Chicago” Air Fear of God 1 recently, a move co-signed by the sneaker’s designer, Jerry Lorenzo. He personally thanked DeShields in an Instagram post that went out to his one million-plus followers.

“It’s all a part of the evolution of the sport,” DeShields says about a woman having her own sneaker. “At what point is it gonna become normalized for women to share the same platform and opportunities as men? ‘Never’ won’t last in regard to this question so why not now?”

Like DeShields, a few women have been able to show off high-profile pairs. The Aces have a heavy-hitting duo in Wilson and Kayla McBride, both in terms of bucket-getting and sneaker-wearing. Wilson is the first WNBA player to get player exclusive Adapt BB colorways. She first rocked her personal colorway of the auto-lacing sneaker at NBA All-Star Weekend and then went on to debut the “Air MAG” Adapt BBs. And McBride was the first to launch the “NASA 50” colorway of the PG3. Tina Charles and Odyssey Sims got to break out the “SpongeBob” and “Patrick” Kyrie 5s. And the first player to wear the Nike Freak 1 on-court wasn’t Giannis Antetokounmpo or one of his brothers—it was Dallas Wings rookie Arike Ogunbowale.

“We’re at a time where we deserve our own signature shoe,” Wilson says. “It would help the WNBA’s evolution because that’s just a huge step of getting us out there as players. That is a big step. Of course, my favorite Dawn Staley and Sheryl Swoopes, they had their shoes but we need to bring that back. It brings a lot more coverage to our game and notice to our game. That’ll just help our game evolve.

Go down the line and look at the rest of the league and you’ll find ‘heads on every team, players that not only mess with sneakers but that can also truly hoop. Jewell Loyd, Elena Delle Donne, Chiney Ogwumike, Kia Nurse and Seimone Augustus are a few of the best players in the WNBA and a few of its biggest sneakerheads too.

Augustus, a future Hall of Famer that has four rings with the Minnesota Lynx, has been wearing customs for the last two seasons thanks to Salvatore Marcum. Marcum runs Mpls Customs and, in addition to working with Augustus, has also worked with Collin Sexton, Langston Galloway, Josh Okogie and a handful of NFL players.

“These women work harder than anyone I know,” Marcum says. “The passion is there, the love for the sport is there and the signature shoes would be a great step in the right direction for them as a whole to reach the publicity they deserve.

“Seimone’s a player I personally look up to,” Marcum continues. “We’ve done a lot of shoes together to bring awareness to things, such as the ‘Care Bear’ shoes for Pride Month and the native shoes for Native American Heritage Night.”

As Marcum notes, Augustus is one of the players that uses her platform to highlight what’s most important on a personal level. Los Angeles Sparks rookie Marina Mabrey recently did that too, when she used her platform to go after the incessant trolls that constantly leave sexist comments on social media. Mabrey rolled up to a game wearing a shirt with an image of a basketball court that read, “This is my Kitchen.”

“Sneakers are a symbol of a favorite player no different than a jersey,” Mabrey, a collegiate national champion at Notre Dame, says. “The more involved the fans are, the better the league will be. The evolution of basketball begins with participation of the fans. When young girls express their love of the game, we want them to want to be WNBA players.”

Mabrey agrees that a WNBA player with a signature sneaker would help to grow the women’s game and showcase all the skill that doesn’t get highlighted enough. DeShields seconds that.

“It would just help create more iconic players in the league,” DeShields says. “The biggest stars of the NBA have their own shoe, so I think creating that hierarchy within the W would only elevate the popularity of the game as a whole.”

It would also celebrate this group of the world’s best basketball players. It would be definitive recognition of the work they’ve put in and the respect they deserve. In basketball, the sneaker is a status symbol, a marker of the elite. It doesn’t get more elite in women’s basketball than the WNBA.

“It’s super important for us, as women, to have a signature shoe,” the Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner says. Griner’s list of accomplishments runs deep. She’s got a WNBA title, an Olympic gold medal and two DPOY trophies. Plus, when she was drafted in 2013 as the No. 1 overall pick, she was signed by Nike as part of a trio with Elena Delle Donne and Skylar Diggins. It was a big signing at the time but all Griner has to show for it is a couple of PEs through the years.

“With our league being around 20-plus years now and all the hype behind us, women’s sports across the board, from Serena [Williams] in tennis to Megan [Rapinoe] kicking ass at soccer, it’s really time,” she continues. “Everybody always asks, ‘Where’s the shoes?’ It’s not just girls asking. Guys are asking. It’s time to test the waters. Not a shoe where we already had it and we throw a name on it. Actually sit down with the player, let them design the whole shoe and get it out there. Across the board, all brands, everybody. Everybody needs to start doing it. It’s time.”

—

Max Resetar is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Additional reporting by Camille Buxeda.

The post No More Waiting: Give the WNBA Its Own Signature Sneakers appeared first on SLAM.

Entering its 23rd season, the WNBA has more talent than ever before, making final roster cuts even more excruciating for teams.

The WNBA season will tip off tonight with the Wings visiting the Dream at 7:30 p.m. EST. Check out the 12-player, opening-night rosters for every WNBA team below!

(NOTE: Some opening-night rosters do not include players on the temporary suspended list while injured, sitting out or fulfilling overseas commitments.)

ATLANTA DREAM

Alex Bentley (G)
Monique Billings (F)
Jessica Breland (F)
Maite Cazorla (G)
Nia Coffey (F)
Marie Gülich (C)
Tiffany Hayes (G)
Angel McCoughtry (GF)
Renee Montgomery (G)
Haley Peters (F)
Brittney Sykes (G)
Elizabeth Williams (C)

CHICAGO SKY

Kahleah Copper (GF)
Diamond DeShields (G)
Stefanie Dolson (C)
Jamierra Faulkner (G)
Chloe Jackson (G)
Jantel Lavender (FC)
Astou Ndour (C)
Cheyenne Parker (F)
Allie Quigley (G)
Katie Lou Samuelson (GF)
Courtney Vandersloot (G)
Gabby Williams (F)

CONNECTICUT SUN

Kristine Anigwe (FC)
Rachel Banham (G)
Bridget Carleton (GF)
Layshia Clarendon (G)
Bria Holmes (G)
Jonquel Jones (FC)
Brionna Jones (C)
Shekinna Stricklen (GF)
Alyssa Thomas (F)
Jasmine Thomas (G)
Morgan Tuck (F)
Courtney Williams (G)

DALLAS WINGS

Kaela Davis (GF)
Skylar Diggins-Smith (G)
Allisha Gray (G)
Isabelle Harrison (F)
Tayler Hill (G)
Glory Johnson (F)
Brooke McCarty-Williams (G)
Imani McGee-Stafford (C)
Arike Ogunbowale (G)
Theresa Plaisance (FC)
Azura Stevens (FC)
Kayla Thornton (F)

INDIANA FEVER

Natalie Achonwa (FC)
Candice Dupree (F)
Shenise Johnson (G)
Paris Kea (G)
Betnijah Laney (G)
Stephanie Mavunga (F)
Erica McCall (F)
Teaira McCowan (C)
Tiffany Mitchell (G)
Kelsey Mitchell (G)
Asia Taylor (F)
Erica Wheeler (G)

LAS VEGAS ACES

Liz Cambage (C)
Sydney Colson (G)
Dearica Hamby (F)
Kayla McBride (G)
JiSu Park (C)
Kelsey Plum (G)
Sugar Rodgers (G)
Carolyn Swords (C)
A’ja Wilson (FC)
Tamera Young (F)
Jackie Young (G)

LOS ANGELES SPARKS

Alana Beard (GF)
Kalani Brown (C)
Chelsea Gray (G)
Alexis Jones (G)
Marina Mabrey (G)
Nneka Ogwumike (F)
Chiney Ogwumike (FC)
Candace Parker (FC)
Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (GF)
Maria Vadeeva (FC)
Sydney Wiese (G)
Riquna Williams (G)

MINNESOTA LYNX

Seimone Augustus (G)
Lexie Brown (G)
Karima Christmas-Kelly (F)
Alaina Coates (C)
Napheesa Collier (F)
Damiris Dantas (F)
Sylvia Fowles (C)
Danielle Robinson (G)
Jessica Shepard (F)
Odyssey Sims (G)
Stephanie Talbot (F)
Shao Ting (F)

NEW YORK LIBERTY

Rebecca Allen (G)
Tiffany Bias (G)
Brittany Boyd (G)
Tina Charles (C)
Asia Durr (G)
Reshanda Gray (F)
Bria Hartley (G)
Kia Nurse (G)
Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe (FC)
Tanisha Wright (G)
Han Xu (C)
Amanda Zahui B (C)

PHOENIX MERCURY

DeWanna Bonner (F)
Essence Carson (G)
Arica Carter (G)
Sophie Cunningham (G)
Brittney Griner (C)
Briann January (G)
Camille Little (F)
Sancho Lyttle (F)
Alanna Smith (F)
Diana Taurasi (G)
Brianna Turner (F)
Yvonne Turner (G)

SEATTLE STORM

Sue Bird (G)
Jordin Canada (G)
Alysha Clark (F)
Natasha Howard (F)
Anriel Howard (F)
Crystal Langhorne (FC)
Jewell Loyd (G)
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (F)
Courtney Paris (C)
Mercedes Russell (C)
Sami Whitcomb (GF)
Shavonte Zellous (G)

WASHINGTON MYSTICS

Ariel Atkins (G)
Natasha Cloud (G)
Elena Delle Donne (F)
Tianna Hawkins (F)
Myisha Hines-Allen (F)
Kiara Leslie (G)
Emma Meesseman (F)
Kim Mestdagh (G)
Aerial Powers (F)
LaToya Sanders (FC)
Kristi Toliver (G)
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough (G)

The post WNBA Opening-Night Rosters Set for 2019 Season ✅ appeared first on SLAM.

Held at the Nike New York Headquarters for the second straight year, the WNBA Draft celebrated the players who will help shape the WNBA landscape for years to come.

Early entry candidate Jackie Young of Notre Dame went No. 1 overall to the Las Vegas Aces, and the Irish would go on to make history when all five starters were selected among the top-20 picks.

Two-time ACC Player of the Year Asia Durr of Louisville was second off the board to the Liberty. Teaira McCowan went No. 3 to the Fever after leading Mississippi St to three-straight Final Fours.

Let us know which team had the best draft in the comments!

2019 WNBA Draft Full Results

1. Las Vegas Aces: Jackie Young (GF) — Notre Dame

2. New York Liberty: Asia Durr (G) — Louisville

3. Indiana Fever: Teaira McCowan (C) — Mississippi State

4. Chicago Sky: Katie Lou Samuelson (GF) — UConn

5. Dallas Wings: Arike Ogunbowale (G) — Notre Dame

6. Minnesota Lynx: Napheesa Collier (F) — UConn

7. L.A. Sparks: Kalani Brown (C) — Baylor

8. Phoenix Mercury: Alanna Smith (F) — Stanford

9. Connecticut Sun: Kristine Anigwe (FC) — California

10. Washington Mystics: Kiara Leslie (G) — NC State

11. Phoenix Mercury (from Atlanta): Brianna Turner (FC) — Notre Dame

12. Seattle Storm: Ezi Magbegor (F) — Australia

ROUND 2

13. Phoenix Mercury: Sophie Cunningham (G) — Missouri

14. New York Liberty: Han Xu (C) — China

15. Chicago Sky: Chloe Jackson (G) — Baylor

16. Minnesota Lynx: Jessica Shepard (C) — Notre Dame

17. Dallas Wings: Megan Gustafson (FC) — Iowa

18. Connecticut Sun (from Minnesota): Natisha Hiedeman (G) — Marquette

19. L.A. Sparks: Marina Mabrey (G) —Notre Dame

20. Minnesota Lynx: Cierra Dillard (G) — Buffalo

21. Connecticut Sun: Bridget Carleton (G) — Iowa State

22. Dallas Wings: Kennedy Burke (G) — UCLA

23. Atlanta Dream: Maite Cazorla (G) — Oregon

24. Seattle Storm: Anriel Howard (F) — Mississippi St

ROUND 3

25. Indiana Fever: Paris Kea (G) — UNC

26. New York Liberty: Megan Huff (F) — Utah

27. Chicago Sky: Maria Conde (F) — Spain

28. Indiana Fever: Caliya Robinson (F) — Georgia

29. Dallas Wings: Morgan Bertsch (F) — UC-Davis

30. Minnesota Lynx: Kenisha Bell (G) — Minnesota

31. L.A. Sparks: Angela Salvadores (G) — Spain

32. Phoenix Mercury: Arica Carter (G) — Louisville

33. Connecticut Sun: Regan Magarity (F) — Virginia Tech

34. Mystics: Sam Fuehring (F) — Louisville

35. Dream: Li Yueru (C) — China

36. Storm: Macy Miller (G) — South Dakota State

RELATED: Top WNBA Draft Prospect Sabrina Ionescu Announces Return to Oregon

The post 2019 WNBA Draft Picks: Complete Results 📈 appeared first on SLAM.

Now in its 14th year, the Jordan Brand Classic will return to Brooklyn, N.Y., in April with games showcasing the top boys, girls and international basketball players. For the third consecutive year, Barclays Center will host the top boys in the nation on Friday, April 17, as part of a quadruple-header event. These future stars follow in the footsteps of some of the greatest in the game, including Jordan Brand athletes Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Jabari Parker. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. EST.

 

The International Game, now in its eighth year, will tip off the event by featuring elite 16-and-under basketball players from around the world at 1:30 p.m. EST.

 

At 3:30 p.m. EST, Maya Moore — Team Jordan athlete, reigning MVP and champion at every level of the game — will host the inaugural competition featuring the best young female basketball players in the country.

 

Local talent will take the floor, at 5:30 p.m., in the annual New York City Regional Game in a City versus Suburbs showdown. The headlining contest featuring the top young male basketball players in the nation will take place at 8 p.m. EST, rounding out a blockbuster day of basketball games.

 

Rosters for the boys’ and girls’ Jordan Brand Classic teams can be found below. The top 26 prospects from across the country are organized into teams based on geography and matchups. The International team will be revealed in late March.

 

2015 JORDAN BRAND NATIONAL BOYS TEAM

 

WEST TEAM

Dwayne Bacon (Mouth of Wilson, VA/FSU), Malik Beasley (Alpharetta, GA/FSU), Antonio Blakeney (Orlando, FL/LSU), Deyonta Davis (Muskegon, MI/Michigan), Tyler Davis (Plano, TX/Texas A&M), Tyler Dorsey (Pasadena, CA/Oregon), Austin Grandstaff (Rockwall, TX/Ohio State), Dedric Lawson (Memphis, TN/Memphis), Malik Newman (Jackson, MS), Ivan Rabb (Oakland, CA), Ben Simmons (Montverde, FL/LSU), Allonzo Trier (Henderson, NV/Arizona), Stephen Zimmerman (Las Vegas, NV)

 

EAST TEAM

Isaiah Briscoe (Roselle, NJ/Kentucky), Jaylen Brown (Marietta, GA), Jalen Brunson (Lincolnshire, IL/Villanova), Thomas Bryant (Huntington, WV), Jalen Coleman (La Porte, IN/Illinois), Eric Davis (Saginaw, MI/Texas), Cheick Diallo (Centereach, NY), Henry Ellenson (Rice Lake, WI/Marquette), Luke Kennard (Franklin, OH/Duke), Skal Labissiere (Memphis, TN/Kentucky), Charles Matthews (Chicago, IL/Kentucky), Malachi Richardson (Trenton, NJ/Syracuse), Caleb Swanigan (Fort Wayne, IN)

 

2015 JORDAN BRAND NATIONAL GIRLS TEAM

 

WEST TEAM

De’Janae Boykin (Springdale, MD/UConn), Taja Cole (Chesterfield, VA/Louisville), Te’a Cooper (Powder Springs, GA/Tennessee), Sophie Cunningham (Columbia, MO/Missouri), Kiah Gillespie (Hartford, CT/Maryland), Jordan Hosey (Manvel, TX/Texas), Kyra Lambert (Schertz, TX/Duke), Beatrice Mompremier (Miami, FL/Baylor), Taylor Murray (Severn, MD/Kentucky), Arike Ogunbowale (Milwaukee, WI/Notre Dame), Katie Lou Samuelson (Santa Ana, CA/UConn), Destinee Walker (Orlando, FL/UNC)

 

EAST TEAM

Kristine Anigwe (Phoenix, AZ/California), Kalani Brown (Slidell, LA/Baylor), Napheesa Collier (St. Louis, MO/UConn), Asia Durr (Atlanta, GA/Louisville), Brianna Fraser (Brooklyn, NY/Maryland), Ashley Hearn (Sachse, TX/UCLA), Lashann Higgs (Round Rock, TX/Texas), Brianna Jones (N. Babylon, NY/Louisville), Marina Mabrey (Manasquan, NJ/Notre Dame), Teniya Page (Chicago Heights, IL/Penn State), Ali Patberg (Columbus, IN/Notre Dame), Stephanie Watts (Matthews, NC/UNC)

The post 2015 Jordan Brand Classic Rosters Revealed appeared first on SLAM.

Exodus NYC is one of New York City’s premiere AAU programs, having produced some of the best female hoop stars the country has seen. The program has been home to many talented female basketball ballers such as Kia Vaughn, Epiphanny Prince and Bria Hartley. The program’s current director is Thomas Davis, who is the cousin of Exodus founder Robert ‘Apache’ Paschall and is also the head coach of the women’s basketball team at ASA College. Exodus has won several AAU championships over the years, most recently winning the Nike Rose Classic (which they are known for winning often). The program has produced 13 McDonald’s All-Americans, 73 Division I athletes, and six WNBA players (three of whom went on to be all-stars). As prominent as the program has become, their start wasn’t so glorious.

The late Robert ‘Apache’ Paschall founded Exodus NYC in 1997 in a time when girls basketball was not nearly as popular and well-known as it is today. There were not that many AAU programs that catered to girls, so Paschall came up with the idea to have a team for underserved young females in his neighborhood. Initially it was conceived as a program for boys, but he opened the door to girls at the request of his sister, Danae, who played on his first girls’ team in 1998.

Paschall came from a place where hardships were the norm: His mother, Elaine Bartlett, spent 16 years in prison for selling cocaine and began her sentence when Paschall was only seven years old. His brother also spent time in prison for dealing drugs. Not wanting his sister to face the same fate, he used Exodus as an outlet for her, as well as other females in the neighborhood.

“He just founded a team with the local girls in the neighborhood that were getting in trouble,” says Davis. “He just tried to figure out a way to keep them off the streets. Honestly, we didn’t think it would turn into this. My cousin—his sister—he just wanted to keep her out of trouble.”

Paschall saw an untimely and unfortunate death in 2012 after succumbing to a heart attack. He was also battling skin cancer. Davis has been director of Exodus ever since, and has continued to keep his cousin’s vision alive. What started as a local backyard team has now become one of the most prominent girls’ basketball programs in the nation. Intended to keep friends and family out of trouble, the program expanded to do the same for girls all over.

Davis and the rest of the Exodus NYC staff do everything they can to create a better opportunity for all of their players away from the court as well. They work as a family unit and make sure no one is left behind. Most of the funds are “home funded;” they do not charge schools for kids and all of their recruiting is straight up and down. The program depends mostly on what the parents of the players can afford, and Davis and the other staff members do what they can to come up with the remaining operating costs. He continues the vision of helping these young girls seek opportunities to take their game to the next level by connecting current Exodus NYC players with alumnae of the program to get a better grasp on things and to hear what comes after from people who’ve gone through the same process.

“They have a ‘big sister’ for each of the kids in the program, where if they can’t talk to the kid everyday, the kid could shoot them a text or an email and just ask them questions about what it feels like to be recruited, how it felt in college and then so forth,” says Davis. “We just thought that’d be something cool for the kids to kind of get an idea of what the next level is from somebody who’s been through what they’ve been going through now.”

As the program grew, so did the opportunities, and that tradition continues till this day. Girls like Marina Mabrey, younger sister of Notre Dame star Michaela Mabrey, have gained their share of notoriety through the Exodus program. Mabrey had the opportunity to play for the U18 USA basketball team, and will be heading to Notre Dame next fall. The program has benefited girls like Lauren Hansen, who is only in the 8th grade and won’t graduate high school until 2019 but has already received offers from Division I collegiate programs. Exodus NYC continues to help young girls get to a level they may not have seen on their own, while keeping the dream of its founder ‘Apache’ Paschall alive.

(Photo Credit: Jeff Chen)

The post Inside Exodus NYC appeared first on SLAM.

This match featured Exodus NYC, led by Marina Mabrey, younger sister of Notre Dame star Michaela Mabrey, who went up against the NJ Sparks. It was a hard fought game between both teams, but it would be Exodus who would emerge victorious, with a final score of 66-63

The Sparks were in control of the game early, taking a 37-33 lead into halftime. Marina Mabrey’s 12 second-half points, however, helped lift Exodus to the victory. Mabrey led all scorers with 22 points, ultimately taking home MVP honors. The youngest Mabrey sister, Dara, also suited up and poured in 4 points for Exodus. Guard Niya Johnson also added in 16 points for Exodus, and Guard Alexia Douglass added an additional 13 points.

The talent was plentiful on the court on Sunday. Marina Mabrey, who was a member of the USA U18 National Team in 2014, has verbally committed to join her older sister at Notre Dame. Guard Niya Johnson will be graduating from Nazareth High School in 2016. Guard Alexia Douglass has committed to Fordham University, and Erica Meyers has committed to Providence.

(Photo Credits: Dorothy Hong / Jeff Cheng)

The post 2014 Nike Rose Classic Championship Recap (PHOTOS) appeared first on SLAM.