Dear Lennox,<\/p>\n
My BIG homie turning two today!!!! Happy Birthday, my little man \ud83d\ude42\u00a0<\/p>\n
You\u2019re growing so fast that people already think you\u2019re three. (Listen, I\u2019m trying to raise a big point guard over here!)<\/p>\n
Your birthday has me thinking about a lot of things, and so I wanted to write you this letter. Something for you to read when you\u2019re just about ready to spread your wings and set out for whatever big adventure life has in store for you. I know one day, when you\u2019re older, you\u2019ll start having questions \u2014 about me and your mom, about your life and your family. And I want to tell you everything.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll start with something about you. Anyone who knows you knows you\u2019re so so funny. You\u2019re particular. And you\u2019re a little chef! You love cooking with me and being my taste tester in the kitchen. You climb up on your step stool to stand next to me when we\u2019re cooking together. You\u2019re cutting veggies. You\u2019re washing dishes. You\u2019re doing it all. It\u2019s been really cool to see. There\u2019s something so sweet about having a curious child and watching them find new things to love and enjoy \u2014 that might be the best part of being a parent. You\u2019re going to have so many interests and hobbies as you get older, who even knows what will stick. I\u2019m so lucky I get to be on your journey, watching you become you.<\/p>\n
You also know that \u201cMommy does basketball.\u201d You come to the games and thankfully, you\u2019re unbothered by all the chaos. You know, sometimes when I see you in the locker room with the team or in the training room, laughing and playing with the trainers, it kind of blows my mind just how like\u2026\u2026 normal that all feels. When I was drafted almost 12 years ago, that definitely wasn\u2019t the norm \u2014 you didn\u2019t see a bunch of athletes bringing their kids around. Not on the women\u2019s side, at least. All the moms in the league, whether they carried or not, you know who they are because you can see the balancing act from afar \u2014\u00a0all the complex pieces that go into being a mom and a pro.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a lot. But to be honest, Lennox, I never thought about not bringing you along. I always knew I wanted you to be a part of it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I have a story to tell you. It\u2019s about 13 years before you were born. 2011. I\u2019m a freshman at Duke. Classes are out for break, so I\u2019m in Cali, sitting in the bleachers at Long Beach State with a friend. That\u2019s when I see your mama running up and down the court hoopin\u2019. I lean over to my friend \u00a0like, \u201cWho\u2019s that??\u201d Fast-forward and a couple days later, I\u2019m at a Sparks game. I get up from my seat, and you\u2019ll never guess who I bump into on the stairs\u2026. It was like a rom-com. We recognized each other right away and laughed. I\u2019m just like, \u201cWhat is this?? How I\u2019m sitting way over here, and you come up the stairs right next to me???\u201d I guess the universe was conspiring\u2026. Later on that night, I checked my Facebook, and saw I had a new friend request: Tipesa.<\/p>\n
We were just friends for a while, but I liked her from the moment we met. We tried dating, but it didn\u2019t work out. We were young, living on different coasts, and had separate lives back at school. Neither of us were sure where this was going. Neither of us were sure this had anywhere to go. Then at the end of 2013, we crossed paths again when Duke went to play Cal Berkeley (where your mama\u2019s team had just played), and we were in the same city. And once again, it just felt like divine timing. In my last semester at Duke, we made it official.<\/p>\n
One thing I hope, Lennox, is that the world you grow up in is more open-minded than the one I grew up in, and one day when you read this, you\u2019re surprised to learn that it wasn\u2019t always easy to be yourself for people like me and mama. It was a hush-hush type of thing. It wasn\u2019t until high school when I really understood who I was, and I still kept it a secret. Even at Duke, I was hiding parts of myself. If anyone asked if I had someone special in my life, I\u2019d always say, \u201cNo, I haven\u2019t found anybody yet.\u201d It wasn\u2019t until I met your mama that I felt like I really wanted to tell my parents and everyone I knew.<\/p>\n
But there was just so much to lose by sharing your truth back then. That\u2019s why on one of the most important nights of my career, the night of the WNBA draft, I wasn\u2019t able to have your mom standing by my side. I called her when I was in the green room, when I finally got a moment to sneak away, and she was so excited for me. She\u2019s screaming on the phone, like, \u201cLET\u2019S GOOOOO!!!\u201d She had already been a part of so many high and lows. She understood how much this meant to me. Crazy to think it was just the beginning.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s about six years before you were born. 2018. I\u2019m playing for the Sparks. We\u2019re in LA, at the marina, and it\u2019s a really nice, sunny day outside. Earlier that day I had called your mom and said, \u201cHey, my teammates want to get a boat and kick it, and it\u2019s actually perfect timing. You\u2019ll be off work. We can just meet there.\u201d Fast-forward, we\u2019re at the marina, walking down the dock, and your mama\u2019s kind of mad at me, because we\u2019re 30 minutes late. She doesn\u2019t like being late (Mind you, I made us 30 minutes late because I needed everybody to get there first.) When we pull up, 9 of our closest friends are already there. We got on the boat, and before she knew it, I got down on one knee \u2014 I proposed. (She said yes! No hesitation!) We sailed out on the water for a couple of hours and celebrated. It was perfect. And then a couple weeks later, when we were at home, just the two of us, she actually surprised me and proposed back.<\/p>\n
On November 1, 2019, I got to marry my best friend. I\u2019ll always remember this one part of my vows. I said, \u201cI found someone I can fall in love with every day.\u201d When I think about why I fell in love with her, it\u2019s just who she is as a person\u2026.. the beautiful, witty, magnetic woman I\u2019m lucky I ran into on the stairs at the Staples Center all those years ago.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s now 2026. I\u2019m 33 years old. And Lennox, I have to tell you, my boy \u2014 I kind of feel the same way about my career that I do about you turning two\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n
Like, What the\u2026.. This happened so fast.<\/p>\n
The years always go by faster than you think. When I look back on my journey, I think about how many times I had a big choice to make that ultimately shaped the rest of our lives. And I\u2019m just so grateful that I can look back on it all now and know that the decisions I made were the right ones.<\/p>\n
For instance, it wasn\u2019t always a given that you\u2019d grow up in Las Vegas. There was a time when I thought I would be with LA for my entire career. That\u2019s how much I loved it. Going to LA gave me an opportunity to play and to also learn under future Hall of Famers, like your Godmom Candace.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adam Pantozzi\/NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Let me tell you about Godmom Candace for a second. Man, we just had so much respect and love for each other\u2019s basketball minds, IQ-wise. The way she passed in the open court, orchestrated things from the post, and constantly made big plays is something that resonated with me. She helped change the game, and was wise beyond her years, so I absorbed everything like a sponge. There\u2019s always a play within the play \u2014 that\u2019s one thing I learned from her. And then off the court, we just grew closer and closer over the years. Bonded over business, tequila, movie one-liners (you\u2019ll learn about that a lot later). So she had her son Airr and asked me and your mama to be the godparents. And then we had you, and she became your Godmom. I\u2019d say LA had a much larger purpose than I realized at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bubble, in 2020, was my last season with the Sparks. I remember that fall during free agency, I was overseas, and I called Candace. We were going through our own free agency journeys, but kept each other in the loop the whole way. I wanted to play with her again, but my time was up, and I knew it. I had several meetings with Vegas \u2014 a talented group that hadn\u2019t won before and believed I was the missing piece. They had a young core, led by their star A\u2019ja Wilson, and had a strong vision for where they wanted to go. They were able to convey it to me in a way that felt real. They were putting together a team that wasn\u2019t just going to be good for one or two years, but for years to come. I\u2019d already won a championship with LA, but hearing their plans reinvigorated something in me. I left our last meeting confident I could be that missing piece.<\/p>\n
So I decided to go, but I was nervous because I was like, OK, I\u2019m making a big life change. California felt like home. What will Vegas be like? And I guess that\u2019s just a lesson in trusting your gut, Lennox, because I would say it\u2019s worked out pretty well for me. We lost in the semi-finals my first year there. But in 2022, Becky came in and changed the culture for the Aces. She took what we had and made something that was her own. Everybody was new and trying to figure it out. So it created this bond and team chemistry and closeness. And no matter what, we were going to ride with each other and figure this thing out. We finished the season 26\u201310 with a rookie coach. Went to the playoffs, then the finals. And we won. We didn\u2019t just win the championship, though, Lennox. We arrived.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Chelsea Gray & Ethan Miller\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Becky elevated the trajectory of my career. I had another level that I could go to, and she gave me the freedom to explore that. My mind and the way I see the game has always been a strength. Becky cultivated that, and the freedom she allowed me unlocked a level I didn\u2019t know I could get to. She trusted me, and it empowered me. I haven\u2019t looked back since.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been two years since you were born\u2026.. Your favorite movies are Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, Shark Tale, and The Lion King. You\u2019re intelligent and pick up on things quickly. You are a confident kid who is very sure of himself. So confident that you believe you can do anything. It\u2019s one of my favorite qualities about you, so me and Mama give you a lot of freedom to test your skills (with proper supervision of course). You love to run and tackle and play in the dirt. Basketball is your favorite sport, but soccer\u2019s a close second. You love to chase birds and chase the waves. And before bed most nights, you sit beside me on the floor and play with your dinosaurs and trucks.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s wild to think I\u2019ve been in the league 11 years now, and two of them have been with you. That\u2019s been on my mind a lot lately, especially being in year two of Unrivaled and around even younger talent. It\u2019s honestly a personal point of pride, having helped pioneer this thing, and really just a joy to see them out there having a blast. Crazy fun moments like being crowned the Unrivaled 1-on-1 champ, are even more special because you\u2019re courtside, cheering me on. You were so excited for Mommy \ud83d\ude42 Ultimately, my hope with Unrivaled is that it continues to be an opportunity for younger players to get better and grow the game with their voices like my generation did and the one before us. That they get to be louder, bolder, more authentic in every way. I take so much pride in sharing my knowledge. The way the game looks when I leave it behind\u2026.. I think I\u2019ll let that be my legacy. Whenever that time comes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But for now, I\u2019m still enjoying the ride. And I hope you\u2019re enjoying it too, X-man. At the end of the day, I just want what every parent wants \u2014 for my child to have a better experience than I had. I just think it\u2019s pretty damn cool for you to be around so many other amazing women athletes and their kids. My hope for you is that when you sit down and read this one day, as the bright, adventurous, and talented young man that I know you will become, you understand how much of a gift this life is and do something with it and have great memories along the way. But right now, you\u2019re just this little boy enjoying Mommy playing basketball, and I\u2019m cool with that. Maybe when you\u2019re older, you won\u2019t remember any of this stuff. But I will.<\/p>\n
Love you always,<\/p>\n
Mom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dear Lennox, My BIG homie turning two today!!!! Happy Birthday, my little man \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 You\u2019re growing so fast…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-487979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}