When Cathy Engelbert took over as WNBA commissioner in the middle of the 2019 regular season, she had many immediate responsibilities but one overarching directive: Grow the business of the league.

From her 33 years at Deloitte, including the last four as CEO, Engelbert had acquired the experience to assess the financial viability of a situation and identify the steps necessary to resolving it. In her role with the WNBA, that meant ratifying a landmark collective bargaining agreement in 2020 and, on Thursday, ushering in $75 million in funding, the largest-ever capital raise for a women’s sports property.

The valuation of the raise totals $1 billion, according to sources with knowledge of the transaction.

With the backing of more than two dozen investors, both existing WNBA and NBA owners and new partners, the WNBA aims to generate new revenue and transform the league’s business model entering its 26th season. For Engelbert, it’s the next step toward validating what she set out to achieve in 2019.

“One of the reasons I was hired by Adam [Silver] was to build an economic model that could enhance pay and benefits and everything we did in that CBA,” Engelbert told Just Women’s Sports on Wednesday.

“From my many years in business, in order to grow a business, you need capital. So we’re going to take advantage of the huge momentum from the 2020, 2021 seasons. Although those were very tough seasons from a COVID and fan perspective, there’s huge momentum for women’s sports, and particularly the WNBA leading it.”

The league’s first capital raise is made possible by original supporters like inaugural WNBA Changemaker NIKE Inc., and WNBA owners Ginny Gilder, Ted Leonsis and Joe and Clara Tsai. Engelbert also leveraged her connections to enlist a diverse set of new investors, such as WNBA legend Swin Cash, former NBA stars Pau Gasol and Baron Davis, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, and Linday Henry, CEO of the Boston Globe and owner of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club.

“I’ve been very focused on the fact that women’s sports are very undervalued,” Engelbert said, “and this is a way to bring in capital and outside investors to validate that women’s sports can be supported by a lot of different walks of life.”

Engelbert expects the capital raise to go a long way toward achieving opportunities of growth that might not have been possible before. That includes league expansion, an issue often on the minds of fans, players and coaches as the talent pool continues to outweigh the number of roster spots.

“If we can move faster on transforming the economics of the league and our 12 teams, then we’ll feel comfortable that we have the right model to bring in new teams to thrive and not just survive,” she said. “That’ll definitely open up opportunities for us to move to the next step on expansion.”

In addition to internal growth, the league plans to use the capital for digital and consumer innovation, operational improvements, and brand elevation and player marketing, both domestically and globally. There’s a strong foundation to build on after TV viewership increased by nearly 50 percent during the 2021 regular season. The excitement around this year’s WNBA free agency, Engelbert said, is just another a sign of how much room there is to grow.

It’s not lost on her, either, that the WNBA’s announcement is coming days after the NWSL ratified the first CBA in the league’s 10-year history, introducing higher salaries, guaranteed benefits and a free agency period in professional women’s soccer. As Engelbert enters her third year the helm, she feels the setbacks that the COVID-19 pandemic laid in her path, but also the tangible progress the league has made despite it.

“I think there are some things I would’ve liked to move quicker on, but couldn’t because we couldn’t be in arenas or we couldn’t build fan bases, so I’m very pleased with where we are,” Engelbert said.

“I am a huge believer that a rising tide lifts all boats. When we deploy the capital and see the growth, my hope is this will lift all of women’s sports.”

Hannah Withiam is the Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports. She previously served as an editor at The Athletic and a reporter at the New York Post. Follow her on Twitter @HannahWithiam.

In late August, Anne Lieberman traveled to the Texas State Capitol to testify against HB25, a bill that would ban transgender youth from participating on sports teams that align with their gender identity.

Two months later, despite Lieberman’s and others’ best efforts, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the bill into law, making Texas the 10th state in the United States to pass such legislation. To Lieberman, the Director of Policy and Programs at Athlete Ally, a nonprofit organization dedicated to achieving LGBTQ+ inclusion in sports, the result served as yet another reminder of the work that needs to be done.

Chelsea Wolfe aims to open people’s minds just by being herself. Wolfe, a transgender woman and professional BMX rider, was one of four transgender or non-binary athletes to compete at the Tokyo Olympics this past summer as part of Team USA. Sports have been an outlet for her for as long as she can remember, and the idea of politicians barring children and teenagers from playing the sport they love because of their identities both disgusts and motivates her. As an Athlete Ally ambassador, Wolfe is committed to the fight against these bills and for inclusion.

Ahead of Trans Day of Remembrance on Saturday, Just Women’s Sports sat down with Lieberman and Wolfe to talk about the myths fueling anti-transgender legislation across the country, how women’s sports leagues have led the way in pushing for change and what people can do to get involved and make a difference.

We’ve recently seen a wave of bills passed in state legislatures across the country barring transgender youths from participating in sports based on their gender identity. Anne, you’ve been with Athlete Ally for several years now. What are you and the organization doing to combat these developments?

Anne Lieberman: Since I started with Athlete Ally in 2017, trans and non-binary inclusion has been a big focus of the work because we saw this conversation around trans athletes really start to pick up in 2015, 2016, and then into 2017. We’ve been doing a lot as an organization to fight these bills, but I think our primary area of focus has been working with state-based LGBTQ+ organizations and connecting our athlete ambassadors, like Chelsea, to different opportunities to speak up and out on harmful legislation. That work really ranges from in-person and written testimony at the state level, to events on social media raising awareness, to signing onto amicus briefs.

Then another really big chunk of our work has been educating athletes at all levels of sports on trans and non-binary inclusion. We often just say trans inclusion, and that’s not to leave out non-binary people or non-binary athletes, but it’s really because the primary focus of these absolutely heartbreaking and dangerous bills has been on trans athletes and, specifically, trans kids. At the end of the day, we don’t want to lose sight of the fact that lawmakers are using kids as a political chip, a bargaining tool, to keep kids from playing sports with their friends and to keep trans kids and non-binary kids from being full citizens of this country.

I definitely want to get into how you talk about these issues with athletes across sports. But first, Chelsea, as an Athlete Ally ambassador and a transgender athlete, what has your approach been to opposing these bills?

Chelsea Wolfe: I feel like a lot of the work that I do combating these bills and the rhetoric that is allowing these bills to be pushed through, like it’s some kind of acceptable thing to target children like that, is just trying to exist openly and fully as a trans athlete and doing so visibly to change the narrative. So that people know that trans athletes exist and we’re no different than any other athlete out on the field, and that we deserve the same rights to be there as they do. Part of that also is working with Athlete Ally, connecting me with opportunities to use my voice and speak up, signing the amicus briefs and just being involved in whatever way I can. In addition to using my own social media platforms and connections, I try to just spread the message and let people know that these atrocities are happening and that they need to be speaking up about them.

On that note, I think there are a lot of people out there who read the news and feel like there’s a way they want to get involved to help in this effort but aren’t sure where to start. What would you say to them? What would your advice be?

Wolfe: I would say the best way to start would be to follow trans athletes on social media. There are a number of us out there — myself and Chris Mosier are good places to start. You can connect with other trans athletes; we share each other’s posts to our stories all the time. Most of us are talking and posting about these things frequently, and that will be an easy way to get connected with places where you can use your voice to sign things, speak up, share with your connections and then really look to get involved with organizations like Athlete Ally and get on board with campaigns that they organize.

Lieberman: Yeah, echoing everything Chelsea said. I would also say, I know that it can be really overwhelming to read the news and feel like whatever “small thing” an individual does isn’t going to make a difference, but it absolutely does. Chelsea mentioned Chris Mosier. Chris is somebody who puts out very specific action alerts on every single bill. And Chris is also very keyed into what is happening at the state level, so all of the things Chris puts on social media are in line with what state organizers think is going to be the best thing strategically to kill these bills. It could be calling the governor. It could be trying to contact your friends in that state. So I think sometimes we get overwhelmed with the idea that we have to do the most, when really, if you can commit to one or two concrete actions, it does make a difference.

I think the other thing we can do, in addition to the work on the legislative front, is create or dismantle structures of oppression at every moment in our everyday lives. So if you hear somebody say something transphobic or sexist or racist or whatever, it’s really important to engage with that and say, “You can’t say that around me,” or “What you said is really hurtful and here’s why.” Or if you have a trans friend or a non-binary friend who’s mis-gendered, step in and be an ally to that person and correct the person who mis-gendered them with their correct pronouns. There are the big-picture things, but there are also things that happen in our everyday lives that are really important in terms of each and every one of us creating the world that we want to live in, which is one that respects everyone.

Wolfe: That raises a really good point that, even if your own personal actions aren’t what single-handedly tips the scales in favor of blocking these bills from going through, whether you are vocally against these bills and speaking out in support of trans athletes and specifically trans kids, or whether you are silent and ignoring it, there are trans people and trans kids in your life who will see that. And that is going to make the difference between them knowing that they have someone in the world on their side looking out for them who truly cares about their well-being and feeling like they are alone and defenseless in this world, which is really the goal of these bills. That’s why they target children, because they don’t have as much of an ability to speak up for themselves as adults do and defend themselves. So I think it’s really up to the adults in their lives to take every opportunity that they can to show that they actually care and want to look out for their well-being. Even if you don’t personally stop the bill from going through, at the very least if they see you trying, you may not change the world, but you can change that kid’s life.

Those are such important points, and Chelsea, it’s a perfect segue into your story. You went through your own self-discovery process as a transgender women and have been an athlete your whole life. How have sports helped you on that journey?

Wolfe: It’s honestly hard to even separate the ways that sport has helped me because I obviously participate in sports as myself. And like you mentioned, I’ve spent my entire life involved in sports. So really my development as a person, my ability to meet people and communicate and establish friendships, developing a sense of self, setting goals for myself and learning how to work for them and handling setbacks, all of those skills are things that I’ve developed through my involvement with sports. And if I didn’t have that opportunity, I have no idea where I would have ended up in life.

For athletes who are being barred from sports based on their gender identities because of these bills, how do you think that is affecting them on a personal level?

Wolfe: It’s hard to even think about how that must feel for them, because when I was coming up as a trans youth in sports, the knowledge that trans people even existed wasn’t in the public discourse as much yet. So it wasn’t even necessarily that we were being targeted by attacks; it was more that that was the way of the world as it was structured, to exclude us, and getting through that was hard enough. But trying to learn to grow up in the world and just exist as yourself as you’re being targeted and harassed, by grown adults in government, in positions of power — I can’t imagine how that must feel. And I just hope that these kids all have the support they need to be able to cope with that and we’re able to steer these attacks away from them.

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Athlete Ally's Anne Lieberman testifies against HB25 in Texas. (Courtesy of Athlete Ally)

Have you been able to have conversations with other athletes in your sport — and in other sports — about these issues? How have those gone?

Wolfe: It’s kind of a mixed bag. There have been some people who I am so grateful for the effort and the work that they’ve already put in to help us in this struggle. And then there are other people I’ve talked to, and I could tell that they’re just finally realizing how critical this work is. And then there are others who just don’t seem to care enough, whether or not they actively don’t want trans athletes in sports, or if they just don’t care enough to ensure equal human rights that they’re not getting involved. That has been on occasion. But I feel like part of my responsibility as an athlete in my position is to have those conversations and hopefully steer other athletes to use their platforms for something good, other than just landing another energy drink sponsor, going off to some cool place and having fun with it. We’re in a very unique position where we can use our privileges to influence the world around us. And I think not using that privilege to help others and for good is really falling short on our responsibilities as citizens of the world.

Another big platform, of course, is Athlete Ally, which you both are heavily involved in. Anne, you’ve traveled around the world for your work in sports advocacy. Have there been unique challenges with this particular fight for trans inclusion?

Lieberman: Yeah, I think one of the things that is particularly unique — and really more harrowing — is the way in which kids are being used as a wedge issue and a political bargaining chip. I mean, we are talking about kids who want to play sports with their friends and there’s nothing political about that. So I think we try to bring to the forefront the reality of the situation, which is that all of these conversations are a solution in search of a problem, because there is just absolutely no evidence that trans athletes, and most certainly not trans kids, have or will have ever dominated women’s sports. And I think the other thing that has been surprising and heartbreaking is the number of cis women athletes and people, who I and Athlete Ally as an organization really viewed as champions of LGBTQ+ equity in sports and were so fantastic on so many other issues, who have been incredibly transphobic and narrow-minded about women’s sports.

The more time we spend talking about excluding trans athletes with these anti-trans bills, the less time we actually spend talking about the real documented and rigorously researched challenges to women’s sports from people like the amazing scholars at the Tucker Center and the Women’s Sports Foundation. You can list so many amazing organizations that have done that work. And what we should be focused on are more resources for women’s and girls’ sports programs, even implementation of Title IX, addressing the rampant sexual harassment and abuse that occurs for women and girls growing up in sports. There are so many issues, and the whole conversation and the vitriol that is directed at trans athletes is so misplaced and taking us away from the larger picture about what we love about sports and what we love about women’s sports specifically. And so that has also been a really, really challenging piece of this conversation. I don’t quite understand how we can have two people say, “Sports saved my life. Therefore everyone should have access to sports,” and then, “Sports saved my life. Therefore we should ban trans athletes from sports,” which is literally what happened in Texas when I was testifying. I just don’t understand how we get to two such wildly different conclusions.

I asked before what you would say to people who want to help. But for the people who might be pulled the other way by the negative rhetoric, what are some of the myths you would want to debunk?

Lieberman: I think this idea that there is only one indicator of athleticism and that people assigned male at birth will always be bigger, faster, stronger than people assigned female at birth, it’s just not true. There are so many different factors that go into making a champion athlete and physicality is only a part. We have access to resources, access to good coaching and nutrition, different sports lend themselves to different body types. I’m a Muay Thai fighter and coach, and I use this example a lot: I’m small. I’m 5-2 and I don’t have particularly long limbs. I don’t really have the body for Muay Thai, but I’m gritty and I do it anyway. And there are other things that make me a good athlete and a good fighter, but people who are taller and thinner, can get to a lower weight class and have a better reach often have more tools to work with than I do. That’s just one sports-specific example.

When we look at, for example, world rugby — and world rugby has banned trans women from international competition — part of the conversation was, “OK, trans women who are over this height and this weight … can’t play.” And then you had a whole bunch of wonderful cis woman allies holding up signs saying, “I’m 5-10 and 170 pounds. Should I not play rugby?” So it’s talking about the diversity of bodies, especially with cis women. And we have to look at, if we’re talking about these bills, what is the conversation at hand? And for the most part, we’re not talking about the Olympics. We’re not even talking about college sports. We’re talking about kids who want to play sports with their friends. And so I think, especially for people who are just starting to try to understand this issue, what is the purpose of sport at all levels? And I think we all want kids to have access to all the things Chelsea described: being part of a team, finding oneself, leadership skills, so many things that we find in and through sport.

Wolfe: You touched on a good point about how it’s so odd that some people can get so many other things, but then when it comes to trans inclusion in sports, they just completely about-face and align themselves with the same forms of oppression and tools and bigotry that have been used against them their whole lives. And it strikes me how it’s possible for one person, the same mind, to simultaneously be of the belief that women are strong and capable and can do anything men can do and maybe more, but then when a trans woman does it, it’s like, “Oh wait, but not like that.” It’s called transmisogyny, not because it’s something that is only directed at trans women, but because it affects all women as a form of misogyny. And its reach, its effects and where it derives its power from, is something that inherently harms all women, cis women included.

So, if somebody is trying to say, “Cis women are incapable of being on the same level as trans women,” it’s like, dang, that’s kind of counting yourself out before you even tried, isn’t it? It’s mind-blowing to me that somebody could say that and believe that is something that is empowering for cis women. There’s literally nothing to suggest that there is a difference in performance, but if you’re saying that you don’t even stand a chance competing against trans women, what are you saying over here about how you deserve all the same opportunities and rights as cis men? The beliefs that are co-existing in these people’s minds conflict with each other, and it makes absolutely no sense how they can believe both of those things at the same time. Transmisogyny is just misogyny that’s come out in a different avenue. It is still the exact same belief that women are not capable and are inferior. It’s frankly disgusting and insulting that anyone would even say that, and especially then go turn around and try to say that they’re standing up for women’s rights and call themselves a feminist.

Lieberman: Yeah, exactly that, Chelsea. Essentially what we’re saying is that, if a woman is too good at sports, she can’t actually be a woman and it goes against so much of what we’re all fighting for, which is equity.

Wolfe: Yeah, I see it all the time, too, with some of the cis women who I compete with in my sport. On social media, they’ll post a clip of a new trick they learn and they’ll just get a whole bunch of dudes in there saying that they’re trans and stuff. And it’s like, one, that’s not an insult. But also those guys are saying that you’re performing on a level that we deem too good for what women can accomplish. So we are going to claim that you’re really a man to diminish what your accomplishments really are? It just blows my mind that anyone, and any woman, could ever align themselves with that kind of a person who is actively working to ridicule and minimize women and women’s sports and what we’re capable of.

Across most major sports leagues, we have seen progress in LGBTQ+ acceptance, with athletes coming out publicly as gay and leagues celebrating Pride Month. Why do you think it’s taking longer for trans athletes to be embraced in the same way?

Wolfe: In a word, transphobia. There’s really no other explanation for it. I’ve met plenty of people who claim to be allies to the LGBTQ+ community but really only care about the LGB part of it and think that trans folks and intersex people should be actively excluded from the progress that the LGBTQ+ community has made. And it’s like, the rights that you enjoy today as a gay athlete, as a lesbian athlete, as a biathlete, whatever, those are afforded to you because trans women of color started the Pride movement in order to get us moving in a direction where you even have a right to exist and compete as an athlete. And now to try to turn around and say, “Oh, well, all this progress wasn’t meant for you.” Like, no, this was started by us.

It doesn’t take a whole lot of pattern recognition skills to be able to see it. It’s just really unfortunate that people have that hate in their hearts and they aren’t working to unlearn what has been ingrained into them by societal beliefs. I just really hope that people are realizing they need to be making this effort for transphobia in addition to all the other forms of oppression that they’re unlearning.

Lieberman: I think what we’re seeing in our work with athletes is there are a lot of people, especially cis women athletes, who want to be allies but aren’t sure what to say, and they don’t want to say the wrong thing. They’re worried about being canceled or coming across in a bad way. That’s why a lot of the work we do is to try to prep athletes and give them the skills so that they can really be allies in this fight. And I think we really are seeing a strong uptick in athletes, and specifically cis women, who are signing amicus briefs. Like the one Chelsea mentioned that we released last month, we co-organized it with the Women’s Sports Foundation and Lambda Legal, and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association signed onto the brief, which was huge. They got additional sign-on from WNBA players. We’re seeing people from Candace Parker to Billie Jean King to Megan Rapinoe to Imani Dorsey really take leadership roles.

Some of our best allies in this fight, unsurprisingly, have been Black women. Just like when we look at the beginnings of the [Black Lives Matter movement] in this country, who were the first people to make public statements as athletes? It was a handful of athletes with the Minnesota Lynx and the WNBA, but specifically Black women have led the way on so many social justice issues in sports. I think that is often not given voice to, and I think similarly, in the fight for trans inclusion, Black women’s bodies have been so heavily policed under these very specific ideas of white femininity and athleticism that are upheld in structures of sport all around the globe. And we don’t have time to get into neocolonialism and all those other conversations, but there’s a clear intersection between white supremacy and transphobia because both of those structures support one another. So it’s not surprising that Black women would, yet again, be some of the best allies in this fight and really the most vocal and brave within the athletic community.

That reminds me, I’ve heard multiple athletes say that they don’t even have the option to “stick to sports” because women in sports live at all of these intersectionalities. How have you seen women’s leagues lead the way in this effort?

Lieberman: The WNBA players have gone above and beyond in terms of getting involved in the fight, really lending their voices to different campaigns, speaking on panels. I get really emotional even thinking about it. Like at the drop of a hat, Coach [Cheryl] Reeve from the Minnesota Lynx literally turned on a dime and canceled practice so that she and some of her players could attend a press conference because they understand how much this is going to impact women’s sports, and they really want to lead the way. We’ve just been so lucky to get to work with the WNBA really closely, and the players association that has been such a champion. Same thing with the National Women’s Soccer League and the players association, they are ready. I will also say the Premier Hockey Federation, formerly the NWHL, has been amazing. It gives me goosebumps to think about the momentum we’re building, because no matter what happens with these state bills, conversations are happening and people’s minds are changing, and we have some of the biggest names in women’s sports on our side. It’s just going to be a matter of time until people really understand the full scope and importance of the dignity and human rights of trans and non-binary people.

Wolfe: It is so impactful to see that from some of the greatest players in women’s sports and just people recognizing that sports don’t exist in a vacuum. We can’t just stick to sports because sports aren’t just sports. It is culture, it is our society, and so many things are reflected in change within sports. So we can’t just focus on riding a bike or playing our individual sport. It’s all connected to the world in ways that are much bigger than what we’re doing with our sports as individuals. And I think to ignore that responsibility would be a massive abuse of privilege. So seeing people who are stepping up to that challenge and that responsibility is really fantastic. I appreciate that work greatly, and I hope that we can continue to work together to build on each other’s work.

Chelsea, you recently competed at the Tokyo Olympics as one of four trans or non-binary athletes. Did you see the representation in Tokyo as a watershed moment for progress toward trans inclusion?

Wolfe: Oh my gosh, definitely. Of course, there’s still so much work to be done. I’ve heard people saying, like, “Oh my gosh, all of a sudden there are four trans athletes in the Olympics.” It’s like, given that we are roughly 1 to 2 percent of the global population, if we were to have actual representation, there would be closer to 50 something. The fact that we finally have four is fantastic. It wasn’t just one of us that finally broke through that wall for the first time. It’s absolutely incredible, as well, that Quinn was a part of winning a gold medal [with Canada soccer]. It has me at kind of at a loss for words for how incredible that moment was. Trans athletes have been allowed to compete in the Olympics since 2003, I believe, and for us to finally have representation on that level is so spectacular. It just meant the world to me to get to be a part of that.

From being on that world stage and having that platform, did you find that you were able to inspire people back home?

Wolfe: I really hope that it has given hope to the people who need it, particularly the kids who are being attacked with all of these bills, just to show them that there is a future for them and there is a place for them in this world. And I hope that it also has mobilized more people who maybe were not doing everything that they could to help in this fight. Unfortunately, I have seen that the opposition has been particularly motivated in the time since, so I hope that we are using the power of that moment to energize our own movements and our own efforts in ways that far surpass what the opposition has taken from it.

We’ve talked about the progress you’ve seen from the women’s leagues leading the way. What would you like to see from leagues and athletes who have not stepped up?

Wolfe: Just being more vocal. We’re all on social media. Post about it. When these bills are pushing through, share your support of trans athletes, sign on to these amicus briefs, follow trans athletes, follow Athlete Ally and just get involved. And don’t be shy about being involved in these organizations that are working to ensure equal rights for everybody. I think at this point, if you’re shying away from your responsibility to do this, you’re really missing the ball because it’s 2021. It is well-established that the right thing to do is to stand up for trans athletes. So I really hope that we start to see more people stepping up to the plate and fulfilling their roles as athletes to be role models and leaders of change.

And Anne, what is next for Athlete Ally?

Lieberman: So much. We’re obviously going to continue our work training and educating on trans inclusion with athletes, teams, leagues and sport governing bodies. We have a really fantastic flagship research report called the Athletic Equality Index that ranks and reports the LGBTQ+ inclusiveness, or lack thereof, of every single Division I institution. Part of the criteria for that is: Does that institution have a trans inclusion policy? So we’re also working to make the patchwork of policies that currently governs the participation of trans athletes more consistent. We have a fantastic communications director in Joanna Hoffman, who is a storyteller at heart, and we’re going to continue to highlight trans and non-binary athlete voices, especially athletes of color and Black trans athletes. And we’re going to keep fighting every single bill tooth and nail with the help of other national organizations and state partners.

We’re having this conversation before Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20. What does that day mean to you both and how do you plan to honor it?

Wolfe: It’s obviously a very solemn day for all of us in the community. I’m sure many of us are not too many degrees removed from people who have been victims of violence, if we haven’t been victims ourselves. And when we broaden our understanding of what violence means, it really allows us to see the bigger picture of what trans people and trans athletes face in this world. I think a lot of times, violence is seen as somebody physically attacking and assaulting a person, but it’s so much more than that — a lack of access to healthcare, a lack of access to housing, food and shelter, and a lack of access to sports. These attacks on trans youth are more than just taking away an afterschool activity from them. These bills are an act of violence, and the people who are pushing this through and are in support of this have blood on their hands because that is physically harming the well-being of children. I think that will be something that’s important for all of us to reflect on on Trans Day of Remembrance: We are not just mourning the lives of those who have been taken by somebody who physically attacked them, but we are mourning the lives of trans people who have been taken by the constant harassment and brutality that we face in this world.

Lieberman: To Chelsea’s point, when we look at the situation in Texas, we know that calls to the Trevor Project, suicide prevention hotline and trans lifeline, which is another suicide hotline, increased threefold because of these bills, because kids are hearing their identities and their humanity debated by adults. And so, to underscore Chelsea’s point, this is causing serious harm and these bills are violent. I think for me, Trans Day of Remembrance is always a time to reflect, and also a time to practice self-care and self-love because this work is hard. When I think about the amazing trans athletes in our network, like Chelsea, and just the amount of hate that they get in their inboxes on a daily basis, and the amount of hate that we get often as an organization because we’re just trying to protect kids and make sure everyone can participate in sport, it can be really challenging. So it’s a good moment to stop and reflect and recharge for the fight ahead.

Wolfe: Yeah, use this as a reminder that we are honoring those we’ve lost by creating a world that protects those of us in the future, and living fully and openly in ways that we all should have had the opportunity to.

For more information about Athlete Ally and their work to champion LGBTQI+ inclusion in sport, please visit www.athleteally.org and follow @AthleteAlly.

Hannah Withiam is the Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports. She previously served as an editor at The Athletic and a reporter at the New York Post. Follow her on Twitter @HannahWithiam.

For the nearly 20 months Cindy Parlow Cone has been president of U.S. Soccer, the sport has been heading toward multiple inflection points. While the U.S. men’s national team tries to qualify for the 2022 World Cup and find stability before playing host to the 2026 tournament, the women’s national team has been in an ongoing and very public legal battle with the federation over equal pay.

All of that is hanging over negotiations with the men’s and women’s player associations for new collective bargaining agreements. For the USWNT, that deadline is approaching quickly, with their current CBA set to expire at the end of the year.

As those proceedings unfold, Wednesday provided a jolt of positivity.

U.S. Soccer announced it has reached a long-term agreement with Nike to extend its partnership that began in 1995. The deal, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023 once the current contract ends, marks the largest commercial agreement in U.S. Soccer history and one of the largest investments in soccer globally. While specific terms were not provided, a pillar of the partnership is the growth of the women’s game, an issue that is dear to Parlow Cone’s heart.

“They’re just top class in marketing and they’re a global brand, and their values and vision just align perfectly with ours here at U.S. Soccer,” Parlow Cone told Just Women’s Sports.

“The men’s game has continued to grow at a steady pace, but I feel like the women’s game is poised for exponential growth, and with that, commercial growth for the organizations as well as the players themselves. I think we’re at a point in time where we can quite literally invest in the women’s game to help change the world for the better.”

Parlow Cone played for the USWNT from 1995-2006, winning two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup with the 1999 team that helped change the trajectory of women’s soccer in the U.S.

Now 43 and years removed from the sideline, she believes her history with the program has allowed her to connect with the players in a way previous administrations might not have been able to. Carlos Cordeiro, Parlow Cone’s predecessor, resigned in March, 2020 amid intense scrutiny over U.S. Soccer’s handling of the USWNT equal pay lawsuit. In court filings, the federation argued that women “do not perform equal work” based on the physical differences between men and women.

“They know that I’m not a politician … and I get where they’re coming from,” Parlow Cone said. “And I understand that, in the end, we’re on the same team. Everyone at U.S. soccer wants the women to continue to be the best in the world and to win every day. So I think there’s a solution there, and I’m hopeful that we can come to it sooner rather than later.”

On Sept. 10, Parlow Cone penned an open letter to the unions of the men’s and women’s national teams asking them to reach an agreement that would allow the USWNT to earn the same FIFA World Cup prize money as the USMNT. Currently, the financial discrepancy between the men’s and women’s World Cups is gaping: FIFA awarded $400 million to the 32 teams at the 2018 men’s World Cup and $30 million to the 24 teams at the 2019 women’s tournament.

“We want to find a way to equalize the World Cup prize money, and we can get creative on how that happens,” Parlow Cone said. “But until FIFA actually equalizes their own prize money, I would love for the men’s team and the women’s team to come together with U.S. Soccer to find a solution.”

Since releasing her letter, Parlow Cone said the men’s and women’s teams haven’t had discussions together with U.S. Soccer. At the time, the USWNT Players Association criticized the federation’s plan to make equal contract proposals to the USWNT and USMNT, calling it one of their “PR stunts” as tensions escalated on social media.

“We continue to have discussions with both teams in parallel,” Parlow Cone said. “Our goal is still to come to one agreement, but the only way that can happen is if we all get into the same room together.”

Parlow Cone said she is hopeful that U.S. Soccer will reach new CBAs with the teams and solve the USWNT litigation outside of court by the end of the year, even as the holidays threaten to slow down negotiations.

“My ideal vision is for FIFA to equalize not only the World Cup prize money, but to equalize their investment in the women’s and girls’ game,” she said. “It’s a broader vision for me than just solving the litigation — although I would love to just solve the litigation, too. But until FIFA equalizes it, it’s up to us. And by us, I mean U.S. Soccer, the women’s team and the men’s team coming together to find a solution.”

Hannah Withiam is the Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports. She previously served as an editor at The Athletic and a reporter at the New York Post. Follow her on Twitter @HannahWithiam.

CHICAGO — Courtney Vandersloot smiled and paused to look around the postgame press conference room, content with the secret she was about to let everybody else in on.

Vandersloot has been with the Chicago Sky since they drafted her with the third pick in 2011, riding the ups and downs that, 10 years later, led them to the mountaintop. As Vandersloot, the longest-tenured Sky player, tried to put the franchise’s historic first WNBA championship into words after the 80-74 win over the Phoenix Mercury in Game 4 on Sunday, she recounted a conversation that brought this team’s storybook season full circle.

Several years ago, when the Sky were going through some personnel changes, Vandersloot and Candace Parker were together in Europe, training and playing with USA Basketball. At a club in Spain one night, Parker told Vandersloot about this coach she had her eye on named James Wade.

“I told Michael [Alter], ‘Candace Parker told me we need to hire this guy,’” Vandersloot said, referring to the Sky’s owner. “Now she comes to play for him, and the first year we come here, to win a championship — I don’t think you can write it better than that.”

Parker has said she knew this team was capable of winning a title in her first year — the two-time WNBA MVP left Los Angeles after 13 seasons and a championship with the Sparks to sign in her hometown of Chicago. She knew the caliber of players the Sky had, but she also believed in their coach.

Parker said something she’s appreciated about Wade is the adjustments he makes. One of those decisions came with 4:52 left in the fourth quarter Sunday and the Sky trailing the Mercury 70-65, when Wade subbed Stefanie Dolson back in for Azurá Stevens despite her having five fouls. Dolson made the layup at the 1:22 mark that gave the Sky the lead and put in another one 36.2 seconds later that helped them ice the game.

Chicago, which had trailed by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, rode a 15-2 run in the fourth to win the title at home and avoid a Game 5 back in Phoenix on Tuesday.

“I told Stef, ‘You’re going to be big for us in this next series, so I need you to stay ready,’ and she was ready,” Wade said. “She gave us some good, valuable minutes, and she leaned on [Brittney Griner] a lot throughout the game, so BG didn’t have the same legs in the fourth quarter as she did in the first three quarters.”

About a month ago, the Sky might not have been as resilient as they were on Sunday.

Allie Quigley — who had a team-high 26 points Sunday on 5-for-10 shooting from 3 — said they reached a “breaking point” not long before the playoffs. Frustrated with their inconsistency after following up a seven-game losing streak with a seven-game winning streak early in the season and entering the playoffs as the No. 6 seed after going 16-16, they nearly buckled under the strain of it all. “We didn’t know who we were,” Quigley explained.

At that point, they took a hard look at themselves. They leaned on their leadership and made a conscious decision to grow stronger and closer from the adversity.

“Candace, the first thing she said was she was going to play for me. It was just so inspiring that she wanted me to win a championship so bad, and I just — it just made me want to play harder,” Quigley said. “And everybody went around and said who they were playing for. In the end we all wanted to play for each other, and that’s what you saw tonight in this whole playoff experience.”

Since that team meeting, the Sky started playing their best basketball when it mattered most. They won two single-elimination games against Dallas and Minnesota. They took down the mighty Connecticut Sun in four games in the semifinals to earn a rematch with the Mercury, who swept Chicago in the 2014 Finals for Diana Taurasi’s third championship and second Finals MVP award.

When reflecting on that series during Finals week, Quigley said they were “babies” in terms of WNBA experience. Since then, Quigley and Vandersloot not only fell in love off the court and got married, but they also committed to stay with the Sky and bring a championship to Chicago.

“We did get a taste early what it felt like to be in the Finals, and we got our asses kicked, but we did get that taste,” Vandersloot said while sitting next to Quigley, Parker and Kahleah Copper, named Finals MVP after overcoming career adversity of her own to put the league on notice this year.

“We knew if we got the right people — exhibit A and B — that we could be in this moment, and it would be special here. We didn’t want to go seeking that. We didn’t want to go seeking this feeling. We wanted to do it here, and we just knew that we had what it takes. We just needed a few more pieces and people to believe, and that’s exactly what we got.”

The story of the Chicago Sky’s 2021 season? No, you can’t write it much better than that.

Hannah Withiam is the Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports. She previously served as an editor at The Athletic and a reporter at the New York Post. Follow her on Twitter @HannahWithiam.

CHICAGO — When Candace Parker signed with the Chicago Sky before the season, it seemed like a team with so much talent already had found its missing piece. In Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, Parker was just that, leaning into her playoff experience to guide the Sky to a comeback win over the Phoenix Mercury on the road.

Back in Chicago on Friday night for Game 3, with the series tied 1-1, Parker again rose to the occasion, scoring 13 points in front of a sold-out arena and many family and friends. But it was the Sky’s role players, the ones who’ve watched and learned from Parker and their veteran leaders all season, who helped close out Chicago’s 86-50 victory, the most lopsided in WNBA Finals history.

The way the Sky demolished the Mercury, with every player getting on the scoresheet to bring this team within one win of the WNBA championship, was fitting for a group that prides itself on its chemistry.

“It just feels like we’ve all known each other and been around each other forever — some of us have been for five, six years, but even Candace and the younger players,” Allie Quigley said earlier this week. “It’s just a feeling. It’s hard to describe. And we’re just kind of latching onto it and trying to make the most of this.”

Parker has talked repeatedly about her teammates’ ability to step up in moments when they’re needed. She and Quigley credited that to the adversity they faced during the regular season, when younger players were thrust into larger roles because of injuries.

Dana Evans has served as the Sky’s backup point guard throughout the playoffs. Before Friday night, she averaged just under seven minutes per game, mostly filling in when Courtney Vandersloot needed a breather.

When coach James Wade turned to his second unit late in the third quarter and into the fourth, with the Sky leading the Mercury by 24 points, Evans stepped up. The rookie has been observing Vandersloot and Parker while waiting in the wings, and late in the game Friday she drained three 3-pointers in 48.4 seconds, outscoring both Diana Taurasi and Skylar Diggins-Smith on the night.

“Candace talks to me a lot and tells me about some experiences she had as a rookie where it wasn’t always great, which sometimes is hard to listen to with Candace because you’re like, ‘You were a Rookie of the Year and MVP.’ So it’s like, what did you go through?” Evans said with a laugh during a practice in Phoenix.

“She has a really high IQ, so I try to listen to her when she’s talking about scouts and looking at other people’s strengths and taking them away.”

Even Ruthy Hebard, who played a crucial role for the Sky in June when they followed a 2-7 start with a seven-game winning streak, made the most of her first minutes in the Finals, going 2-for-2 from the field.

“Me and Dana talk about it sometimes, like we’re really teammates with Candace Parker and Sloot and Kah[leah] Copper,” Hebard said. “They’re amazing players and they’re gonna go down in history, and we get to be a part of that. It’s really special.”

Wade spoke about the importance of resting his starters after the game, especially players like Copper who out-ran the Mercury most of the night for a game-high 22 points. The Sky have less than 48 hours to recover and prepare for Sunday’s Game 4, when they can clinch the series and win the first title in franchise history on their home court.

“This is a dream come true if you can get the starters rest, and knowing they’ll have their legs, no excuses to not have their legs on Sunday,” Wade said. “We were pretty happy about that.”

No Chicago bench player needed their performance Friday more than Diamond DeShields did. The fourth-year Sky guard and former All-Star has been through steep ups and downs this season, and acknowledged after the game that she’s had to lean on her teammates through the adversity.

With 11 points, five rebounds and five steals in front of a fan base that’s rallied around her, DeShields was asked afterwards to put this moment into context. She briefly reflected on her own journey with the Sky organization before turning her attention outward.

“I remember when James got here and just talking to him about what we wanted to accomplish,” DeShields said. “Having the players that we had, obviously having Candace here now, it would be an incredible accomplishment, not only just because we won but because of who we could do it with. This group is really special.”

Hannah Withiam is the Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports. She previously served as an editor at The Athletic and a reporter at the New York Post. Follow her on Twitter @HannahWithiam.

PHOENIX — Two days after the WNBA celebrated the 25 best players in the league’s 25-year history during Game 1 of the Finals, Sophie Cunningham couldn’t get the image out of her mind.

As she reflected on the moment Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper and other basketball icons walked onto the court for the ceremony at half-court, the third-year Phoenix Mercury guard realized she might never again see that many WNBA legends in one place. It also reminded her why she was sitting on a Zoom call with a group of high school girls basketball players the night before the biggest game of her career, sharing her story in the hopes of inspiring young women who want to be in her position one day.

“Those are people who started our league, and you were kind of in awe and you wanted to make them proud,” Cunningham said Tuesday night after speaking to 40 girls from two Phoenix high schools, who took part in the panel discussion, a mindfulness session and a basketball clinic at the Footprint Center as part of the WNBA and NBA’s Her Time to Play initiative.

“But it also is our responsibility to make it,” she continued. “You might not see the change now, but you might see it in 10 years for the younger people.”

Cunningham, 25, can appreciate the power of a role model. Growing up in Columbia, Mo., she wasn’t around a lot of people who played professional sports and could show her what it took to get there. When she started traveling for basketball, Cunningham met players from the East and West coast who had the types of connections and resources she never did.

“It’s a college town and that’s about it. Everything else is farmland,” she said of her hometown.

So, Cunningham looked up to her parents and her older sister, who turned almost everything into a competition in their house, and soccer star Mia Hamm. “I just thought she was a badass,” Cunningham said, “and I was like, ‘I want to be that. I could be that one day.’”

Chasity Melvin, Mercury assistant coach and former WNBA player, described a similar upbringing during the panel Tuesday night.

Drafted into the WNBA in 1999, two years after its inception, Melvin didn’t have a stable professional women’s basketball league to aspire to while she was growing up in rural North Carolina. Instead, she drew inspiration from her dad’s belief in her and the daily competitions with her two brothers and two sisters.

“You just know where you come from,” Melvin said. “I think Sophie and I already know our history and how hard it took us to get here. So it’s nothing to try to give back to the young girls because we were once those young girls.”

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Local high schoolers participate in a basketball clinic at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. (Courtesy of the WNBA)

The day before Cunningham and Melvin spoke on the panel, along with former WNBA star Marie Harris and AT&T’s Director of Corporate Social Responsibility Jamika Doakes, Sky guard Kahleah Copper took part in a similar conversation with girls aged 10-17 from the Chicago area. Her Time To Play, launched in 2018 with the purpose of empowering young women through basketball and recently expanded to reach 20,000 girls, held the two events in between Games 1 and 2 of WNBA Finals week.

Copper, leading the Sky’s pursuit of their first championship after a breakout season, explained to the girls over Zoom that it took her a while to realize she was good enough to play in the WNBA. A naturally shy person, she said the player they now see on the court is her “alter ego.”

Not being afraid to show your competitive side is something Cunningham also preached to the Phoenix high schoolers. Our society often confines girls and women into a box, expecting them to look and act in a way that fits conventional standards of femininity. Cunningham, known for her spirited play on the court, rejected that concept.

“You don’t have to look a certain way. You don’t have to be a certain color. You don’t have to be the most athletic,” Cunningham said. “I clearly don’t jump the highest, I’m not the quickest. But I do things well and I try to do them as best I can every single day.

“So I just want, especially young females, to be confident in who they are and know it’s OK to be goofy. It’s OK to smile, laugh, but also be super competitive and put someone on their ass.”

As the Sky and Mercury prepare to meet again for Game 3 Friday night in Chicago, driving the players is not only the chase of a WNBA trophy but also the appreciation of their careers coming full circle.

“We’re in the middle of the WNBA Finals and I’m making time for these kids because it’s important,” Copper said. “It’s important to inspire them so that when they grow up and make it, they’ll be like, ‘You know what, somebody inspired me and I’m going to inspire the next generation.’”

Hannah Withiam is the Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports. She previously served as an editor at The Athletic and a reporter at the New York Post. Follow her on Twitter @HannahWithiam.

PHOENIX — Skylar Diggins-Smith was done talking.

The day before Game 2 of the WNBA Finals, Diggins-Smith sat behind the basket where she would hit the layup to seal the Phoenix Mercury’s 91-86 overtime win over the Chicago Sky, which evened the series 1-1, and fidgeted in her chair. For every question she fielded from reporters, Diggins-Smith had one thing on her mind: The Mercury gave Game 1 away, and she would do everything in her power to make sure it didn’t happen again.

“This is not the goal for me. The championship is the goal,” she said Tuesday. “I’m irritated, I’m excited, I’m nervous. I’m ready for the Game 2, that’s all I gotta say. I’m irritated I gotta be out here answering questions because I just want to focus on the game.”

Diggins-Smith kept that focus through the first 18 minutes of Game 2 on Sunday, when she went just 1-for-6 from the field and was visibly frustrated with her play.

During a Mercury timeout with 2:04 left in the first quarter, Diggins-Smith stood apart from the huddle and stared off into the distance, motionless. Kia Nurse, resigned to the bench for the series after tearing her ACL in Game 5 of the semifinals, walked over and appeared to try to console her. Diggins-Smith just kept staring straight ahead, as if she were visualizing what was to come.

First, that meant her passing. The veteran guard found Brianna Turner twice in the second quarter, the second time with a lob pass for an alley-oop that gave the Mercury their first lead of the game, 38-36.

“Skylar would probably say, ‘I’ve missed too many shots,’” said Mercury head coach Sandy Brondello, “but I thought with her ability to facilitate and just give us some easy baskets … we put [Diana Taurasi] in being more of a screener and put the ball more in Sky’s hand, and she made some pretty good decisions.”

Diggins-Smith finished the game with a playoff career-high 12 assists, jumpstarting Phoenix’s offense with her patience and play-calling from the point and her distribution on the run. The mark also set a Mercury franchise record for assists in a Finals game.

And when it came to crunch time, the 31-year-old turned her fiery words into action, driving into the paint for two layups in overtime that were the difference for the Mercury.

Thanks to Diggins-Smith’s 13 points, as well as Taurasi’s 20 and Griner’s game-high 29, Phoenix now heads to Chicago with more of a cushion. Starting with Game 3 on Friday night in front of a sold-out Chicago arena, the Mercury can take the series with two wins on the road or win at least one and head back home for a decisive Game 5.

“I was just trying to make something happen,” Diggins-Smith said. “I felt really good about how I was able to get a head of steam, get downhill, get in a lane, create opportunities for my team. It didn’t fall for me, but I was just trying to do other things … and find that edge, that rhythm within the game.”

Taurasi, who also came on late to drain two critical 3-pointers in overtime, called Diggins-Smith’s performance “probably one of the best games I’ve ever seen her play.”

“I’ve been around this game a long time, and there’s not too many people that compete the way Skylar competes every single day,” Taurasi said. “We’ve gotten to work out for two offseasons. Every day is the same. Every day is Game 5 for her. I’ve said this before, that’s kind of ignited my passion for the game a little bit to see someone do that every single day.”

Brondello has been in this position before, having won a WNBA championship in 2014 in her first season as Mercury head coach. Diggins-Smith is playing in her first Finals series, having spent seven years in Tulsa and Dallas before signing with the Mercury last offseason.

Brondello and Taurasi, a three-time WNBA champion, know what a championship-level mentality looks like, and they see that to the fullest extent in Diggins-Smith.

“She had some shots, shots she knows she can make. She’ll be reliving that all night tonight, but I thought she had a really good game,” Brondello said. “Players like this are special — they have this fire in their belly, the will to win. And they’re all locked in.”

Hannah Withiam is the Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports. She previously served as an editor at The Athletic and a reporter at the New York Post. Follow her on Twitter @HannahWithiam.

PHOENIX — There were nerves for Candace Parker’s first WNBA Finals game with the Chicago Sky. Even in her 14th WNBA season and third Finals series, the 2016 champion felt some jitters as she took the court in Phoenix on Sunday for Game 1 against the Mercury.

The Sky had three full days of rest in between the semifinals and start of the Finals, giving them extra time to prepare and, perhaps, overthink the matchup. The Mercury, coming off of a thrilling semifinals Game 5 win over the Las Vegas Aces on Friday, rode that momentum straight through the opening tipoff Sunday, jumping out to a five-point lead by the end of the first quarter.

Whatever mental paralysis overcame Chicago in that first quarter, Parker made sure it didn’t last. The veteran forward led her team on a 26-6 run in the second quarter that ignited the entire lineup and propelled them to a 91-77 Game 1 victory on the road.

“I think once you realize you’re going to settle into the game eventually, it’s just who can settle in early. And then your mind gets lost in it and you start playing basketball like you played all your life,” Parker said. “There’s no reason to flip out. They’re a great team, they’re here for a reason, and we had to settle into the game and get back to what we do.”

The last time the Sky were in the Finals in 2014, only Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley were on the team. They remember the feeling of losing to Diana Taurasi and the Mercury 3-0 in that series, but so much has changed for this organization in the seven years since then.

“We were babies then, not really experienced in that situation,” Quigley said.

Even Sky head coach James Wade, who was an assistant with the Minnesota Lynx during their 2017 Finals run, said he leans on Parker in situations like the first quarter Sunday, when the players need an example to follow.

“She’s accepted that role, and now everybody has a sense of comfort when it comes to those moments,” Wade said. “We just have to keep on riding it until we get to our ultimate destination.”

As soon as Parker reentered the game with 7:46 left in the second quarter, Chicago’s offense switched into another gear. Every Sky player on the court got involved as they chipped away at Phoenix’s lead and went into halftime up 46-35.

Parker, who contributed seven of her 16 points in the quarter, was one of six Sky players to finish the game in double-digit scoring. After the game, the 35-year-old praised her teammates and especially Stefanie Dolson, who scored 14 points off the bench and was a big reason the Sky were able to hold the Mercury to just 32 points in the paint.

“I think that’s what’s special about our team,” Parker said. “I think everybody during this postseason has had a moment or had a game, where if we didn’t have them at that moment, then we wouldn’t win. I think it’s understanding that and being patient in that and knowing it, and that’s what Stef’s done.”

It’s that depth and resilience that most concerns Mercury coach Sandy Brondello in the series. Even when they key in on one player — as they have with Kahleah Copper, who still had a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds — another player steps up.

Parker feels the same way about Chicago’s veteran group. She’s picked up leadership qualities from many WNBA greats along the way, such as Lisa Leslie during their two seasons together with the Sparks, but she’s also learned something from each of her Sky teammates.

As Parker explains it, the Sky’s willingness to trust in each other, even on a team with multiple superstars, has helped take them from a 2-7 regular-season start to the doorstep of a WNBA championship. And against a team with its own superstar core of Taurasi, Brittney Griner and Skylar Diggins-Smith, that bond is their most dangerous weapon.

“I don’t think I understood when I was younger that you have to be the calm for the storm and you have to be the storm when everyone’s calm,” Parker said. “But we have leadership internally across the board. It’s not just me. I think it’s been fun for me to learn.”

Hannah Withiam is the Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports. She previously served as an editor at The Athletic and a reporter at the New York Post. Follow her on Twitter @HannahWithiam.

The Sky faced their biggest deficit of the game with 8:06 remaining in the fourth quarter Sunday. After Kaila Charles’ jumper extended the Sun’s lead to seven in Game 3 of a WNBA semifinal series tied at one, the Sky needed an answer for Connecticut’s offensive momentum.

Kahleah Copper lamented her lack of energy after Chicago’s loss in Game 2. The Sky’s “emotional leader,” as coach James Wade referred to her after the game, took that feeling into Sunday’s game, leading the Sky’s 86-83 comeback win over the Sun with nine points in the fourth quarter.

“Kah’s energy was infectious,” Wade said. “She was really good everywhere — defensively, offensively, when we needed big plays. Her and [Allie] Quigley made them and it kept us in the game.”

Copper led all scorers with 26 points, tying her season-high, on an efficient 9-for-14 shooting from the field and 3-for-6 from 3-point range. None of those points were more important than in the middle of the fourth quarter, when it looked like the No. 1 Sun might pull away behind DeWanna Bonner’s slick shooting and the latest act in Alyssa Thomas’ comeback tour.

Copper started chipping away at the Sun’s lead with just under seven minutes left in the game.

She hit a long jumper and drove the lane for a layup to pull the Sky within three. After Azurá Stevens gave Chicago a one-point lead with a layup at the 4:10 mark, Copper delivered the dagger, putting Connecticut in a hole it wouldn’t escape.

The 6-foot-1 forward went hard to the basket, beating Jasmine Thomas one-on-one and drawing the foul on the basket to energize her teammates and the crowd at Wintrust Arena. With Copper’s three-point play, the Sky took a 78-74 lead.

“She was the recipient of some of our schemes, but she took advantage of it and had a great night and was really a spark for them,” Sun coach Curt Miller said of Copper. “You see why throughout the regular season she was their leading scorer.”

Copper has been with the Sky since 2017, playing under Wade since he took over as head coach in 2019. It wasn’t until last year during the WNBA’s bubble season that Copper became a full-time starter and her potential was finally on full display. The Rutgers product averaged 14.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in 2020, up from her previous season-high averages of 7.1 points and 3.1 rebounds.

Copper, 27, carried that momentum into this season, serving as one of Chicago’s many threats next to Quigley, Courtney Vandersloot and Candace Parker.

“When Kah is like that, it’s hard not to just jump on board with her. It’s so contagious,” Vandersloot said. “She’s obviously a very special athlete, but when she is like that emotionally, she’s so much fun to play with.”

“I love the and-ones, but I think it’s just the little stuff that she does that people don’t notice, like getting through screens really quick, getting that huge defensive rebound where [Briann] January had to foul her,” Parker said. “It’s been really fun and new for me to jump on that energy.”

With the Sky now one win away from the WNBA Finals, Copper is taking her role especially seriously. She and the Sky not only feel like they’re playing their best basketball right now — they also look around the room after a win like Sunday’s and believe they have all the right pieces to win the first championship in franchise history.

“Sloot said something in the locker room just a couple seconds ago about her enjoying my and-one more than me,” said Copper, seated next to Parker and Vandersloot during the postgame press conference. “That is the ultimate leadership. The piece that we need in order to win a championship is celebrating others.

“I’m just trying to do whatever I can out there, just be that person for us.”

Hannah Withiam is the Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports. She previously served as an editor at The Athletic and a reporter at the New York Post. Follow her on Twitter @HannahWithiam.

Diana Taurasi looked like she might need to come off the floor multiple times on Sunday. She winced and she hobbled, favoring the injured left ankle that kept her out of the Mercury’s first-round win over the Liberty, the one that earned them the chance to meet Seattle in this second-round, single-elimination game.

But Taurasi kept on playing. Not only that: She made two big shots and one key free throw in overtime that helped the Mercury upset the defending champion Storm on their home court, 85-80, and advance to their seventh WNBA semifinals in the last nine seasons.

Brittney Griner led Phoenix with 23 points (on 11-for-17 shooting) and 16 rebounds. Taurasi finished with 14 points, five assists and four rebounds — on one good leg.

“Obviously you want to be out there with your teammates, and we’ve had such a grind of a season,” Taurasi said after the win. “Against New York, I was just not ready to play. The decision was, ‘Can I help?’ And if I could help in any capacity, I was going to try to play today.”

The Storm — playing on Sunday without Breanna Stewart, who sat on the bench with a boot on her injured left foot — executed their game plan well in the first half. Seattle’s defense held Taurasi to just three points in the half and the entire Mercury team to nine in the second quarter, riding a 15-0 run to a 35-32 lead at the break.

But, as Storm head coach Noelle Quinn and Sue Bird explained after the game, sending double teams to Griner and switching guards on Taurasi to try to account for the extra space can only work for so long.

In other words, once Taurasi got hot from the field, it was game over.

“Dee gives them automatic confidence, swag, all of the above just by being on the floor,” Quinn said. “Early on, testing out her mobility, I thought we did a decent job. But what happens when you have the greatest player in our game on the floor is that she hits timely shots.”

“What happened in overtime was we made a couple mistakes that gave her two open shots,” Bird added. “And you can’t give a player like that an open look whether they’re on half a leg or not. Of course, that’s who she is, so it’s no surprise and that’s why you can’t make those mistakes.”

Taurasi is not only a one-of-a-kind scoring threat; her mere presence also gives her team a sense of comfort. Skylar Diggins-Smith said again Sunday that she chose Phoenix in 2019 free agency so she could play with Taurasi and Griner. And Griner, when asked what’s allowed her to unlock another level in her game this season while seated next to Taurasi and Diggins-Smith during the postgame press conference, said: “When I look to my left and I see them, of course anyone would play with ease.”

The Mercury will meet the No. 2-seeded Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals, with Game 1 set for Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET (ESPN2). It will be Taurasi’s 10th semifinal series, all with Phoenix.

Bird, 40, was asked about her future after the game, including by ESPN’s Holly Rowe on the court as the Seattle crowd chanted, “One more year!” It’s still unclear whether she will come back to the Storm.

Taurasi, 39, is expected to return next season after signing a two-year maximum contract with Phoenix in February. She’s already won three championships with the Mercury during her 17-year career. As she goes for her fourth title — which, for what it’s worth, would tie her with Bird — Taurasi is focusing on simply being on the court for her teammates.

Because when their leader is in the lineup, the Mercury like their chances.

“For someone who hasn’t been able to run for three weeks almost … to come into overtime and make two big plays, that’s why they talk about she’s the GOAT, because she finds a way,” said coach Sandy Brondello.

“We got our GOAT back. She was a little fatigued out there. I’m not sure she’ll be able to walk tomorrow, but she grinded it out and found a way.”

Hannah Withiam is the Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports. She previously served as an editor at The Athletic and a reporter at the New York Post. Follow her on Twitter @HannahWithiam.