As Wicks describes her experience in the WNBA, she makes it clear that she’s humbled by the legacy she left behind. “I’m proud and feel lucky that I was [playing] in ‘97 on that first [New York Liberty] team,” she tells me. “This team and my teammates, the way we played and showed up for one another, I’m so very proud of that. And I’m so proud to be part of this organization and how it’s grown… When we played, girls on other teams would be like, ‘I wish I played for New York.’” In those early years, the Liberty’s roster consisted of WNBA legends including Wicks, Teresa Weatherspoon, Rebecca Lobo, Becky Hammon (who now coaches the Las Vegas Aces), Kym Hampton, and more. As we discuss her teammates, she tells me the most unbelievable thing I have ever heard: They read WNBA fanfiction in the locker room.
“Someone was writing a whole fantasy series about the New York Liberty [players] all being gay. And I was with Rebecca Lobo and we were dying. I remember Becky Hammon brought it to me and she was like, ‘Oh my God, look at this.’ I’m with [Lobo] and I’m like the matriarch and I’m teaching all the younger lesbians how to be gay,” Wicks recalls. My jaw is on the floor. “They were asking me for dating advice, position advice, and the young ones wanted to learn from me. And I’m like, How did I get to be that in this person’s mind? But I loved it. We’d be almost peeing our pants laughing at how good this was.” (Someone please find this for me, ASAP.)
21 Aug 2001: Sue Wicks #23 of the New York Liberty defends the basket against Elana Baranova #28 of the Miami Sol in game three of the Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Liberty won 72-61 to take the series 2-1. DIGITAL IMAGE Mandatory Credit: Al Bello/AllsportAl Bello
It’s funny to look back at how much has changed in the league’s 30-year history, and yet how much has stayed the same. Sapphics have always, and will always, love fanfiction. And the league’s locker rooms fostered relationships that have lasted for decades. When I ask Wicks which player she’d want to play with now if she could, she immediately responds with a joke. “I know who I don’t want to play against… I’ll call Becky Hammon and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh. If I had to guard A’ja Wilson, I wouldn’t sleep. I would totally be looking on Indeed for a new job like, I can’t do that. That’s terrifying.’”
As we wrap up our conversation, sitting on the sidelines of the Liberty’s empty practice gym, before the team’s Pride Night game against the Phoenix Mercury — which yes, included a special halftime Elliedonna performance — Wicks reflects on how much the league has grown and changed over the last three decades. From the new CBA and watching players sign historic multi-million dollar deals — “Here’s what I’m worth. Pay me. That was the dream. We didn’t talk like that.” — to new opportunities like Unrivaled and the growing representation in the league, including the StudBudz.
“I think it’s a seminal moment as well, because what they represent, they’re studs and they’re funny, hilarious, cute. And that is a glimpse into a different person, different representation,” Wicks says of Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman, renowned WNBA besties and viral content creators. “It’s something that we all have witnessed and experienced inside of teams but now the world [gets to see it] and they are just so confidently and authentically out and themselves.”