-Welcome to the show. -Thank you.
This is so fun, especially having a woman president
-on the show. This is nice. -Oh, gosh.
I hope this is a predictor of the future. Welcome.
-(laughs) Thank you. -(cheering and applause)
I-I don't even know where to start in your world
b-because of how many achievements you just have,
you know, in your résumé.
Let's start with your journey as a player.
-Okay. -You know, you are one of the most accomplished players
that we've ever seen in the game of basketball.
Magic Johnson said that he watches you play, and he goes,
you're one of the smartest players on and off the court.
He actually said you-you... you are like a combination
of Magic Johnson and LeBron James.
I appreciate that.
-That-that is... That is really high praise. -(laughs)
-You've dominated. -(cheering and applause)
You've dominated for such a long time.
What's interesting is your sister
plays in the team with you.
-She does. -She's also amazing.
-Yeah. -And then you have a younger sister
who has been predicted to also be coming into the W...
What are they feeding you in your family?
(laughs) If you must know,
we're Nigerian, so we eat a lot of egusi soup.
Ah, that's what it is.
-Yeah. (laughs) -That's what it is.
But is, like, is there something in your family where, like...
Like, how do you... how do you have
so many great basketball players in the family?
I don't know.
I-I really couldn't tell you.
You know, we just kind of grew up
-knowing what excellence was. -Right.
Um, in our culture, it's just the staple and the standard.
-Yes. -And so, to be honest,
like, if I was playing another sport,
I would have found a way to be excellent in that.
-Right. -And it just so happened that we all play basketball.
Um, but not only that. You know, we had the opportunity
to play basketball at Stanford University
between me and my sister,
and then my youngest two sisters play at Rice.
And it's just in the blood, you know?
-Yeah. -It's interesting that you-you've been playing
for so long, and the WNBA is so young as a league.
So when-when you started off playing,
there wasn't even an idea of a possible future.
I mean, the-the WNBA has been growing exponentially,
but it's still... W-Was that ever an idea?
Did you think, "Oh, I'm gonna be playing professionally"?
Or were you just doing this for fun?
I'm not gonna lie, Trevor. I didn't think
I was gonna play professionally till I was, like,
-halfway through my senior year of college. -Wow.
Um, and I think that is attributed
just to how we were raised but also not being...
Kind of being ignorant to the opportunities
-for women in sports. -Right.
And for me to look back and understand
how much I've grown in my intellect about that
and being able to educate people about that
and also affect change in this current CBA,
I feel like I found my legacy.
-It's kind of cool. Yeah. -That's really amazing.
-(cheering and applause) -That really is amazing.
But the W... the WNBA
is-is truly one of the most interesting stories,
because here you have this league
that keeps on growing year on year.
You know, it does... it does better and better.
It makes more and more money,
and-and yet there are so many complicated stories within it.
You-you have amazing women who are athletes
who play in this league.
Um, most of them, I've-I've heard, have college degrees.
-Almost everyone. -Like-- Almost everyone?
-Yeah, yeah. -That's-that's special on its own.
-That's very special. -You have business owners.
You have entrepreneurs.
But then, because of the pay structures in the league,
most of the women have to go overseas to earn--
and-and correct me if it's wrong--
but more money from other countries playing
-in a basketball league. -We have a 12-month season.
-Right. -And that is to-- That gives us an opportunity
to earn... (quietly): up to ten times more than...
-I'm sorry, what? Up... -Up to ten times more overseas.
What do you mean, up to te-- Up to ten times more where?
Compared to what we make here.
You get paid ten times more outside of America?
There-there are players that do.
Um, and so we wanted to make sure that...
But, like, what c-- which countries are these?
(laughs)
I mean, Russia's one.
-(chuckling) -(gasping) -Wait.
Russia? So Russia is paying
some of the women up to ten times more
-what they make in America? -Yeah. Yes.
-Wow. -Yeah. Yeah.
I-I never thought I would be saying to ladies,
-"Go to Russia." -(laughs)
But-but that's what-- So-so, players in the WNBA
have h-- have had to make this choice,
where it's like you play the entire year
just to basically sustain yourself as a basketball player.
Yeah. And, you know, it kind of was reflected in our CBA now.
We wanted to kind of--
You know, we-we didn't want to make it a-an obligation.
We wanted to create more disparity in the choices.
-Mm-hmm. -Um, so now, with what we hopefully catalyzed
in this current collective bargaining agreement,
there's players that now have opportunities
to not only make more money but to be compensated
in the league market, in the team market,
so that they don't feel like they have to go overseas,
-which also affects motherhood and child planning. -Right.
-Right, right, right. -So, um, now you don't have to decide
"when am I gonna have my kid"
-or "am I scared to tell them that I'm pregnant." -Right.
And those are the types of resources and implications
that we wanted to change at a foundational level
that can hopefully create a much better future
-for women's basketball. Yeah. -That's really amazing.
(cheering and applause)
How did you...
how do you respond to those people who--
some of-- some of which are trolls
but some who maybe, you know, genuinely from their side, say,
-like, "I don't understand why..." -They're all trolls.
-Yeah, they're all trolls? I like that. -Yeah.
You know, some people are like, "Why do WNBA players
"want more money? Like, they don't have as many fans
-as the NBA." -You know, I just don't understand,
um, the ignorance,
because it doesn't make sense.
-Right. -But, at the same time, I think it boils down
to the business being run properly,
which, um, our current commissioner now
is really working hard to fix.
Granted, basketball's basketball.
But the game's different on the women's side,
-and the fans that we do have-- which are a lot. -Mm-hmm.
That is not true. We do have fans.
And I expect everyone here to go to a WNBA game this summer.
-Including you. -(cheering and applause)
-I'm gonna go. I love... -You're gonna go.
-I love watching live basketball. -Okay.
-But we do have fans. -WOMAN: 23 years, we've been going!
(chuckles) You guys go already?
-23 years! -WOMAN 2: 23 years!
-23 years? -Thank you. Thank you.
-Wow! -Thank you.
-(cheering and applause) -Thank you.
Thank you.
So-- I told you we had fans.
-Wow. That's from the beginning. -We have fans.
-That's O.G. fans. -Yeah. So, like, you know,
it's just-- it's not true that we don't have fans.
But the business is different.
You know, we play differently.
-Um, we appeal to a different market. -Mm-hmm.
And we have to tap into that in order for the business
-to thrive. -When-when you look at the journey you've been on,
when you look at the journey the league has been on,
the players have been on,
there's no doubt that the league is growing.
There's no doubt that the league makes more money.
Is-is there an argument of-of chicken and the egg?
You know, like, people go, like, "Oh, maybe if the league
makes more money, then the players can get more money."
But is there also the argument of, "Oh, if you invest more
"in the league, then the league becomes more popular.
If it becomes more popular, it makes more money"?
That is definitely what we're dealing with right now.
And instead of just talking about the chicken or the egg,
bring a chicken that lays an egg, or let an egg crack.
-Like, do something. Don't... -Mm, mm, mm, mm.
-Don't just keep talking about it. -Right.
-Yeah. -So, what's-what's your... what's your goal
and-and your journey now?
Because, I mean, you are a legend
both in and outside of basketball.
Um, you know, you've-you've achieved so many accolades.
Um, where do you... where do you see your journey taking you?
Um, right now, I've... I'm finally grabbing the wheel
-of the car that's taking me to wherever I need to go. -Right.
Um, but, to be honest, I just want to educate more people
about the WNBA, women in sports, empowering women in general.
-Mm-hmm. -Um, especially educating other women
on how to empower women.
We do need allies, of course.
(laughter)
-(laughing): And so... -(applause and cheering)
And so, that's just kind of what I want to do.
I just want to educate people, because
ignorance really eliminates a lot of preconceptions,
-and it changes actions in a very small way. -Mm-hmm. Right.
And I tell everyone, "Okay, if you can't go to a WNBA game,
at least have the TV on and let it contribute to the ratings."
Turn it on if you absolutely have nothing to do.
You can find a game.
It's not impossible to find a game.
Turn it on, watch it.
Follow me now. You know me now.
You know? In whatever way you can.
I know a lot of people probably know
my teammate, Candice Parker. I'm sure you can follow her.
-Right. -Don't just watch her as an analyst. Watch her play.
And if you can't see her, then you can't be her,
and that's what I want to change.
Let's-let's talk a little bit about that.
Because I think one of the... one of the more interesting
and heartbreaking stories is undeniably that
-of Gigi Bryant. -Yeah.
We saw all these images of her, and there were...
there were seldom images of her that didn't involve basketball.
You know, whether it was her playing
in-in... in her dress and in her heels.
You know, that-that... that video that went around.
Whether it was pictures of her practicing with her dad Kobe.
Whether it was images of her at a game staring at you.
You know, almost looking at you like,
"Wow. This is where I dream of being."
There's no denying that Gigi Bryant in many ways
represented the future of what the WNBA could be.
You know, because she was...
She wasn't just playing basketball to play basketball.
She was trying to get somewhere, and that somewhere was the WNBA.
She looked up to you,
she looked up to many other players in the WNBA.
What do you think that's done for the sport,
and what do you hope young girls out there
who are playing right now will have
that your generation doesn't?
You know, losing Gigi, I think, to the world, um,
it exposed people to a lot that they didn't know.
Not just about a young girl
who wanted to aspire to be like her dad,
but a young girl that was moving things for women
without even realizing it.
-She was authentically herself. -Right.
And by her being authentically herself,
um, you know, we saw a living legacy in her.
Uh, not just through her father,
um, but also for women in sports and for the WNBA.
-Right. -When we got to experience her,
we were looking at what we were working for.
You know, we're not just here to make a difference
for the current players, for the rookies coming in.
We're here to make a difference for those girls like Gigi
whose eyes lit up every time that they saw us.
And... that is out there,
and people need to know that that is out there.
-Um, we were tragically alarmed by it. -Mm-hmm.
But it certainly was a wake-up call,
um, and it really hit hard
for the women's basketball community to lose her,
-but we're gonna live in her honor. -(applause, cheering)
I could give you that every single day.
-Congratulations on everything you've done. -Thank you.
-Congratulations on making history. -Thank you. Thank you.
Nneka Ogwumike of the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks, everybody.