Tag: Lisa Leslie

Lisa Leslie discusses her bond with Kobe Bryant, JuJu Watkins’ ceiling

Lisa Leslie talked about JuJu Watkins and a lot more with Draymond Green.

Former USC Trojan legend Lisa Leslie watched JuJu Watkins and USC make the Elite Eight for the first time since 1994, when Leslie starred for the Women of Troy. Leslie recently joined ‘The Draymond Green Show’ to discuss a number of topics. Among them: how defense is like a relationship, growing up in Compton (California), how to grow the WNBA, and talking shop with Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.

Leslie also reflected on the Los Angeles Sparks not wanting her to talk to the team in a specific situation; JuJu Watkins’ incredible freshman season at USC; being a star in Los Angeles at the same time as Shaq and Kobe; and Caitlin Clark of Iowa. There’s plenty to consider in this show, a timely listen as the women’s college basketball season comes to an end with Clark and Iowa facing unbeaten South Carolina for the national title on Sunday. Follow Hawkeyes Wire for more coverage of that game.

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Q&A: Atlanta Dream guard Haley Jones tried to build a WNBA Mt. Rushmore and it was so hard

“I’m stressed out over here! I’m getting a new pimple!”

Haley Jones is just a California girl with Atlanta dreams. Yet, her vision for her career extends beyond the court and into girls’ lives everywhere.

During her college career at Stanford, Jones was an AP All-American and Pac-12 Co-Player of the Year and also won a national championship. In 2023, she was drafted by the Atlanta Dream, where she thrived and walked away with WNBA All-Rookie Team honors. Now, she’s hoping to build upon her success and share her passion for basketball with other young players.

In celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, the WNBA and VOICEINSPORT (VIS) are partnering with the WNBA Changemaker Collective to engage and unlock services to over 50,000 girls via VIS’s platform. Jones and 11 other WNBA players have signed on to become VIS mentors, something she says she wished she had as a young athlete.

“It would have meant a lot because the W was very young when I was growing up, and social media wasn’t as big back then,” she told For The Win in a recent interview. “So, I didn’t have those role models, and I feel like nowadays, kids can connect to us through Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, whatever it may be. It would have meant the world to have that one-on-one connection or feel like you really know your favorite athletes and people who look like you.”

Ahead of the 2024 WNBA season, Jones spoke with For the Win about what she would have changed from her first season in the league, why having new teammate Jordin Canada guard her was annoying, and why it stresses her out to pick just four players to be on her WNBA Mount Rushmore of greats.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Hannah Hidalgo is USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year

Congrats, Hannah!

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] only has played college basketball for a month, but the Notre Dame freshman phenom already is making an impact. She’s the nation’s leader in steals (6.0 a game) and one of its top scorers (23.6 points a game). But that doesn’t begin to describe what she’s done overall this year.

Hidalgo has won the prestigious USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year award for how well she did in international play this season. During the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup, she averaged 10.7 points and 5.4 assists a game to help the U.S. win the gold medal. Joni Taylor, her coach from that tournament, said it best:

“Hannah Hidalgo is a name you will not forget.”

In winning this award, Hidalgo is joining elite company in more ways than one. She is only the fourth player to win it before beginning her collegiate career, joining Paige Bueckers, Brianna Stewart and Janelle Bailey.

Many women’s basketball legends, some of which remain active and others are enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame, have won this award since it was first given out in 1980. These include Diana Taurasi, Teresa Edwards, Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley, Cheryl Miller, Katrina McClain, A’ja Wilson, Maya Moore, Tina Charles, Katie Smith, Natalie Williams, Ruthie Bolton, Chamique Holdsclaw, Seimone Augustus and Lynette Woodard.

If that list is any indication, Hidalgo is on her way to becoming not only an Irish legend but a legend of the sport. It probably wouldn’t surprise her either because she indicated such when Fighting Irish Wire asked her about it after the Irish’s win over Lafayette:

“No, I’m not surprised at all. I think I know what God has blessed me with, and so, it’s a lot easier when I have teammates like the ones that I do. That makes the game just so much easier.”

Here’s to the latest of what should be many more honors for someone who’s just getting started.

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It took JuJu Watkins just six games to set a USC freshman record

JuJu Watkins keeps raising the bar and doing incredible things at USC.

JuJu Watkins is calling to mind one of the greatest quotes in the history of golf. Early 20th-century golf icon Bobby Jones, the man who created The Masters golf tournament and is easily one of the five most influential figures in the history of the sport, watched a young man named Jack Nicklaus burst onto the scene in the 1960s. Jones saw Nicklaus dominate golf, taking the baton from Arnold Palmer as the elite golfer of his time.

Jones remarked about Nicklaus, “He plays a game with which I am not familiar.” It remains a memorable and striking quote nearly 60 years after it was first uttered, mostly because the quote forces people to stop and contemplate it.

Jones didn’t directly say, “Jack Nicklaus is a walking god and the best I have ever seen at golf.” The quote is more subtle but carries that same weight and respect. Jones was saying that Nicklaus had completely transformed and reinvented the sport, doing things previous generations had never done or even thought about.

That is basically what JuJu Watkins is doing in women’s college basketball, and what she is doing at USC basketball in particular.

Lisa Leslie — the person who could be compared to Bobby Jones in this story — is an all-time USC basketball legend and a women’s basketball icon. She scored 30 or more points in three games as a USC freshman in the 1990-1991 college basketball season.

JuJu Watkins, in a span of just six games as a USC freshman, has already topped that number with four 30-point (or more) games.

JuJu Watkins really is playing a game with which we are not familiar.

The amazing thing is that this is just the beginning. We could have three more years of this at USC.

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History on This Day: WNBA played its first regular-season games

On this day in 1997, the WNBA played its first regular-season games with three matchups taking place.

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On this day in 1997, the WNBA, the new women’s professional basketball league, played its first regular-season games with three matchups taking place.

In the first game, the New York Liberty defeated the Los Angeles Sparks at the Forum, 67-57. Future Hall of Famers Rebecca Lobo and Teresa Weatherspoon led the Liberty in the victory while Lisa Leslie paced the Sparks with 16 points.

Following the inaugural game between the Liberty and Sparks, the Houston Comets defeated the Cleveland Rockers while the Sacramento Monarchs beat the Utah Starzz. Of the six teams that played, only the Liberty and Sparks currently remain in the WNBA.

Over 20 years since the inception of the WNBA, the league has continued to grow in popularity, culminating in a historic new Collective Bargaining Agreement set to begin this season. The league has seen record attendance and viewership numbers and is becoming more popular than ever.

The WNBA announced this week its plans to begin the 2020 season with a 22-game schedule set to tipoff in July without the presence of fans at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. The 2020 season will be the shortest in WNBA history, though players will receive their full pay.

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