L.A. Sparks on Lisa Leslie

All the naysayers that said, oh this league could never be, it's not gonna happen. What do you gotta say to them now? Nanny, nanny, boo boo. Welcome to Young Hollywood. So tell me what it's like as a rookie to come onto this court, the very court that the LA Lakers play on.

It's amazing. Um, I've always grew up watching the Lakers and I'm a huge fan and I just think that I even think it's the court that Lisa Leslie plays on, so that's even better.

So you have one of your legends like on the owner's team now.

Yes, that's right. Lisa Leslie Lockwood. It's great to have her around. She's a great inspiration for a lot of young players, so, um, just to be able to play at the place she played at and try to, you know, live up to some of the things she did. It's just um, a blessing in the cell. You know, she is a diva on and off the court. But not a diva in the bad sense of the word, but a diva in being a strong, fierce black woman who is, um, not afraid of being great. You know, failure and fear are words that probably aren't in her vocabulary and her accolades speak volumes of who she is and what she stands for on and off the court.

Hey, let's talk about the WNBA, 15 years. Where were you 15 years ago and look where you are now?

15 years ago, I was in El Paso, Texas, watching Lisa Leslie play. That was my first WNBA jersey and that's when I knew I was like, I want to play in this league, you know, So just sometimes seeing her out there on the court, you know, her name written on the court, it's like, wow, amazing.

15 years, we're celebrating. How good does that feel and all the naysayers that said, oh you guys would never make it.

You know, it feels great. We're the number one professional women's league in America. And your ticket sales are the best they've ever been now. Yeah, we get at least 10,000 people every game that are loud, get engaged with the game, help us out when we're down. So, we love our fans, we love everybody that comes. Once you come once, you always want to come back. You know, we're 15 years strong. And I remember after the first five years, they were like, oh this league won't last. Then 10 years came. Oh, they're still around. I give them two more years. 12 years came. Now we're in year 15. You know, I think that this league is here to stay and I hope it is something that, um, will continue to grow and you can see the youth of America follow this, participate in it, become legends themselves, and history will continue to repeat itself. All the naysayers, look at us now. You know, uh, it's been 15 years, trying to go another 15. We've gotten 11% growth from this year alone with the Sparks. So it just looks like it just keeps getting better and better, keep growing and growing.

All the naysayers that said, oh this league could never be, it's not gonna happen. What do you gotta say to them now? Nanny, nanny, boo boo.