![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-600296.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nAs Wicks describes her experience in the WNBA, she makes it clear that she\u2019s humbled by the legacy she left behind. \u201cI’m proud and feel lucky that I was [playing] in \u201897 on that first [New York Liberty] team,\u201d she tells me. \u201cThis team and my teammates, the way we played and showed up for one another, I\u2019m so very proud of that. And I’m so proud to be part of this organization and how it’s grown\u2026 When we played, girls on other teams would be like, \u2018I wish I played for New York.\u2019\u201d In those early years, the Liberty\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone 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, \u2018Oh my God, look at this.\u2019 I’m with [Lobo] and I’m like the matriarch and I’m teaching all the younger lesbians how to be gay,\u201d Wicks recalls. My jaw is on the floor. \u201cThey 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.\u201d (Someone please find this for me, ASAP.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
It\u2019s funny to look back at how much has changed in the league\u2019s 30-year history, and yet how much has stayed the same. Sapphics have always, and will always, love fanfiction. And the league\u2019s locker rooms fostered relationships that have lasted for decades. When I ask Wicks which player she\u2019d want to play with now if she could, she immediately responds with a joke. \u201cI know who I don’t want to play against… I’ll call Becky Hammon and I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh my gosh. If I had to guard A\u2019ja 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.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
As we wrap up our conversation, sitting on the sidelines of the Liberty\u2019s empty practice gym, before the team\u2019s Pride Night game against the Phoenix Mercury \u2014 which yes, included a special halftime Elliedonna<\/a> performance \u2014 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 \u2014 \u201cHere’s what I’m worth. Pay me. That was the dream. We didn’t talk like that.\u201d \u2014 to new opportunities like Unrivaled and the growing representation in the league, including the StudBudz.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d Wicks says of Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman, renowned WNBA besties and viral content creators. \u201cIt’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.\u201d<\/p>\n