Satou Sabally knew. 

Even before this season officially began, the 25-year-old Dallas Wings forward knew. She could feel it. She had worked for it.

In fact, shortly after new head coach Latricia Trammell arrived, Sabally shared it with her.

“I remember when I first was hired and was talking to her, she said, This is my year,” Trammell recalled. “And she’s kept that same mindset. She’s a determined young lady. She’s a competitor. I’m so very proud of her. “She’s taken the excuse away from everyone else not to join that bandwagon.”

By the way, the line for that bandwagon forms to the right and is already several miles long. And with good reason. 

Sabally, the Wings No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft, is finally fully healthy and enjoying her best season in the League. So far, the “Unicorn,” named so due to her unique playing skills and versatility, became the first player in Wings/Shock franchise history and the eighth in WNBA history to record seven straight double-doubles in a single season.

“I’m just focusing on being dominant, and this is a way to be dominant. It’s a way to show that I’m more than just an offensive player and the other things that come with it,” Sabally says. “Just continuously wanting to be better. Obviously I am a scorer and I’m also a defender this year which has been nice, and I feel it has given me some type of control of the game without having to rely on if my shot falls or not. So that has been really good.”

Sabally leads the League in rebounds per at 11 and is fourth in the League and second on the team in scoring at 20.9 ppg. She also ranks second on the team in steals (1.5 per).

In June, she earned her first career WNBA Player of the Week honor after leading the Wings to two wins over the course of three games, averaging 19.3 points and a League-leading 12.3 rebounds. And she was named an All-Star for the second time—but this time as a starter.

At 6-4, she’s an imposing figure with the look and feel of a center. She impacts the game the moment she steps on the court—scoring, defending multiple positions, passing, rebounding and shooting threes. Teams double-team her instantly and often resort to physicality to try and stop her. But never fear—she returns it decidedly, as a recent game against the Phoenix Mercury shows, when Sabally ended up with a bloody face and still continued to play.

But there’s no pity party here. Sabally’s on top of the world right now, playing the game she adores, on a team with teammates she loves. She’s controlling the game, controlling the pace, helping the team win and—most importantly—she’s healthy and having fun.

“Staying healthy is something you can control to some extent. I haven’t been able to control some things in the past, but I’m healthy now. I’m in a good spiritual mindset as well,” she says. “I am just having fun and not letting myself get into a state of ever not believing in myself. I just completed a chapter that has been really hard, but I learned from it and I’m moving on.” 

It was a chapter that included battling back from multiple injuries that threatened to derail her young WNBA career and left her in a dark emotional state, taking the joy out of her passion.

“After last year, it was really, really hard for me emotionally. I didn’t want to touch a basketball. I associated basketball with pain,” Sabally says. “It was a really sad thing, and I promised myself to never have to go through that again. 

“Athletes learn to play through pain, but I pushed that line and I didn’t see joy in basketball anymore. But I think it was good—it was a moment for me to realize that this is where I never want to be again, and I will always protect my body. I do know this is my destiny and my purpose, and I knew the whole time I just needed a short break and [I’d] be back.”

So she set about getting her body back in shape through strength training, rehab and practice. And as she’s done the past couple of years, Sabally also played overseas, viewing it as a “training camp” for the WNBA season.

“I do think that that experience, especially this year going from January to April, is important. I was on a mission,” she says. “I wanted to win the EuroLeague and I wanted to enter the WNBA season in my prime form, and that is what I worked toward.”

She was successful in both. Her Fenerbahce Alagoz Holding squad won EuroLeague and the Turkish League championship this year, and her WNBA season is speaking for itself. 

“I just tried to get my body to where I could step onto a basketball court and feel good. I started shooting, and I had joy because I didn’t have to think about everything,” she says. “I just gave my body time, and that’s the hardest thing to do as an athlete, but you have to.” 

Sabally, who often arrives to practice up to four hours early, is also adhering to a structured daily schedule that includes lifting weights, doing yoga and pilates, and rehabbing. 

As passionate as she is about basketball on the court, Sabally is just as passionate off the court, where she serves as vice president of the WNBPA. “I feel that this is a way to protect players’ rights and ensure we are well taken care of and still in a position to learn,” says Sabally, who previously served on the union’s Social Justice Committee. 

She adds that she’s looking forward to having a seat at the table during the next CBA negotiations and focusing on “ensuring charters for everyone, just protection of players, player comfort” and the W’s policy on prioritization, which affects players who compete overseas and report to training camps late. 

To relax, Sabally sits on her couch, puts up her feet and reads. “I love to read, I am actually reading The Covenant of Water from Oprah’s Book Club. I love Oprah and want to meet her one day.”

She also supports her younger sister Nyara, who was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft and plays for the New York Liberty. Satou considers her greatest achievement being able to play against Nyara when the Wings recently faced the Liberty. They both went to Oregon but never played together due to injuries. The sisters hope to get a chance to play together in the future on the German national team.

Until then, it’s clearly Satou Season in the W. The signs are everywhere. There’s the looming, no-brainer, second All-Star nod; the imposing physicality on the court; the improved defense; the growing chatter around the League that she could be a candidate for both MVP and the Most Improved Player awards; the large smile displaying the faint outline of dimples, and the stylish pre-game outfits. It’s all adding up. 

She was named Finals MVP in the EuroLeague, and she’s looking to do the same in the WNBA.

“Yes, of course,” she says, when asked if an MVP is in her future. “If I don’t get an MVP, I want an MIP. I think that I can be [MVP] one day, and I am definitely working to that point.”

Meanwhile, she is focused on building her legacy (“global greatness,” she calls it), putting together wins with her teammates and staying in her happy zone. 

“I am happiest when I can play basketball and I’m in my zone. When I don’t think about anything else but basketball, I can just flow and be free on the court,” she says. “It’s when I can enjoy my teammates’ success…I’m just really happy how we’re evolving as a team. It’s been so much fun playing, and I really want to get out there and play 100 percent every day. I’ve been really enjoying playing here.”

Sabally—who says the unicorn nickname has been around since her college days—is much more than that now. She’s a unicorn in beast mode. She laughs at that analogy and explains why she’ll always be a unicorn. 

“It’s like a magical creature. I think so many people see a beautiful thing when they see a unicorn, and that is what I want people to feel like when they see me play basketball,” she says. “That is just like, wow, something they haven’t seen before, and I want to give them that.

“I love the unicorn analogy because they are just so pretty; sometimes it has a soft side to it and people do think I’m soft a little bit, then they see me play and it’s surprising.”

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Dallas Wings Satou Sabally Opens Up About Overcoming Injuries and Finding Her Joy Again appeared first on SLAM.

Underrated.

Allisha Gray is—understandably—over the word that has often been used throughout the WNBA to describe her.

“It’s time to get rid of that underrated label. I’m tired of that,” the typically quiet, unassuming Dallas Wings guard laments. “Every year that’s all you hear: Allisha Gray is the most underrated player in the League…She’s so underrated…

“She’s underrated because no one is paying attention to her but she’s doing her thing on the court,” Gray continues. “Allisha’s been underrated her whole six-year career, maybe it’s time to pay attention to her.”

If you do pay attention, what you’ll see is a real life Energizer bunny in braids and goggles (hence the nickname “Goggles Lish”). You’ll witness Gray diving to the floor and tussling with opponents for loose balls; blocking shots with a vengeance; seemingly coming out of nowhere to steal the ball and sprint coast-to-coast, scoring on a layup; passing to an open teammate and playing both ends of the court like it’s an extreme sport. She tops her team in minutes played at over 30 a game and literally goes crazy offensively and defensively, sprinting up and down the court the whole game, scoring on one end then getting back on defense to make sure her opponent doesn’t score.

She’s a crucial member of this young Wings team looking to make a deep playoff run this season. Currently, Gray is the team’s second leading scorer with 14.6 points per game and leads the team in blocks (she’s No. 7 in the League in blocks per game at 1.2 as of June 8). Through the team’s first 11 games of the season, she had two 20-point games, including a season high 24 points in a matchup against the Las Vegas Aces.

The six year WNBA veteran—the League’s 2017 Rookie of the Year and an Olympic Gold medalist (3×3)—impacts the game in ways not revealed on a stat sheet. She’s having a fantastic season, one that could end with her reaching a goal close to her heart: landing a spot on one of the WNBA’s All-Defensive teams.

“I feel I have been under the radar. We all know people pay attention to scoring and not the whole body of work of a player,” Gray says. “People pay attention to the person who puts up 40 points but won’t notice the person who had 5 or 6 steals, 10 rebounds and no points, but impacted the game just as well. I am an all-around player. I do it both on the offense and defensive ends.

“I expect my name to be on one of those defensive teams at the end of the season. I’m playing the best defense of my whole career this season. I guard the best player on the team every night and have to produce on the offensive side as well.”

One person who doesn’t overlook Gray’s game or contributions is Dallas Wings coach Vickie Johnson, who calls Gray “one of the top three two-way players in the League.

“I think now you see her growth on both sides of the basketball; now you see her maturity on the court,” Johnson said. “With her six years in the League, it’s huge now. She understands who she is, she takes pride in guarding the best players on the other team and she doesn’t drop her head.

“I wouldn’t say she’s underrated. I think it’s a matter of her speaking out for herself,” Johnson said. “Like she [Allisha] said, she deserved to be on the All-Defensive team [last year] and that’s huge for her. That’s one of her goals. I think she’ll accomplish that goal this year.”

The 27-year-old soft-spoken Gray won the 2017 national championship in her first season of eligibility at South Carolina under legendary coach Dawn Staley (in a championship game that ironically was played in Dallas). She has never been an attention-seeking person, opting instead to lead by example and allowing her on-court play to tell her story.

But she also understands the importance of advocating for oneself and has finally found strength in not just her game, but in her voice as well.

“I am glad I am now getting the attention I deserve. My dad always told me the squeaky wheel gets the oil, so it’s just like within me,” Gray says. “I’m at a point in my career—in my sixth season—it was just time for me to speak up and let people know I am here and I work hard. You can look at the numbers and I can have 0s all across the board, but I held my opponent to 8 points; well, that’s a win for me because I did my job.”

Her ability to be an effective two-way player lies in her consistency. Now there’s a word she doesn’t mind being associated with.

“Consistency. That’s a trait that many people don’t have. You know what you will get from me every night; you never have to guess what you will get from me in practice, on the court, in the game,” she says. “I feel like I am just that same, consistent player that will give you the same thing every night.

“I’ve always worked on my game to get better. I have been the same consistent player the whole six years in this League. My stats have also increased, especially assists, blocks, steals, rebounds and free-throw percentage,” Gray continues. “Each year I’ve improved my game so, yeah, it’s time to get rid of that underrated title.”

While enjoying another breakout season, Gray is also looking toward the next five-to-10 years on and off the court. On the court she “definitely sees some championships, All-Star appearances and another Gold medal.”

Gray put on a spectacular performance as a member of the US Olympic 3×3 Women’s Basketball Team. They competed in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and went 8-1 en route to earning the first Gold medal in Olympic 3×3 basketball history.

“That Gold medal was a big achievement, representing America, all eyes are on you to compete and win,” Gray says. “The USA has that standard of winning Gold medals—especially on the basketball side. I am glad we won and were the first to do it. We will always go down in history for that.”

However, Gray reveals she has officially retired from 3×3 and has set her sights on a new Olympic goal: becoming a member of the 5×5 USA Women’s National Team. “Hopefully, I pray that I am in Paris [2024 Olympics] to win a Gold medal there.”

Off the court, she is carving out space in the business world as a budding entrepreneur. “One day the ball has to stop bouncing. I’m looking at what’s next,  what other ways can I make money and go into business,” says Gray. Currently she dabbles in crypto-currency investments and runs an RV-rental business with her brother who handles the mechanics, and her boyfriend, who along with Gray handles the bookings and communication with the customers.

“We bought an RV and we just rent it out to people. It’s like an AirBnB on wheels. We deliver it within a 60-mile radius or they come to pick it up [in her hometown of Georgia]; take it for a couple of days or however long they want,” she says. “Business is really booming right now!”

In the meantime, Gray remains focused on the Wings’ season and helping her team make it to a deep postseason run. She starts her mornings getting into a positive frame of mind by listening to gospel music from some of her favorite artists like Rance Allen, Mary Mary and Kirk Franklin.

“It just helps me start my day off in a positive light and just hearing the word of God,” she says. “I just love the positivity that comes from the music.” Gray is also an avid gamer who can be found during her downtime streaming on Twitch and playing Call of Duty Warzone, GTA and more recently FIFA 22.

She remains grounded and mentally strong through constant communication and a closeness with her parents, whom she calls her “real-life heroes.”

“They sacrificed so much for me in life. I am glad I was able to make it to the League to show them that all the sacrifices they made for me paid off,” says Gray, recalling her parents driving her “up and down the road” throughout Georgia when she played AAU basketball.  

“They didn’t complain once about it. They could have been doing something else but they put everything they were doing on hold to help me get where I am today,” she says. “That’s why I am very thankful for my parents. They turn clouds into sunshine; they are my rocks; they mean everything to me. They are my happy place.”

Another happy place for her is the basketball court, where she hopes more people will see her in action.

And that spot on a WNBA All-Defensive team? She’s coming for it.

“I feel like last year I was snubbed honestly, of being on one of those defensive teams, and now I’m putting it out there so people can pay attention early and realize, Yeah, she deserves to be on this defensive team.”

Watch her in action and you’ll probably think so, too.

WSLAM 2 is available now. Get your copy here.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Allisha Gray is Continuing to Transcend Her Game as an All-Around Standout appeared first on SLAM.

A marathon that’s still being run. 

A mountain that’s still being scaled. 

But the grind continues. There’s no turning back now. Too much ground has been covered, and there’s still much more left.

Women basketball players. Women who hoop. Ballers. Athletes on a quest to prove to the world that they are just as skilled, just as competitive, just as worthy of investment as other athletes. There are many who set the table, paved the way and took the hits to make others sit up and take notice. 

Women like Dawn Staley. Long before she started her own dynasty as head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks, she was part of one of the greatest sports dynasties ever: the USA Women’s National Basketball Team.

The team claimed its seventh consecutive gold medal at last summer’s Tokyo Olympics, their 55th consecutive Olympic victory since the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The WNT is a hoops dynasty reigning and holding court for more than 25 years. 

Staley won three Olympic gold medals with Team USA as a player and then another as head coach in 2020. Her literal blood, sweat and tears helped lay the groundwork for today’s athletes. But she wasn’t alone. 

Team USA teammates like Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes were there, too, helping kick down the door and show the competitive nature of female athletes—both on and off the court. 

Swoopes chartered new territory by being the first woman to have a Nike basketball signature shoe, the Air Swoopes, in 1996. The Air Swoopes showed that female ballers could sell athletic footwear, too. She was also the first player to be signed in the WNBA in 1997. The three-time League MVP and Hall of Famer has won three Olympic gold medals and is one of only 11 women basketball players to have won an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA Championship, a FIBA World Cup Gold and a WNBA title. 

Leslie, a three-time WNBA MVP and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner, raised the bar, becoming the first player to dunk in a WNBA game and paving the way years later for Brittney Griner to thrill fans with her own high-flying dunks. Leslie is also charting a new course for female basketball players. In 2019, she joined Ice Cube’s BIG3 professional basketball league and is currently the head coach for the Triplets team, whom she led to the 2019 BIG3 Championship in just her first year at the helm.

Breaking barriers, inspiring generations, silencing the naysayers—in the words from Nike’s 2020 Dream Crazier commercial: “It’s only crazy until you do it.” 

Another early barrier breaker was Tamikia Catchings, one of the most decorated and legendary female basketball players of all time. Catchings won a WNBA championship, regular season MVP, Finals MVP and is a 5x Defensive Player of the Year winner. Add to that four Olympic gold medals, a plethora of other awards and honors and you can see why the Hall of Famer and former president of the Player’s Association is a trailblazing icon for young female athletes everywhere. She’s also helmed a team as both VP of Basketball Operations and General Manager, showing that women are about more than Xs and Os when it comes to sports.

The baton was picked up by future Hall of Famers Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore. Bird, considered to be one of the greatest players in WNBA history, is a four-time WNBA champion with the Seattle Storm. She’s won a historic five Olympic gold medals. With three other athletes, she recently co-founded the digital production platform TOGETHXR, which uplifts women in all sports.

Taurasi, her Olympic teammate, is often called the GOAT of the WNBA. The League’s all-time leading scorer, on June 27, 2021, she became the first player to surpass 9,000 points. Taurasi is one of 11 women to win an Olympic Gold medal, an NCAA Championship, a FIBA World Cup Gold and a WNBA championship.

Moore is a 4x WNBA champion and Olympic gold medalist who is considered one of the greatest winners in women’s basketball history, with championships that span across the League, college and EuroLeague. Off the court, Moore walked the walk by taking a hiatus from the League in 2019 to focus on reform in the American justice system. Before 2020 heightened the country’s concern for social justice, Moore was already at work, helping set the stage for the social and political activism rising among women athletes. Their activism has extended from racial injustice and voting inequalities to rights of LGQBTIA citizens and pay and health inequities.

With examples of the aforementioned and many more, a new generation has arrived on the scene to keep pushing the sport forward. That includes the Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson, the League’s 2020 MVP, who won her first Olympic gold medal last summer in Tokyo. She’s also a key player in the W’s push for social justice and reform as a member of the Social Justice Council and spends time encouraging and uplifting young girls through her foundation, which advocates for bullying prevention and educating about dyslexia.  

Two-time WNBA champion Jewell Loyd of the Seattle Storm, Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier and the Washington Mystics’ Elena Delle Donne are other examples of the newest generation of women basketball players carrying the torch into the future. 

As we honor the past and celebrate the present, let’s take a look to the future of the women’s game. It is indeed bright—almost blinding—as one thinks of what’s on the horizon. There are so many ways in which the women’s game can be brought up to the level of the men’s game, and I’m not talking about the level of play. 

Personally, I see a female head coach of an NBA team, sooner rather than later. Leslie has already proven it can be done on a smaller scale with the BIG3. Why can’t men in the pros listen to, learn from and win championships with a female coach? Also on the horizon, and definitely long overdue, is expansion of the WNBA from 12 teams to more, and what many are advocating for—Summer League and a Developmental League, much like those in the NBA. Twelve teams and 144 spots is simply not enough for all of the talented, athletic women coming out of our country’s high schools and colleges. They need the same opportunities to hone their skills and play alongside some of the best of the best. This can only happen with expansion, investment and commitment on behalf of the League, fans and businesses.

I also see a future where there is equal coverage of the WNBA and NBA drafts. Sports pundits, writers, columnists, photographers of all races and genders will be sent to cover WNBA games as a regular beat, not just for the moment because it’s the “it thing” to do. They’ll be present to capture the WNBA draft as a major event just like the NBA’s. Covering female ballers won’t be an afterthought, it will be a given.

There’ll be more women-owned sports conglomerates like Bird’s TOGETHXR, pushing female athletes, stories, passions and projects forward into the minds and hearts of all. When a new SLAM cover featuring A’ja Wilson or Sabrina Ionescu drops, it’ll go viral, just like a new Kevin Durant cover would.  

I see a future where support—financial and otherwise—will be equal. From facilities to funding to amenities to pay (for the pros), things will be a lot closer to equal than they are now, regardless of the level. It’s all long overdue.  

Nike said as much in its 2020 ad, “One Day We Won’t Need This.”

“One day, we won’t need this day. We won’t need a day to celebrate how far we’ve come. We won’t need a day to prove we’re just as fast or strong or skilled; We won’t need a day to relive the comebacks, the firsts, or the titles we’ve won. We won’t need a day to rally behind the ones fighting to change the rules. One day we won’t need this day at all. Because one day, this day, will be our every day.”  

Let’s make it happen. In fact, let’s just do it.  

The post Women’s Hoops is the Future of the Game appeared first on SLAM.

“It’s dope. It’s amazing in a league where there are so many great players—like, players you’ve seen growing up and watching while in college—to be considered one of the top players for the future, that’s important,” says the 24-year-old Dallas Wings guard.

“I can be the future [of the League] but I am also taking advantage of my time right now and not wasting any time,” she continues. “I want to be one of the top players now and in the future.”

And she’s willing to do whatever it takes to be the best—on and off the basketball court—in everything she does.

WSLAM 1 featuring Arike Ogunbowale, Diamond DeShields and Betnijah Laney is OUT NOW!

Take, for example, a recent toasty 95 degree Sunday afternoon in Dallas. Inside the Singing Hills Recreation Center is Ogunbowale, a mere two weeks after winning WNBA All-Star MVP honors and returning from vacation.

Hair pulled back in a long ponytail and wearing a white Nike headband, she stands with a basketball in the corner of the large, empty gym. She’s there on her off day for a photo shoot for Red Bull.

There’s Arike dribbling the ball with both hands. There’s Arike twirling the ball, first on one hand, then on one finger. There’s Arike shooting the ball and showing off her handles. There’s Arike posing. She’s laughing. She’s smiling, that wide, toothy grin we’ve all grown accustomed to, and chatting with the camera crew.

Dressed in a white T-shirt, blue shorts, black tights, white Nike socks and orange, black and white Nikes, she walks confidently down the gym floor near a basketball hoop. She chats with her trainer, Melvin Sanders of SandersFit Performance Center in downtown Dallas, before he begins passing her the ball. She effortlessly puts up a bucket. Then another. And another. She hits 10 straight before she misses. 

There’s no one there but me, a handful of Red Bull staff, Arike and her trainer. But she’s as focused as if she were in College Park Center where the Wings play their home games. She’s tending to business, but watching her up close and on the court alone, you can see how at one she is with the ball, how shooting baskets is second nature. She’s always working on her craft, always trying to get better, always trying to improve, even taking a photo shoot with seriousness. And it’s this work ethic, grit and determination that has propelled her in just three short years to become one of the unquestioned faces of the WNBA.

You just knew she would be.

You knew it when she led her Notre Dame team to the 2018 National Championship on a last second shot. 

You knew it when she passed fellow Irish alum Skylar Diggins-Smith to become the Notre Dame’s all-time leading scorer. 

You knew it when her name was called at No. 5 overall in the 2019 WNBA draft. 

You just knew the 5-8 walking bucket was going to take the League by storm. And in a way, so did she.

“I have a lot of confidence in myself. So I knew whatever I brought to Dallas, I would help the team for sure. No matter what it was, off the court, on the court,” she shares with WSLAM. “I knew I would help the team however I could and make a name for myself in Dallas.”

And throughout the League. 

And what a name.

She was a unanimous All-Rookie selection and WNBA Rookie of the Year runner-up after finishing third in the League in scoring (19.1 ppg) and leading her team in scoring. With a total of 630 points (third in League history in rookie points), she tied Maya Moore’s record of 30 or more points in four straight games. 

For her sophomore year, Ogunbowale—who admires the game of legends Seimone Augustus, Lisa Leslie, Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi—won the WNBA scoring title (22.8 ppg), recording four 30 point games in back-to-back years.

This year, a few games left in the regular season, she is averaging 18.8 ppg and is on pace to reach career bests in three-point and free-throw shooting. She was also named the All-Star MVP in her first All-Star Gajme after dropping 26 points.

“I want to be one of the top players now and in the future.”

– Arike Ogunbowale

But it’s not just on the court where Arike is making her name known. Recently, she joined some big names, including Kevin Durant, Elena Delle Donne and Kelley O’Hara, as investors in Just Women’s Sports, a growing media platform. 

“As you get more into the League, you want longevity and want to start investing in things,” she says. “What better way to start investing than in women’s sports? I’m involved in women’s sports. It’s what I do. If I have daughters, this is what I want them to do, and I just want to inspire young kids.”

“This is really putting my money where my mouth is, elevating women and all that they do, so why not invest in it and have a part in helping it grow? That was really important to me.” 

Ogunbowale, who’s signed with Nike and most recently partnered with Red Bull, also has her hand in uplifting young people. She recently worked with the Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation to give away clothing and other gear to young girls. 

“I have a lot of things in store. Whatever I am doing, I am definitely trying to make young girls and our community the focal point. That’s what I’m big on.”

Get your copy of the first all-women’s issue of SLAM!

She’s also big on basketball, and getting into the playoffs remains her top priority; something she’s yet to experience after a 10-24 finish her rookie year; 8-14 in the shortened 2020 wubble season, and currently 10-13 this season, one game out of the playoffs.

“I’m good. I’m locked in and getting ready for the second part of the season,” she answers with trademark confidence when asked about her current state of mind. 

And she has to be. 

Although there are other talented veterans on the Wings, including Olympic Gold medalist Allisha Gray, defensive stalwart Kayla Thornton and Isabelle Harrison, it’s Ogunbowale who’s the face of the franchise and the leader of the team. She has been since she was drafted and named starting point guard in the absence of Diggins-Smith. How challenging has it been for her to step into the role of leader and help put the Wings in the best possible position to succeed? 

“I wouldn’t say challenging, it’s just a process, especially with me being young myself,” she explains. “I already had to be more of a leader even in year one when I was starting point guard. I’m not even done with year three and I’m already considered a leader, and that’s just who I am and what I add to this team.

“In order to be a top player, you have to lead as well, so I think I’m growing in that and learning and that’s still a process, too. I’m not the best leader yet,” she admits. “But I’m definitely working at it. And it helps to have teammates and coaches who trust you, trust what you say; believe in you as a leader. That definitely elevates my confidence as well.”

Wings teammates Harrsion and Bella Alarie, who have played alongside Ogunbowale for three and two years respectively, have seen the growth and evolution of their teammate and see no limits on her ascension to the top of the League.

“My favorite thing about Arike is how talented she is, but still has a listening ear,” says Harrison. “Even when she got here her first year, she was our leader. Arike was the person we were going to give the ball to at the end of the game so she stepped up a lot. This is her third year now, I think she is just getting more comfortable in her role as far as being vocal, leading off the court, encouraging  people and holding herself to a standard defensively. She wants to grow. I don’t know if people see that about Arike. She wants to grow and she wants to be better.  

“So any Arike slander, I don’t listen to it. I don’t care who it comes from,” Harrison says laughing, but also very seriously. “That girl wants to be better. And I love that about her. She is just so humble. She is just putting herself on the next level. She can only go up. She is pushing herself to be good.”

Alarie calls Ogunbowale, “a fantastic player, playmaker and extremely confident. And that’s something I look up to her for. She’s not afraid to take those last second shots that make or break the game. I really admire that.”

“The way she’s grown into herself, she’s done a great job of carrying us along with her,” she continues. “I really love playing with her. She brings a great attitude to the court. She plays hard and she is only going to get better.”

One area Ogunbowale is striving to improve upon is reading defensive schemes other teams are throwing at her as they try to make it more difficult for the bucket-getter to score.

“Everyone knows I can score, but every night it’s a different defense. The hardest thing is being able to adjust every game to different defenses because teams throw different things at me,” she says. “Being able to adjust and read the right plays—you know, if I’m getting trapped, I gotta swing it quick—just being able to get up on those things faster.”

There’s no doubt she’ll improve defensively and in any other way she desires. Ogunbowale has that kind of will, dedication and focus—much of which comes from her family, whom she calls the source of her inspiration and motivation and with whom she connects with every day. “My support system is really big and definitely keeps me going.”

What also keeps her going is her competitive nature and her desire to take her team further than they’ve ever gone. 

“I’m locked in. We’ve got some important games. We’ve gotta get these wins in order to make this playoff push. I’m really locked in right now.” 

Go behind the scenes with Diamond, Betnijah and Arike for their WSLAM 1 cover shoot!

Portraits by Raven B. Varona. Follow Ravie B. on Instagram, @ravieb.

Action photos via Getty Images.

The post Arike Ogunbowale Continues Making Her Presence Felt On and Off the Court appeared first on SLAM.

Gabby Williams knows she’s fortunate. As a two-time NCAA champion with UConn and star on the WNBA’s Chicago Sky, she has a public platform to speak out on issues and help bring about real change.

“I’ve always been a very passionate and outspoken person. I think it’s important to use my platform to bring attention to things. That’s just a part of my personality,” she says. “I’m just a very passionate person. I question everything.”

Williams is putting that passion and natural curiosity to good use.

At just 23 years old, Williams—drafted 4th overall by the Sky in the 2018 Draft—is emerging as a star both on the court (she won the Spanish League championship last year) and off the court, speaking out most recently about racial and social justice issues, police brutality and voter rights—causes near and dear to her heart.

“Right now, I’m just trying to stay as involved as best as I can and have my hand in as much as possible,” she says. “I’m doing things like making sure we are putting emphasis on voter rights and making sure no one is disenfranchised. So that’s where my focus is right now.”

When she learned of “More Than A Vote,” the initiative spearheaded by LeBron James and championed by Trae Young, Skylar Diggins-Smith and other prominent Black athletes and entertainers, she was ecstatic.

“That’s exactly what we need,” Williams says of the organization which aims to protect African-Americans’ voting rights. “We took [voting] as a joke back in 2016 and look where we are now as a country. I think people don’t understand the importance of it, but we need to educate people that voting does make a difference. This is the way to make change whether we like it or not.

“People don’t understand we’re not just voting for the president. We’re also voting for our district attorneys, our mayors, our governors, our sheriffs…If we had a different district attorney in Colorado, then Elijah McClain’s case would be opened right now,” she adds, referring to the 23-year-old Black massage therapist from Aurora, CO, who was killed after an encounter with the police while walking home on August 24, 2019.

Williams is also using her WNBA platform to affect social justice change.

“The WNBA is the perfect example of what intersectionality is. We’re dealing with Black issues, female issues, LGBTQIA issues and things like that, so I feel like we’re the most motivated and have the biggest advantage of coming together, especially now that we’re in this bubble,” Williams says of the League’s protected space in Bradenton, FL, where the 2020 season is being played.

“We can mobilize as a unit, as a group and it’s a very, very safe space in the WNBA because we deal with so many different types of discrimination. I think that allows us to bond,” she continues. “Everyone has been discriminated against in some kind of way. I just want to make sure that I am doing my part in educating my teammates and my fellow WNBA players and letting them know we can all help each other out and share our resources.”

Williams, a French-American dual citizen, has plans post-basketball to engage in more activism. She’s currently working on an “ally-ship” program in the League, which will connect players with community organizers in their respective cities, and is also linking with representatives from the Obama Foundation about other future plans.

“I’m just taking advantage of all the resources I have. It’s definitely something I want to do in the future.”

Meanwhile, she’s preparing for the WNBA season, staying positive and hoping for change.

“I think we need to stay motivated as we go through this [social unrest] and not get too defeated, because it is really exhausting and traumatizing to go through this right now. I’m just trying to remain positive and trying to celebrate the victories that we are getting out of this.”

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Dorothy J. Gentry is a contributor to SLAM. Follow her on Twitter @DorothyJGentry.

Photos via Getty.

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