Welcome to another episode of Sports Are Fun! presented by TurboTax.
In an all-new episode of Sports Are Fun!, soccer icon Kelley O'Hara, sports journalist Greydy Diaz, and JWS intern BJ serve up their hottest takes all things women's sports. And this week, a special guest host — writer, comedian, television host, actor, and internet personality The Kid Mero of 7PM in Brooklyn and Victory Light fame — gets in on the fun.
Of course, the crew doesn't hold back. Starting with a deep dive into UConn superstar Paige Bueckers's ongoing quest for an NCAA championship title.
"I don't know Paige well at all, but I assume getting this record — cool," O'Hara says, referencing Bueckers recently passing Huskies legend Diana Taurasi to become UConn's ninth all-time leading scorer. "But if I'm her, I want a championship."
"If I'm P Buckets, I'm like, 'Yo, listen, I've done everything, I've eclipsed DT in the record books,'" echoed Mero. "Y'all know the history of UConn women's basketball, it's crazy — it's like the Yankees of women's basketball. So to have your name as a championship winner, to have all these records, that's the complete package."
Over an action-packed 65 minutes, Sports Are Fun! also tackles how the USWNT has been performing at the 2025 SheBelieves Cup, trash talk in the women's game, Connecticut denying Marina Mabrey's trade request, the NCAA cashing in on Women's March Madness, and so much more.
'Sports Are Fun!' hosts O'Hara, Diaz, and The Kid Mero embrace trash talk
Before getting into the Paige Bueckers of it all, Sports Are Fun! weighs in on Rose BC's Angel Reese trash talking Phantom BC's Sabrina Ionescu on the Unrivaled bench. And to no surprise, they're here for it.
"Another storyline is trash talking," O'Hara introduces. "Angel Reese was picked up on camera during a timeout [saying] 'Sabrina can't fucking guard.'"
"And Sabrina basically said trash talking is part of the sport — you see it in the NFL, you see in the NBA. But for some reason when it gets to the to women's sports, it's like people don't want to talk about it," continued the two-time World Cup champ. "In my opinion, I love trash talking — it's a game within the game. And I'm all for it because I think it makes it interesting."
"[Trash talk] makes it fun," Mero agreed. "Listen, gambling has has invaded every aspect of sports. You know why? Because it makes it fun. I don't give a shit who's playing in the Frito-Totito Bowl, like San Diego Tech State versus like Grady Academy of Culinary Arts. I don't care who's playing, but I know the spread is 35.5... Let's roll the dice."
"What makes sports fun?" Mero adds. "Competing."
About 'Sports Are Fun!' with Kelley O'Hara
'Sports Are Fun!' is a show that’ll remind you why you fell in love with women's sports in the first place. Join World Cup champ, Olympic gold medalist, and aspiring barista Kelley O'Hara as she sits down with sports journalist Greydy Diaz and a revolving cast of co-hosts and friends. Together, they're talking the biggest, funnest, and most need-to-know stories in the world of women’s sports.
From on-court drama to off-field shenanigans, to candid (and silly) chats with the most important personalities in the space, this show screams "Sports Are Fun!"
Subscribe to Just Women's Sports on YouTube to never miss an episode.
With the 2025 WNBA season looming, teams have been adding preseason competitions to their upcoming training schedules, offering fans and players alike an early taste of both new squads and revamped rosters.
For those excited about the Golden State Valkyries, preseason will offer a first glimpse of the expansion team in action, with the franchise set to face the LA Sparks and Phoenix Mercury prior to their official WNBA debut.
WNBA returns to school for international exhibitions
Like the Valkyries, most teams will supplement their preseason camps with exhibition games against fellow WNBA squads. Two, however, have booked road tilts against the Brazil national team into their 2025 season prep.
Both Indiana and Chicago are strategically tapping into markets connected to their biggest stars, with the Fever traveling to Caitlin Clark’s alma mater, Iowa, for their May 4th bout with Brazil.
Two days earlier, the international visitors will contend with the Sky at LSU — the collegiate stomping grounds of Chicago star Angel Reese.
Adding even more flavor to the Sky's matchup is Kamila Cardoso. The Chicago center is also a rising star for Brazil, meaning the May 2nd tilt will pit her against her national squad teammates.
This wave of exhibitions at NCAA sites comes on the heels of last year's preseason success, which saw Las Vegas defeat Puerto Rico at Aces superstar A'ja Wilson's college home of South Carolina.
While Unrivaled and NCAA tournaments will keep women’s basketball in the spotlight, the WNBA’s 29th season is fast approaching — and teams appear eager to flex their refreshed rosters well ahead of the league's May 16th opening day.
Sun deny Mabrey's trade request
One WNBA player who is likely not overly excited to report for training camp on April 27th is guard Marina Mabrey, who asked for a trade from the Connecticut Sun on February 5th. On Tuesday, team president Jennifer Rizzotti told Sportico that the Sun have denied Mabrey’s request.
Mabrey started the 2024 season with Chicago — a team she joined in February 2023 as a restricted free agent from Dallas — before landing in Connecticut last July after filing a midseason trade request.
"We knew at the time that she had already forced her way out of two teams, so it was a bit risky for us to trade for her," said Rizzotti, reflecting on her decision to roster Mabrey despite her trade-request track record. "But we felt like it was worth it."
In this instance, however, Mabrey asked to exit a Sun team that is wildly different from the 2024 WNBA semifinalist squad she joined last July. Head coach Stephanie White left to join the Fever after the 2024 season wrapped, and this offseason has seen Connecticut offload their entire starting playoff roster — including Alyssa Thomas, DiJonai Carrington, DeWanna Bonner, and Brionna Jones — via trades and free agency losses.
"The coach parted ways. No free agents returned and they are doing all they can to try and force Marina to stay when she clearly doesn't want to be there. It's interesting," Mabrey’s agent told ESPN.
As for the Sun, they're hoping to see Mabrey succeed alongside newly added Connecticut players like Tina Charles, Natasha Cloud, and Diamond DeShields.
"The reasons that we have for not trading Marina are rooted in positivity," Rizzotti explained. "It's rooted in a desire to build around her, have her here, have her be the catalyst for what we want to do offensively."
Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball hit an injury wall this weekend, forcing the inaugural offseason league to cancel one regular-season game and truncate this week's 1v1 tournament.
With multiple Laces players sidelined, the league called off the team's Saturday night matchup against Vinyl BC.
Similarly, after seven participants had to pull out of Unrivaled's hotly anticipated 30-player 1v1 tournament, the league responded by shortening the contest's first round.
With all teams camped together on Unrivaled's Miami campus, specific details concerning player availability as well as injury type and severity have been tough to come by.
Laces stars Alyssa Thomas (knee) and Tiffany Hayes (concussion) both exited the 1v1 tournament after suffering injuries in previous Unrivaled matchups, putting their fitness statuses in question as the 2025 WNBA season looms.
Fellow Laces standouts Kayla McBride and Kate Martin, plus Rose BC's Brittney Sykes and Phantom stars Natasha Cloud and Marina Mabrey, will not participate. The withdrawal is "due to lingering injuries and to prioritize player wellbeing for regular-season games," per Unrivaled.
Injuries shrink Unrivaled 1v1 tournament's first round
Instead of a planned 14 games split across an afternoon session and an evening set on Monday, the now eight-game opening round of the league's 1v1 contest will occur in a single night of competition.
In an effort to maintain the original bracket as much as possible, Unrivaled decided against making any changes to its first-round matchups.
Because of this, five additional athletes will join the previously announced Jewell Loyd and Arike Ogunbowale in snagging first-round byes, with Courtney Williams, DiJonai Carrington, Satou Sabally, Rae Burrell, and Azurá Stevens now also set to tip off their 1v1 journeys during Tuesday's second round.
Unrivaled's reliance on short, elite rosters has spelled heated competition on a star-stacked court, but the strategy is now revealing its shortcomings. Such slim margins leave the league scrambling whenever one of their players — all of whom plan to return to the WNBA in mid-May — needs a break to prioritize rest and recovery.
How to watch Unrivaled's 1v1 tournament
The three-day competition tips off its eight-game first round at 7 PM ET on Monday. Both the second round and quarterfinals are set to begin at 7 PM ET on Tuesday, with the semifinals and finals slated for Friday at 7:30 PM ET.
All games will air live on truTV, with TNT also broadcasting Monday's and Friday's sessions.
Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball tips off its inaugural season on Friday night, when four of the league's six clubs will take the court for the first time.
The Miami-based league's debut doubleheader begins with a co-founder face-off, as Breanna Stewart's Mist will first square off against 2024 WNBA Finals foe and fellow Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier's Lunar Owls.
Shortly after that inaugural game, Rose BC, whose roster includes top-rated 2024 rookie Angel Reese plus WNBA Finals MVPs Kahleah Copper (2021) and Chelsea Gray (2022), will take the Unrivaled court. Facing them in Friday's nightcap will be Vinyl BC, a team headlined by WNBA Rookies of the Year Aliyah Boston (2023) and Rhyne Howard (2022).
The two remaining Unrivaled teams will debut on Saturday afternoon, when Phantom BC takes on Laces BC in another 3×3 doubleheader.
Led by All-Stars like Brittney Griner and reigning WNBA champion Sabrina Ionescu, the Phantom will start the season without guard Marina Mabrey due to a calf strain. Her recovery is expected to take two to four weeks, with an injury re-evaluation set for late January. In the meantime, the Phantom have added relief player Natisha Hiedeman to their short-handed roster.
IT'S GAME DAYYYYYYY! 🗣️ Make sure you tune in tonight at 7pm ET! pic.twitter.com/vAZ2IkemoF
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) January 17, 2025
Unrivaled stars prepare for their close-up
The innovative new league is launching with 36 of the WNBA's biggest stars, a brand new 3x3 format, and a product finely tuned for national TV broadcast. The goal is to bring fans even closer to their favorite athletes.
Subsequently, Unrivaled has teamed up with six US bars "dedicated to elevating women's sports" in an effort to promote official watch parties nationwide.
"The content piece and the TV piece of this is huge for us," Collier told The Athletic ahead of Friday's launch. "We want to make it the most interactive, fun, and exciting experience we can for people."
With a smaller court and cameras positioned closer to the action than in WNBA games, Unrivaled is aiming to bring a small-venue experience to a national audience.
"It’s definitely intimate, and you’re definitely going to hear a lot of stuff," Mist athlete Jewell Loyd told The Athletic. "But at the same time, that’s what you want, and it’s definitely going to make us play a little harder."
How to watch Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball this weekend
The new 3x3 league will tip off with the Mist and Lunar Owls at 7 PM ET on Friday, with Rose BC and Vinyl BC following at 8 PM ET.
All Unrivaled games will air across TNT, truTV, and Max throughout the season, with Friday's tip off broadcast live on TNT.
Welcome back to Fast Friends with Kelley O'Hara and Lisa Leslie!
In today's episode, our hosts cover the 2024 WNBA semifinals, including the New York Liberty's Game 1 victory over the Las Vegas Aces and Connecticut Sun guard Marina Mabrey's impressive playoff run.
"There is a player, Marina Mabrey... How she got out of Chicago, I will never know, mid-season," Leslie says on the episode. "But that is a game-changer."
Also on today's docket? Kelley's NWSL end-of-season table predictions and much more.
Coming off the success of JWS's Olympic commentary show The Gold Standard, Fast Friends features two legendary athletes serving up insider insights and unique takes on the biggest stories in women's sports every week.
Subscribe to Just Women's Sports on YouTube to never miss an episode.
The 2024 WNBA semifinals tipped off their best-of-five series on Sunday, with the Liberty serving up a redemptive win and the Sun claiming the first upset of the entire postseason.
First, top-seeded New York defeated Las Vegas 87-77 before a raucous home crowd, putting the two-time defending champs on the defensive going into the second game on Tuesday.
On a mission to avenge their 2023 WNBA Finals loss to the Aces, 2023 MVP Breanna Stewart dropped 34 points in the Liberty win, passing legend Lisa Leslie to claim the longest streak of double-digit scoring performances in WNBA postseason history.
New York's Sabrina Ionescu finished just behind Stewart on the stat sheet with 21 points, while center Jonquel Jones put up a 13-point, 12-rebound double-double.
Aces guard Kelsey Plum put up 24 points in the loss, after No. 4-seed Las Vegas entered the semis as a lower seed for the first time since 2019.
"You're trying to dig out of a hole the whole time," Las Vegas head coach Becky Hammon said about the loss. "It's not the way you want to start, especially on the road."
The Sun upset the Lynx in Minnesota
A few hours later, No. 3-seed Connecticut earned the 2024 WNBA postseason's first upset, claiming a 73-70 Game 1 road win over No. 2-seed Minnesota.
Sun guard Marina Mabrey led all scorers with 20 points, sinking six three-pointers to give the visitors a distinct edge from behind the arc. Meanwhile, teammate Alyssa Thomas neared a triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists in the win.
That said, it was the Sun's defense that claimed the tight win in a game that saw 13 lead changes and eight ties. Connecticut held the Lynx's top scorer, 2024 DPOY Napheesa Collier, to just 19 points, ultimately stifling Collier's last-second game-tying effort to clinch the win. Entering Sunday, Collier was on a record-setting run as the first-ever WNBA player to drop at least 35 points in consecutive playoff games.
All eyes now turn to Tuesday, when the four semifinalists face off again. New York and Connecticut certainly have a leg up, though: WNBA teams that take Game 1 in a best-of-five series are 77% more likely to win the series.
The Chicago Sky paid a hefty price in their blockbuster trade for Marina Mabrey, but coach and general manager James Wade defended the deal.
The 26-year-old guard came to Chicago from the Dallas Wings as part of a four-team trade, which saw the Sky give up a 2023 first-round draft pick and a 2024 first-round draft pick, plus three more draft picks. But Wade would rather have a player he knows rather than question marks, even despite stacked upcoming draft classes.
“I know what she does, and I know what she brings to the table,” Wade said of Mabrey. “So that’s who we’re going to rock with. I understand that the ’23 and ’24 draft picks can be great players.”
Still, he expressed confidence in the construction of his roster, for the 2023 season and beyond.
“I’m not f—ing planning on losing,” he told reporters Wednesday.
Mabrey averaged 12.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game through three seasons in Dallas. She averaged 13.6 points per game last season, a career high.
Maybe she's born with it
— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) February 11, 2023
Maybe it's...𝐌𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐲 😜
We have officially acquired Marina Mabrey via a four-team trade with Dallas, New York, and Phoenix.
Welcome to #skytown, @mmabrey1!
The former Notre Dame star joins a lineup headlined by 2021 WNBA Finals MVP Kahleah Copper. Her addition helps offset the losses of Allie Quigley, Courtney Vandersloot, Emma Meesseman and Candace Parker.
The Sky also brought in guard Courtney Williams from the Connecticut Sun via free agency and re-signed guard Rebekah Gardner.
While Wade questioned the crowning of the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty as superteams after their offseason moves, he also placed value in such moves over “draft capital” as a draw for players.
“I know what Marina brings, and I know that our players and other great players want to play with her,” Wade said. “I don’t know how much more they will want to play with draft pick ’23 or draft pick ’24. So you’ve got to weigh those things… That’s the risk that we were willing to take to get a great ball handler.”
Amid Mabrey and other new faces, Copper will be the longest-tenured player on the roster. As such, she joked about working as the “assistant GM” for the Sky this offseason, and Wade agreed: “She really was.”
Conversations with Copper “affected a lot of our decisions on what kind of team we’re trying to put around her,” Wade said.
The Chicago Sky are playing the short game, and not necessarily the long game, when it comes to their trades.
Head coach and general manager James Wade has drawn criticism over his team’s recent trade, which involved trading away two first round draft picks – one in 2023 and one in 2024. Dallas also reserves the right to swap first round picks with Chicago in 2025.
While the 2023 class is loaded, the 2024 class is at times being described as the best the league has seen in years. It’s a class that includes draft-eligible players like Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Cameron Brink and Angel Reese.
There’s also potential depth to consider, as the Sky also traded away a second rounder in 2025 and a second and third rounder in 2024. In effect, most of their draft stock is now gone with six picks having been traded away.
Of course, Wade could always get some of that back. But it could require parting with big name players once again.
But the team appears to be focusing on the now. Mabrey averaged 12.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game through three seasons in Dallas and averaged 13.6 points per game last season – a career high.
The Wings bounced back after falling to the Sky on Wednesday, defeating Chicago 100-91 Friday night.
Marina Mabrey led Dallas in scoring, tying her career-high with 28 points. The Wings guard shot an impressive 60 percent from the field and drained five from beyond the arc, including two four-point plays.
Back 2 Back 😳@mmabrey1 pic.twitter.com/4LkVaCaHzb
— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) July 3, 2021
Six Wings players dropped double digits Friday night, including Arike Ogunbowale, who put up 18 points, and Allisha Gray, who notched 17 points.
#CountIt for @Arike_O on that one
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 3, 2021
📺 @CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/Moqse12HFI
Next up: Dallas will travel to New York to take on the Liberty on Monday. The Sky will head home to host the Mystics on July 10.
The Dallas Wings bounced back after falling to Minnesota on Thursday, putting up a record-breaking performance to defeat the Lynx 95-77 on Saturday.
Marina Mabrey led the charge for the Wings, recording a career-high 28 points, while shootings 69.2 percent from the field. As a team, Dallas hit a franchise-record 17 three-pointers Saturday night, with Mabrey contributing five from deep.
What a shooter 😆
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 20, 2021
4 3PM for @mmabrey1, 19 PTS
💻 https://t.co/oUZz8Nsb3d pic.twitter.com/Q6nBJzwWSF
Arike Ogunbowale had a historic night as well, netting 16 points and shooting four for five from beyond the arc. Saturday marked Ogunbowale’s 50th straight game scoring in the double-digits, becoming only the ninth player in WNBA history to do so.
Looking good @Arike_O 👏
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 20, 2021
💻 https://t.co/DmZgIy4o21 pic.twitter.com/wweE4ZkP1W
Napheesa Collier and Crystal Dangerfield each scored 17 points for the Lynx, with Kayla McBride adding 13 points to the tally. Minnesota, however, was outshot and outrebounded by Dallas, with the Wings collecting 31 defensive boards.
The Lynx will attempt to shake off the loss when they head out on the road on Wednesday to face Atlanta. Dallas will hope to keep up momentum when they head to Connecticut to take on the Sun on Tuesday.