Transcript (en)

Sophie, for you, you've been in the league for a while, seen a lot of changes when it comes to commissioner, you know, league pay, things like that. With a new commissioner coming in, what things do you think that person, whoever it may be, should prioritize for players and things like that? Well, I have a new podcast and I already hit on this for about an hour, so if you want to know my real answer, you can go watch it. But truly, I think that WNBA has always been a place for people to feel safe and comfortable. I think there's all types of walks in this organization or in this league, which I think is absolutely awesome. But I do think with that you need someone who's going to unite everybody because it can be so different But that doesn't mean it's a bad thing. I think it makes it a lot of fun. You continue to have a growth mindset and See other people's walks of life and really get to know why they are the way they are And I think that's truly fun like you are playing the best basketball You're in the best league in the entire world yet You're getting to learn so much about who you are as a human how other people are as a human But with all that with all the diversity You do need someone who's gonna unite our league and have a common goal and get us all on the same page I think that's super important. My second thing is I really do think that you need a commissioner who is players first, who wants a relationship with their players. I think that's so important. That doesn't mean we're always going to get along. We're always going to agree. They have a job. They work for the owners. And so they're going to have to make hard decisions. But if you have that open line of communication, that respect level, I think that it just feels different. So I think that is a very important piece for our new commissioner. Do you have any people in line yourself? I don't know. Your opinion is . I have no one. I have talked to Adam Silver a couple times, and I think he's a great guy. He was very knowledgeable and full of wisdom. And so just getting to talk to him and hear his perspective of how he you know first as the NBA is huge who he kind of looking for I think if you want to reel the no answers you go to him But I think he going to put someone in place who really wants to you know even take our league to another level that it's already at. Our league is booming, so why would we not want someone who's going to try to make it even more booming? And I think he's going to do that, so I'm super excited of that surge and who he's going to bring in for us women. Did he seek you out for your opinion? Did you seek him out? How did that come to that? I just thought my agents are good friends with him. And, you know, he just reached out. And like I said, I hope to keep in close communication with him. I think he's great to know for business, for after basketball, just opportunities there. I truly think the business side of sport is super fun and cool, and maybe I'll get into that when I'm done playing. But any time that you can talk to Adam Silver or anyone who's a part of any commissioner, I don't know, type platform, why would you not take that and kind of pick their brain? Is there, from a business standpoint, as a player, keep ramping up games, would you want less back-to-backs? Are there any other concessions you think of of this is how we protect our league as we continue to expand our league? Yeah, I think that's a more complex question. I don't think anyone wants back-to-backs. I don't even know if the league wants back-to-backs. You're trying to put the best product out on the floor every given night. I know the NBA doesn't like back-to-backs, but when you get paid as much as they do, as much as we do, you are expected to play more games. And I think that some of the players didn't like that, but I'm like, hey, that's part of it. If you're going to pay more, you've got to put more product out on the board. And so you're going to have back-to-backs, and that's just what it means to be a pro. And so, of course, you don't want that, and maybe they can schedule our games a little bit different, maybe not so many longer breaks for teams. But at the end of the day, you know that season is a grind. It's part of it. And so you've got to soak that up. And truly, in the offseason, you miss that. You miss that grind. So don't take it for granted when you're in it.