Rachel Nichols from Basketball Hall of Fame ft. Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Maya Moore

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hey, Hey, this is Rachel Nichols. Matt and Stack will be right back on the next drop on this feed. But in the meantime, we have something special for you. All the Smokes. Open Run Show was at the Basketball Hall of Fame inductions this past weekend, and we wanted to share some of the fun conversations we had with three of the Hall's newest members, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, and Maya Moore. Enjoy listening to some legends. Carmelo Anthony, Welcome to open Run All the Smoke. We appreciate it. People have been telling you you're a future Hall of Famer for decades now. How surreal does it feel to actually be here?

00:00:39
Speaker 2: It's here now. It's a lot to put into to worry, it's a lot going on right now. So a lot of perspective, a lot of reflection. I'm here, you know. That's That's I'm satisfying.

00:00:54
Speaker 1: I say that, does it finally feel that way?

00:00:57
Speaker 2: It feels It's feel satisfying for sure. I mean, you go through so much, you deal with, you deal with so much, but understanding, like when you deal with journeys and careers, like ups and downs, is part of that for sure.

00:01:10
Speaker 1: This is the time to reflect, look through your whole life as a basketball player. Who made you fall in love with basketball?

00:01:18
Speaker 2: The struggle, The struggle made me fall in love with basketball. I mean my brothers, my brother, my oldest brother, always watching him play. You know, I always love the way that he approached the game. Used to come in the house man, and you know his approach was was different and I love that, and I just fell in love with with with with the basketball. You know, whether it was a basketball, whether it was a baseball, whether it was a football, whatever it was, I just needed to be active.

00:01:47
Speaker 1: Allen Iverson is of course helping to induct you into the hall. I know he was one of your early influences. How much did you try to be like Alan?

00:01:56
Speaker 2: I didn't try to be like him. I just wanted to kind of walk his path because I felt like he he was one of the few guys who understood what I where I was coming from, and what I had to deal with and what I was dealing with. So when you have that and you see somebody that it's like a mirror image. You know, it's like you going through the same thing that they just went through. All over again you have a different connection and then have an opportunity to play and alongside him in Denver. Like, that's what our friendship really tightened up, because now I got a chance to see your influence on me and up close in person. Every single day I get to see how you know again I was tempted. That's basketball royalty. So you get a chance to see basketball or royalty really lock in and prepare for games and prepare for situations basketball alone. What I've learned from him on preparation was his major and then as a friend, as a as a friend, as a brother, somebody who he said, Yeah, man, you know, how could you not have it out there?

00:02:56
Speaker 3: You know what?

00:02:56
Speaker 1: I call him our greatest living American.

00:02:58
Speaker 2: Yes, I agree, I agree.

00:03:01
Speaker 1: And both you and I are both from Maryland and he's from Virginia. So I feel our whole area is.

00:03:05
Speaker 2: Just it's you know, we we working on the DMV thing. We work it or trying to bring it all together.

00:03:10
Speaker 1: It's all in there. You mentioned the Denver Nuggets. Things have been icy between you and that team since you left. That's the nice way to say it. They have not been welcoming of you.

00:03:21
Speaker 3: I got putt of ice.

00:03:24
Speaker 1: But they kind of have made overtures this weekend, they're doing a whole campaign for you, saying congratulations for the Hall of Fame. Did you not know that?

00:03:31
Speaker 2: I didn't know that. I didn't know that. Again, I don't know. I don't know why I got icy. You know what it's again to me, is this this game and this sport. It's a business. And at that point in time, were talking about a kid in his legal twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven years old, still trying to figure out their career, still trying to figure out their way, having some type of way with all of what's going on. It's a little bit of a business acumen when it came to that during that point, and then the lack of you know, information, Now it's when you reflect back on it. I have to like the Denver Nuggets, the city of Denver, like that's where it started to me. They gave me those keys at nineteen years old to say here, do or die? Like you go out there and you figure you figure this out. But you know, my love, I don't know what's out there, what's being said. But I've never spoken ill towards Denver on Denver. My love for Denver will always be it. They will always be part of like that foundation of basketball.

00:04:30
Speaker 1: You've been very complimentary to them. They gave nicolayok at your jersey number. They done it.

00:04:36
Speaker 2: Jersey number first. It's like, get rid of this motherfucket about it here.

00:04:41
Speaker 1: So what does it mean to you that it seems like they are really coming back to you in this.

00:04:46
Speaker 2: Moment patience, timing, maturing, understanding and if they want to have a conversation, we can have a conversation. I just don't know, like talking about going back seventeen years now, like it's what we're going to do.

00:05:05
Speaker 1: Well, they can't reach each other. They can't retire your jersey right now, so maybe maybe that'll come down the road.

00:05:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know, honestly, even even if that's not the case, you know, it's it's my love. Don't waiver for that. I love. Don't waiver for them. What they did? You know to that to me and to that number giving a number away? I mean, of course as an athlete, that's a matter who spend time here that are you going to feel that? You get you get over it. You you understand what's going on your life goes on, things happen, many more games come, family kids like it's it moves on.

00:05:37
Speaker 1: You're getting so much love this weekend. Also from the New York Nexts and their fans. What did it feel like this spring to be in the garden, Just the electricity with the team doing so well and just the people in the stands. I mean, they brought back so many former players, and Spike of course is there and to Shadow.

00:05:54
Speaker 2: May like the new face of the next move over, Spike shallow May got this now. It's a it's a beautiful thing being in the garden when you can really put that once a Nick, always a nick into fruition and you see the people and you see all the players. To me like that's the only organization that's out there that's actually really doing it. Who could pull that off? And it's New York and the guys that come. We all come out to support the Knicks. As long as they continue doing what they doing on they side, we go continue doing what we're doing on the outside. But that's just a different love when you when you went through those locker rooms and you been through that building, and you've been through the highs and the lows, of that building. It's a it's a different connection that you have with I was.

00:06:40
Speaker 1: Looking over your career and the people who have like sort of repped out for you. It is the most impressive list in basketball because it starts with Michael Jordan and you were the first person that he gave the signature shoe line to for Jordan Brand, besides himself of course. And I know that he talked to you over the years and gave you support and also gave you a little tough love. Now and then, what were some of the on both sides, What were some of the things he said to you.

00:07:04
Speaker 2: The tough love was there. I think the tough love was there because he saw what I was, what I had to offer, He saw the potential, He saw a partner. You know, for me to be like you said, the first singasun athlete and Enjodan like, that's a partnership that you have that was created with him. So for me to have that back end and have that support from him, it just meant a lot. When a lot of people went left, he stayed silent. He stayed, you know, with me. He had my back brand wise, company wise, I got him. He's with us and when you have that type of support you wanted, you want so hard to try to just change that for that person. And for me, I had to have to realize that, you know, being young in his lead, trying to find my way, trying to figure it out, wearing a white hat, got the keys to a whole city organization, Like, it's a lot that comes with that.

00:08:03
Speaker 1: What's some of the best advice he gave you over the years?

00:08:07
Speaker 2: Oh, man, you know, he told me one time. Honestly, he told me one time he said, you're the only one that you're the only one that can control you. And when he said down, I'm like, man, you're talking about boy. He's like, no, you're the only one. You control your own destiny, Like don't don't allow other people to put your destiny in their hands. So whatever you do, that's what you're gonna get out of it. And it took me a while to sit back and really processed that and comprehend what the hell he was saying. Again, I was young, but as you get older, you were like, damn that was that was some real good advice right there.

00:08:45
Speaker 1: You also had Kobe Bryant giving you advice throughout your career.

00:08:48
Speaker 2: That was a different type of advice. We'll tell Kobe advice all the time. Was he would watch games and he was He would just call me after the game and say, why didn't shoot that?

00:09:01
Speaker 1: Of course, Kobe said, why didn't you shoot that?

00:09:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, why didn't shoot that? Why you pass that?

00:09:05
Speaker 4: What?

00:09:05
Speaker 2: What the fuck you doing? Like He's like, that's that's just him, you know what I mean? And those little he didn't he didn't even have to say much. It was just the fact that he was acknowledging, like what you're doing, and the fact that he cared that much to understand or know what I was thinking, what I was doing, and I and then I turned the game when he's doing the same thing, and why you ain't shoot that? Man? You know you know him? So he got different excuses at that point.

00:09:33
Speaker 1: I do, well, I love that all of these people have meant so much throughout your career, and I love that they're all going to sort of be here to celebrate you. Obviously not Kobe, but I love I was gonna say, he's here in spirit. I love that so many people have come to support you, even your old team that maybe I see and it's indicative the ice is thawing, but it's indicative of what you've done and the way you bring people together. And congratulations, appreciate it.

00:10:00
Speaker 3: You've been interview with me since I was eighteen.

00:10:02
Speaker 1: I was going to say, I can chapter and verse every moment of this Hall of Fame career because I was for every step. Dwight Howard Hall of Famer, Double Hall of Famer. You're being inducted two times this weekend, which we'll get to in the moment, but welcome to open run. With all the smoke. We were just talking as you were sitting down. When was the start of me interviewing you.

00:10:22
Speaker 5: Since I was eighteen years old. You have been interviewing me since I was a JIT, and now I'm heading into the Hall of Fame.

00:10:30
Speaker 3: That is crazy. We both still look the.

00:10:32
Speaker 1: Same, We're the same age. Really, it's amazing, same age.

00:10:36
Speaker 3: This is this is incredible, remarkable.

00:10:38
Speaker 1: When you look back through that career, I mean I can think of so many incredible high points, so many points where you were just like, man, this isn't going how I want to. What do you look at as the thing You're most proud.

00:10:48
Speaker 5: Of the fact that I just stayed resilient through it all. You know, a lot of times when situations are you know, storm come come our way, we tend to allow it to deeter our path or stop us from going and getting us to where we want to get to.

00:11:08
Speaker 3: And I don't think it did, you know, And I'm just grateful.

00:11:11
Speaker 5: That, you know, for all the friends and family and the people that are you know, stuck by me and stuck with me through these incredible times.

00:11:20
Speaker 3: To make it to this point is amazing.

00:11:23
Speaker 1: What's been the scariest part of this Hall of Fame career.

00:11:26
Speaker 5: The scariest part was actually after my I want to say, my eighth or ninth eighth season in Orlando, and the doctor actually told me that would be my last year playing basketball. Come on, yeah, that's what I ended up having the back surgery and that would have been my last year. And so, you know, that was probably the most scariest part, is knowing that hearing the doctor say, Dwight, this is it, this is your last time playing. So I'm just so grateful that, you know, I got past that store and we're here today.

00:12:00
Speaker 1: We would have been having a much different conversation.

00:12:02
Speaker 3: We probably wouldn't be here today.

00:12:06
Speaker 1: When you think back over all the people that had influence over you. I know, there's so many people who are just so kind and supportive to you. Who's the player, coach, media member who ray really gave you all the smoke but actually helped you in challenging you, helped you in your career.

00:12:23
Speaker 3: You know, it was so difficult back then.

00:12:26
Speaker 5: But I think when we came into the league, you know, everyone was saying he got to stay off social media when it first came out. You know, don't worry about what people are saying. But I would say, for me, every person that was in the media that I came across, no matter what they said, I still loved them. You know, It's like, why would I get upset? You know, I realized that, hey, they have to do what they have to do to survive, and I'm doing the same thing. And so once I really came to that realization, you know, it was like, it's no, I have no issue with anybody on the media or anybody because what they're doing.

00:13:02
Speaker 3: Is trying to get to the Hall of Fame. We're all trying to make it.

00:13:05
Speaker 5: And I'm just thankful that I had that opportunity to go through those little issues and learn because it's made me who I am today.

00:13:13
Speaker 1: You know, the whole reason I'm on social media at all, have any accounts is because of you, because you sat me down when Twitter started and said, Rach, you gotta do this, you gotta do this.

00:13:21
Speaker 3: Crazy.

00:13:22
Speaker 5: I remember when Twitter was out and I was doing the periscope and we were trying to figure everything out, and people's like, you shouldn't be doing social media, and I'm like, hold up, man, I got to get on it and you didn't know what to do.

00:13:33
Speaker 3: And then now it's like the roles are reversed.

00:13:35
Speaker 5: I'm trying to figure out how to do social media and Twitter and all that stuff, and you the queen of it.

00:13:41
Speaker 1: Twitter didn't even exist anymore. But yeah, no, we got it.

00:13:44
Speaker 2: We got it.

00:13:44
Speaker 1: I'm talking about I forgot.

00:13:46
Speaker 3: I'm old.

00:13:47
Speaker 1: We're talking about people who gave you the smoke or whatever. But you know, your relationship with Kobe is something that I watch go up and down and everything over the years. What was sort of the crux of the moment with you guys where it got really real and how did you go on from there?

00:14:01
Speaker 5: Well, see, I just think that we were in two different parts of our career and you know, at one point, I was just coming off an injury, coming to a new team with a new situation, new franchise, and you know, at that time, you know, I'm like, man, one day, I want to be that franchise player for this team as well. And you know, Kobe's in a position where it's like, hey, this has been my team, you know forever. You ain't finna just take it like that. And I think what he really was wanting from me was to see how bad I really wanted it. And I just think that with the communication, you know, really wasn't there, but I think he saw how bad I wanted it when we came back in twenty twenty and.

00:14:46
Speaker 3: Got the championship.

00:14:47
Speaker 1: As say, I saw some really nice moments between you guys back then that.

00:14:51
Speaker 5: You know, the last time I saw him, he kind of slapped me in the back of my head. It's like pina head and hit me in the back of the head when I was shooting in corner threes and got a picture with my son and him before he passed. So yeah, I wish he would have been here today to receive his Hall of Fame times too exactly as well.

00:15:11
Speaker 3: But I know he's with us in spirit. Yeah.

00:15:15
Speaker 1: The second part of your Hall of Fame induction is because you are also, in addition to being inducted as an individual, you're being inducted as a member of the redeem Team. You were the youngest guy on that team. What was that like with all the luminaries on there that Kobe was of course on that team as well.

00:15:31
Speaker 3: It was like a blur.

00:15:33
Speaker 5: It happened so fast, and looking back on him, like, man, I really didn't understand what I was in here. I am playing with the greatest basketball players, you know, Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd in his prime, Lebron is just getting into the league and start killing people, Carmelo Ballhead, d Wade, Michael red is an All Star, you know, just superstar at this time. So it's like, man, man, I'm nineteen years old, fresh out of high school?

00:16:03
Speaker 2: What is this?

00:16:05
Speaker 5: And you know, that was one of the craziest but most fulfilling experiences of my life being able to be aside greats like Kobe Bryant and Lebron James and win a champion went not a championship.

00:16:19
Speaker 3: But a gold medal.

00:16:20
Speaker 1: We always hear about the scrimmages for Team USA, because sometimes that was more competitive than the actual games. All right, so tell me the Jason Kidds story. Scrimmage. Then he scrimmage with Kobe and go at each other, and there's a couple other ones, him and Lebron. I think at one point Jason was was trying to get the young guys to get a rest to.

00:16:37
Speaker 3: My own world, like literally, like you gotta think wide. I nineteen year old.

00:16:44
Speaker 5: I'm coming from Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, this small school in the center of ben Hill, never been anywhere, and now here it is. I'm playing with all these guys in front of the whole world. I didn't know what I didn't know what was going on. And you know, Chris Bosh, thankful for him and Carlos Boozer. These guys had experienced, you know, on a professional level and all that stuff.

00:17:08
Speaker 3: So I just followed their lead.

00:17:10
Speaker 5: But I was just so grateful to be there and now to be enshrine with these guys.

00:17:15
Speaker 3: It's amazing.

00:17:17
Speaker 1: You were young when you came into the league. You had some habits. Dwight Howard. I remember all the candy, so much candy that I did.

00:17:27
Speaker 2: Used to eat.

00:17:27
Speaker 5: Well, I still do eat candy. You know, it's so crazy. I think it came for my grandfather. You know, he had a candy store and he would always allow us to get as much candy as we wanted. So shout out to Granddaddy Ben being Strobridge. He had the only one of the first stores in Swainsboro, Georgia, and that's where I got my candy addiction from.

00:17:53
Speaker 3: And it went crazy.

00:17:54
Speaker 5: When I got to the NBA, it was like magnified times one hundred.

00:17:59
Speaker 3: And it helped me win games. So shout out to Skittles Starburst. You help me make it to the Hall of Fame. I appreciate this man.

00:18:08
Speaker 1: Had candy everywhere in his car and his locker and his bag. Anyway. All right, so some of the people who were key to your career, I'm thinking about standing Gunny, right, that's.

00:18:19
Speaker 5: The first person that just popped up in my head as soon as you said that. I don't believe that I'll be a Hall of Famer without Staff. What he has meant to me over the years, how he pushed me. Uh, he was the one who pushed me more than anybody. So he wanted me to stay away from like you said, the media and stuff like that.

00:18:41
Speaker 3: But he was on me if I.

00:18:43
Speaker 5: And it didn't take much, you know, And you know, I appreciate the fact that, you know, he gave me room to grow, but he also was on my case heavy, and I appreciate that. And I really appreciate Otis Smith, you know, for Ashley believing in me and drafted me as an eighteen year old kid. So it really started with ODIs Smith when everybody else was going against it and saying, you should get this kid a Mecca OCA for out of college, who's proven he's won and.

00:19:13
Speaker 3: Stuff like that. But Oldis saw something different. So shout out to older Smith.

00:19:18
Speaker 1: What's your relationship with Stan right now?

00:19:20
Speaker 5: Actually, you know, we have a pretty good relationship. Actually, during the playoffs, we were texting a lot and I was telling him how good he was doing on TV.

00:19:30
Speaker 1: Mister media, by the way, now.

00:19:32
Speaker 5: He's actually he's I told him, he's really funny and he's really good at describing the game. And the thing I like about it is because that's how he was with us, and that's how I got really so good at on the defensive end because of how he was very detailed. So shout out to Stan Man, He's doing an awesome job.

00:19:50
Speaker 1: So you reconciled with Kobe, You reconciled with Stan, and now Shaquille and Hill is going to be a fun stage inducting you into the Hall of Fame, which might be the biggest reconciliation of all. I talked to you and him a couple of weeks ago. We were down in I think or Dallas together. How did this come about?

00:20:12
Speaker 5: It was crazy because you know, I don't know how me and him have ever got to this place. And I really I feel like it's all miscommunication and other people outside noise and stuff like that. And I remember doing Carmelo's show seven Brooklyn, seven thirty Brooklyn, and I was like, man, next time I see shack Man, I'm gonna just talk to him wherever I'm at whatever. We just got to talk. Like this is too much. And so when I got inducted into the Magic Hall of Fame, I ended up seeing Shaq at.

00:20:44
Speaker 3: A hookah lounge.

00:20:46
Speaker 1: You just ran into, just.

00:20:48
Speaker 5: Ran into shack out of nowhere, just and I'm like this is crazy. So I'm like, man, I'm finna go talk to him. Yeah, So we get a little room, we sit down and you know, we have a conversation and it got better from there, and I'm just grateful for it because, you know, one, you know, we represent, you know, so much for our people, not just you know, the basketball fans, but people around the world who just have lost hope because of you know, just little petty beefs and stuff like that, and we represent so much more than you know, allowing those little things to affect us. And if we can reconcile, if we could get back on the same page and everybody could do that. You know, we've had I guess there's beef for so many years. But to see now that you know, it's no more than that we can both move together in peace and really fulfill the purpose that we're supposed to together. You know, there's room enough in this world for two superman. So you know, I'm just grateful that he's going to be walking me out and it's a big honor. I remember watching him in eleventh grade in high school when they were playing in the finals against the Sixers, and at that time, I really didn't know who Shaq was until I saw this series and I was like, dang, I'm going to have to be playing against him in a couple of years.

00:22:17
Speaker 3: I'm going to have to lift some weights.

00:22:18
Speaker 5: But I can't wait until now to have him walk me into the Hall of Fame.

00:22:25
Speaker 3: Thank you.

00:22:26
Speaker 1: He told me a couple of weeks ago, he was proud of you. What does what does that hear? What does that say? What does it make you feel when you hear that?

00:22:32
Speaker 6: You want to tell you, Rachel, I'm really proud of them. He's done an amazing job. He didn't allow anything that I said to deter him office his path. He's made it to the Hall of Fame. Now he can be in that G fourteen classifying conversation that he's always wanted to be in.

00:22:51
Speaker 3: I'm proud of him.

00:22:52
Speaker 2: Very good.

00:22:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, can I get your stand in personation?

00:23:00
Speaker 7: I knew it.

00:23:01
Speaker 4: I knew it soon as I got to be your coach. I saw you dunk that ball. I saw you run up and grab the rim and block those shots. I said, we're going far, and then you cut me off the white I was so mad. I was mad, But it's okay because I still love Joey ass boy. I love you to death. I don't know what it is about you, boy, but I love you and congratulations.

00:23:26
Speaker 7: Man, Will you.

00:23:28
Speaker 1: Do me a favor, with our friendship being as long and as many decades since it's been, do not impersonate me.

00:23:34
Speaker 2: I'm gonna leave you alone.

00:23:36
Speaker 5: I'm gonna just stick to you know, the stay in the shack and Charles sometimes.

00:23:40
Speaker 3: But yeah, I won't. I won't mess with you like.

00:23:43
Speaker 1: That for you just sort of reaching this moment. I know it's not the end you've been. You know, in the Big Three this past season, I watched you close up just really grow with that. What does it mean to you to still be playing basketball? But overseas and.

00:24:01
Speaker 3: Three I enjoy it.

00:24:03
Speaker 5: You know, it's an opportunity to continue to grow the game of basketball. It's an opportunity to give fans a chance who maybe didn't get a chance to see me at a younger age see me now play. But also the Big Three has and what ice Cube has done over the last eight nine years has really given guys an opportunity to continue to live out their dream of playing basketball and play.

00:24:31
Speaker 3: On a high level.

00:24:33
Speaker 5: You know, it's so much fun going into these different cities, playing in front of new fans. You know, playing three on three is a whole different vibe. So I'm looking forward to next year. I'm looking forward to actually doing some ice Cube movies. I love seeing ice Cube on the sideline saying hey, hey, hey, but it's so fun. It's so much fun.

00:24:52
Speaker 3: I love it.

00:24:53
Speaker 1: I'm adding Cube to your impersonation list again. Please here. Congratulations Dwight Howard, thank you so much. Congratulations Via Maura making the Hall of Fame. Welcome to open run with all the smoke, Let's just go back to the beginning. Who did you watch that made you really fall in love with basketball?

00:25:16
Speaker 7: Got to be the Houston comments. Cynthi Cooper, Cheryl Swoons, Tina Thompson, and Jeanette Arkane raised the roof all the hype like that just I fell in love back in those late nineties early two thousands.

00:25:27
Speaker 1: How did that team was just so electric? How did they make you sort of feel what was possible?

00:25:32
Speaker 3: You know?

00:25:32
Speaker 7: I think it was actually one of those things where I was unconsciously become like I wasn't conscious that what was happening in my mind and how I saw myself. It was just a natural thing of like, oh, they're doing it, so I can do it. And I just kept playing the game because I loved it, and one door led to another, and I looked up and I was getting the opportunities to become one of those players one day.

00:25:58
Speaker 1: You were getting the opportunities to multiple finals, multiple MVPs. Well, what's the moment in your basketball journey that you look back on and you think, I am really proud of that, man.

00:26:11
Speaker 7: I would probably say, I mean, obviously just twenty sixteen when we started to use our voice and to speak out as human beings, right, Like, I think that's the best part of sports, is when you are in a situation where you're appreciating the talent, but you're also remembering their humanity and our humanity. So that's really been I think my most proud aspect of being on a stage or on a platform is to use my voice on my platform to remind us all, Hey, we're human beings and we got to be better to each other. So I was really proud of the way we didn't just be machines and just go out and shoot, but we actually protected our humanity and encourage other people to do the same, because at the end of the day, that's the greatest championship is being the best human being we can our communities.

00:27:01
Speaker 1: I was going to ask you what's the scariest moment of your basketball career, but you may be the same thing. I don't know, you tell me.

00:27:06
Speaker 7: I mean, that was a scary moment of like, hey, we're gonna throw a big old wrench in the wheel that just keeps going around and around and around to say, hey, we're humans and we're sad and we're hurting, and we want to help stop the suffering. So that was a scary moment. It was also scary when I walked away from the game in twenty eighteen that was my last year and going into the unknown of trying to follow this purposeful path that I felt like I needed to go on. So that was pretty scary, but it worked out.

00:27:36
Speaker 1: When you look back on that decision, are you completely happy with it? Do you think what if? How do you feel about it now?

00:27:42
Speaker 7: I'm super proud. I'm a really thoughtful person. Like I try to, I almost I would err on the side of overthinking things, and so I'm really proud of the thought and the time and the wisdom that I sought in every move that I made. Because I really do value my Minnesota family, the WNBA basketball family. So to walk away from something like that, I wanted to make sure that it was for good reasons and being very thoughtful. So I have no regrets.

00:28:07
Speaker 1: I mean, it's pretty incredible. You walked away literally at the height of your power, and you're still here in the Hall of Fame. They're like, oh, yeah, just a portion of a career is good enough with maya more. How proud are you of that?

00:28:18
Speaker 7: Yeah, super proud And honestly, my biggest secret, which should be out by now, is that I was on the best teams. Like I got drafted to the Links right, to Simona Augustus, to Lindsay Whalen, to Rebecca Brunson. That's not normal, right, So the success that I had early was so much because of what I couldn't control, which was being drafted to a championship ready team that was just struggling with injuries the year before and just kind of barely missing it. So USA basketball playing with legends right, going overseas and just grinding and getting championships over there. So I'm just super grateful going to Connecticut right playing with other greats and cultures that I just added too. So I'm standing here very appropriately next to like cyl and Sue, who were other superstars that I got to play with and went with.

00:29:06
Speaker 1: You got in particular, it's not a like babyish environment. They're not sitting around telling you how great you are. Was there a coach that coach, or a player, a fellow player or media member or someone who you had all that smoke with but actually made you better?

00:29:20
Speaker 2: Hmmm?

00:29:22
Speaker 7: I mean, like you said, obviously Gino was going to push every button that he could possibly find. You know, I think our assistant coaches did a good job of also like challenging me, but supporting me, knowing how much pressure I put on myself because I'm somebody who leads the charge and putting the pressure on and so I think actually my coaches sometimes had to be the ones that remind me, hey, it's okay, like you can pull back some or don't put so much pressure on yourself. As a young person I was, I was just putting a lot of pressure on myself to be great.

00:29:52
Speaker 1: But you had to smoke with you.

00:29:53
Speaker 7: I had to smoke with me. Yeah, I mean that's I guess, that's what I'm saying. And it's a lot of self pressure or that I had to learn how to balance, and our coaches and my teammates, you know, helped me and have my back. Yeah, for sure.

00:30:06
Speaker 1: It's funny hearing you say, oh, you grew up watching Cynthia Cooper and the Rockets, because Paige Becker's talks about she grew up in Minnesota and she watched you and idolized you and that's why she went to Yukon. Do you see any of yourself in her game or her personality or her swagger?

00:30:22
Speaker 7: I mean, kind of the selfless superstar that Yukon puts out right, like that is just something that has to be It has to be in you. But it's also cultivated at Yukon because like you, like we talked about, when you're at Yukon, you're not going there to get kissed up too. You know, you are going to get pushed and you're gonna get told about yourself. So I think there's a humility that comes out of playing for a program like Yukon. And she just wants to win. She just wants to help her team win, right Like I didn't care who got the credit whatever, I just wanted to help my team win. And she has that same that same mindset, but I don't. I'd say she had even more poised than I had as a younger player, Like she's so poised when she's out there, you know I had. I had a I think, a kind of a grit and a look in my eye that's kind of hard to imitate that. There's just an intensity that I brought from day one at Yukon. But I just love to see that culture in that that way of leadership still still thriving.

00:31:24
Speaker 1: When you look when you look at where women's basketball is, where the w in particular is, do you think, oh man, look at how far we've come, or do you think, oh man, these people have no idea how much further we can go.

00:31:37
Speaker 7: It's kind of I'm kind of torn right now because there's always this pressure in the US marketplace to make people products sure, and I am like the opposite of that, right Like, that's like the opposite of what I stand for of wanting to humanize everybody. So I do appreciate, obviously players getting paid more their value, but I also don't want it to be at the expense of their humanity. So I kind of have mixed feelings of like, hey, let's make sure we're staying, you know, true to our humanity right, which I appreciate players having voices right, getting to speak and be seen and to show who they are. And w BA players I think are very community minded just in general. So I love that. But we just we got to be careful to make sure that we stay true to being human as we are on these stages.

00:32:27
Speaker 1: Love that you left the game to become an advocate for social justice causes. How have you redefined success?

00:32:33
Speaker 7: M success? It's a great question.

00:32:38
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:32:38
Speaker 7: I think success, just in our shallow attempts at trying to find significance, can be connected to numbers and money and status and appearance and who you know, and you know those things are what they are. But I've just learned that life is so much about the quality of your relationships. A relationship with your creator, relationship with people, a relationship with creation and nature, like all these things we were meant to have healthy relationships with. If those things are off, your life ain't gonna work like It's just you're not gonna be as happy. And so stepping away from the game has allowed me to nurture more of those relationships and it's ongoing, right, I'm not perfect. I'm still in progress and in process. But that's how I'm defining sus. The success these days is how can I bring some more peace to some of these relationships today and gives me a lot of joy and satisfaction at night, even though no one may may see it.

00:33:41
Speaker 1: You always had such a three sixty approach to the game and the people you were with. You were one of the players I brought up to my daughters all the time about this is who you should be. Like, what do you tell young women now when they come to you and they want advice? Who are young basketball players or just in the world.

00:33:55
Speaker 7: Yeah, advice build your team, like you got to have people around you that you know look out for you as a person, but also take time to check in with yourself. I think we can move so fast and get caught up in things that are so quick, Like, don't shy away from the things that are going to take time. Things take time, and that's okay. Like the best things in life have to be seasoned and grown and worked out. Like you're not gonna have everything right now. Don't be afraid to wait and to go through your process. It's not it's not all or nothing. Every decision isn't going to be the biggest decision of your life. And so I think when we're young sometimes we just get so anxious and feel pressured to have to make quick decisions and fast things. But just slow down, have a wise counsel around you. Get connected with people who've gone before you. That was my secret. I hung out with vets like I just followed them around. Can I eat with you, like tell me about this? Or watching them? Remember watching Sue when I was a baby on the team and see how she took care of her body and just wanted to imitate that or a care of losson and yeah, surround yourself with people who are ahead of you on the journey and do your best to learn and to listen and it's okay to be on a journey.

00:35:17
Speaker 1: Well, clearly it worked. Hall of Famer congratulations, Thank you so so much,