A'ja Wilson on women's hoops: From 'Get back in kitchen' to 'I have to catch a game!' (2024)

COLUMBIA— Becky Hammon and Dawn Staley grew up the same way. The posters of Michael Jordan and Julius Erving on their walls spoke to them, inspiring them to flourish their own games.

But they knew then that if they became great players in high school, and that may lead to great careers in college, that could be the end of basketball. After college, for women, basketball prospects were murky.

“I didn’t know the WNBA when I was growing up. I only knew the NBA,” Staley said. “We would imagine us in the NBA.”

A quarter-century later, each sat at the table discussing the preseason game between back-to-back WNBA champion Las Vegas and Puerto Rico that was about to commence. One of Staley’s former players at South Carolina, A’ja Wilson, was the Aces’ top player and at age 27, had already won two league MVP awards (with many still griping that she should have had a third last year).

Just before tipoff, Nike announced that Wilson’s own signature shoe, the “A’ONE,” would be released in spring 2025, a deal that Wilson confirmed had been brewing for two years. It couldn’t be announced until she had decided on a color scheme and the shoe’s overall look, but it’s on its way.

(Again, Wilson said the shoe had been long in the works. But of course the move seemed reactionary after WNBA rookie Caitlin Clark, who has yet to play a regular-season professional game, received a deal from Nike that includes a signature shoe as soon as she was drafted.)

Talents and personalities like Wilson and Clark are skyrocketing the popularity of women’s basketball. Staley and Hammon are glad to see it.

“I have two little boys and they had two little friends come over and they were playing basketball in my pool. And they were saying, ‘I’m A’ja Wilson!’ I’m Chelsea Gray!,’” Hammon said. “My dad said, ‘You don’t see that 12 years ago.’

“That’s the shift we’re pushing for. To get little boys and little girls to recognize greatness no matter who’s wearing that jersey.”

Hammon was fortunate that her college career ended as the WNBA was just finding its feet, the league starting in 1997, a year after Staley and the 1996 U.S. Olympic women’s team captivated the nation and sprinted to the gold medal. Staley had to play overseas and then in the short-lived American Basketball League before she could reach the WNBA.

But each was vital in the league’s growth, becoming two of the best and most cherished members of the league’s first decade. Staley, who started coaching while still playing in the WNBA, was a full-time coach after the 2006 season while Hammon lasted until 2014, when she became a full-time assistant coach for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.

Since then, the two have soared to individual success and each has been interviewed for NBA head-coaching jobs. Hammon was hired as the Aces’ big whistle in 2021 and has won the league title in each of her first two seasons as head coach.

Seat at the table

Women’s basketball is growing. The WNBA announced last week that it would implement charter flights for its teams this year, a long-awaited change (although it didn’t come soon enough for the Aces to avoid commercial flight delays getting to Columbia). Ambassadors such as Wilson and Clark are eager to use their platforms to appreciate the scratching of the surface of promoting the game, but also know there’s so much farther to go.

“We went from the ‘Get back in the kitchen’ comments, the ‘Go make a sandwich’ comments, to now everyone’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, I need to catch a game.’ And I can’t even cook!,” Wilson said, her ever-present smile again brightening the camera’s eye. “I’m glad to be in it, I feel like everybody’s hopping on the bandwagon. Which is cool, I hope it stays.”

Hammon reflected as well, saying that when she played, it became en vogue to knock the women’s game. She never understood it; she said that she isn’t a fan of golf, for instance, but never goes out of her way to trash it in public.

“We’re paying them what they’re worth and as the most elite women’s basketball players on the planet,” she said. “They’re the best of the best.”

Staley agreed. Like the others, she has relentlessly pushed for more equality for the game.

“We just got to get the financial backing. The turnout’s going to be great, the talent that you see on the floor’s going to be great, the coaching’s going to be great, the atmosphere’s going to be great, and it’s what our sport needs,” she said. “All the younger players that’s coming up, they have a (WNBA) carrot dangled in front of them their entire life.

“The NBA wasn’t what it’s been the first 28 years of its existence. The novelty of the WNBA has worn off. Now we have to insert some more innovative ideas for us to move forward.”

Wilson, as one of the faces of the league, took a swig from her Gatorade (she recently signed an endorsem*nt deal with the company) and repeated her thoughts. It’s great what’s going on now.

What’s next?

“Literally putting your money where your mouth is. It sounds good, it looks great on Twitter, it looks great on social, but what are we doing behind the scenes to make sure that we continue to invest in women’s sports in general?,” she said. “Those people who have a seat at the table? Speak up. Use your platform in that way, because not a lot of us have that seat.”