Chasing the W
Women’s basketball, rec-league energy, and real talk. Hosted by two hoop-obsessed friends who met in a PRIDE rec league, this podcast dives into everything happening in women’s sports — with women’s basketball at the center. We break down games, talk culture, share stories from the court, and celebrate the players and communities pushing the game forward. Come for the hoops, stay for the banter.
Chasing the W
Chasing the Season Opener
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On this week's episode, Amanda and Bonnie recap preseason and final rosters, share their Fantasy rosters and explore the new Upshot Basketball league. Amanda also gives y'all 24 seconds of why Phee was wrong in her NPR interview.
Welcome back to another episode of Chasing the W. I'm Amanda.
BonnieI'm Bonnie.
SPEAKER_04How are you?
BonnieI'm doing well. Um we just had Mexican food. We did. It was delicious.
AmandaAnd we had sour octopi.
BonnieSour octopi.
AmandaThis is Bonnie's new thing. Sour worms, gummy worms, and now octopi.
BonnieI didn't have the worms I wanted, so I tried the octopi, but I don't I don't think I'm gonna get them again.
AmandaI like like the flavor, but the value is not good. I mean there were like three.
BonnieWhoa! There were like three in there.
SPEAKER_04That was crazy.
BonnieLike eight eight is too many legs, you know?
AmandaYeah. Yeah.
BonnieWait, that's there's this one part in have you ever seen Love Actually?
AmandaYeah.
BonnieYou know, near the end when Hugh Grant is getting back with Natalie, the girl. Uh-huh. The regular dagular girl. Yeah. But they're riding in the backseat with that guy who or the kid who's wearing the octopus.
unknownYeah.
BonnieWell, there's a point where his mom, the kid's mom, says to Hugh Grant, eight is a lot of legs, David. And so I say that a lot.
AmandaThat is a it's a stim?
BonnieEight is a lot of legs, David.
AmandaTrying to think, I'm trying to think what my most recent stim is. I don't know. I say a lot of things sometimes. They just come out of me. It's a lot of it is actually like Hannah Montana transitions.
BonnieYeah, you were singing that earlier. Sing it again.
AmandaYeah. Well, in between scenes.
BonnieTwo, three, four. You get the limo. Wow.
unknownOh.
AmandaWell, actually, though, in the show, like there's a lot of like vocal transitions from scene to scene, but it'll like match whatever the mood is. So, like, sometimes it's like, whoo, yeah, yeah, whoo. But then other times it's like, it's like, oh, yeah. You know, like when she's sad. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. Not a lot of bang for your book with the octopi. Okay, so what are we talking about today? Today we're gonna talk about preseason, recapping that, and then unfortunately, talking about all the players who were sadly waived.
BonnieSad too.
AmandaSad, sad, sad. And then more exciting stuff, less depressing stuff. We'll talk about fantasy basketball. We'll talk about what we think will happen for the Libs home opener against Washington, not Connecticut. I keep for some reason thinking it's Connecticut. Fuck. Is it fuck?
SPEAKER_02Okay, see.
BonnieWait, hold on.
AmandaNo, you're right. It is Connecticut. Isn't it?
BonnieI'm checking, I'm checking. Yeah. First Connecticut. Okay, yeah. Sorry. So I did I did it again.
AmandaI don't know why I keep thinking it's the mystics.
BonnieWe play Washington on Sunday.
AmandaI don't know what's going on. I think I'm having like a visual impairment.
BonnieLike next week we play Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. We play Portland Fire four days in a row.
AmandaI mean, I guess are we maximizing just the West Coast trip? Is that what's going on?
BonnieBut like switch it up with the Valkyries a little bit.
AmandaYeah, I'm tired. I'm tired already, and I'm not even playing. Bonnie will do overtime, and I will do my 24-second shot clock violation where I talk about fees' comments about the physicality of the league. And so without further ado, let's re let's jump into preseason. Let's talk about players who were waived.
BonnieThis week was tough. Like what was it? It was tumultuous. It was heartbreaking. It was really tough. First notable thing that happened, I think it was on Monday. Haley Van Lith got waived.
AmandaI really think before even before that, Marta Suarez, who was draft at number 16 to Seattle and then remember traded to the Valkyries.
BonnieSo technically number eight.
AmandaYeah, so she was traded for Flaget and she got waived, which I thought was really fucking weird because why did you do all of that?
BonnieExactly.
AmandaBut I do I do think that it had to do with cap space because I think with the new CBA, depending on where you're drafted, that's how much the rookie contract is, and allegedly they were trying to save cap space in uh in the bay, but then they ended up letting go of Marta Suarez anyway. So I don't know.
BonnieDoesn't make any sense.
AmandaIt doesn't make any sense. Another trade your Yeah, I I'm not I'm not really sure to be honest, but I thought that that was I think the first big drop. Yeah, I remember sending it and your reaction was let the let the games begin. I think they're not your games begin. Yeah, it was really pretty bad.
BonnieDid she did get picked up by someone?
AmandaMarta did?
BonnieYeah, she's on a developmental.
AmandaOh. I had no idea. Well, that's good for her because it's kind of crazy to be drafted as a lottery pick. Or I guess not No, she was just under lottery, maybe. Yeah, I think lottery stops at 15, so she wasn't a lottery pick, but she was traded. I don't know. I thought that was kind of crazy. First round draft pick getting waived, but I guess I guess that's more common than not, considering that there's just like a yeah, she's on developmental contract with the Mercury. Wow. Well, good for her. Okay. So not that sad. A little sad because I feel like the Valkyries would have been a good place to play.
BonnieYeah.
AmandaI mean, but the sun I feel like not the Sun, sorry, the Mercury don't really have anybody. I know they have AT and Dwana Bonner and Kalia Copper, but like who else who else they got? I don't even know who else is on that team. You know what I mean? I don't like I don't even know who their sixth man is. Like, I don't I don't know.
BonnieLet me look at the roster tracker.
AmandaI do think though that with all of these moves, it's been like harder to kind of keep track. Some other notable cuts as it relates, at least to like the connection to the Liberty. I think Marquisha Marquisha was waived. I also Jalen Sherrod was also waived by the Lynx.
BonnieI'm surprised about Jalen.
AmandaYeah, that's fucking crazy, Cheryl. You you don't even got players, you even got bodies, and you cut Jalen as crazy.
BonnieYeah, I just don't understand the strategy of behind all this.
AmandaYeah, I mean, she is one of the best coaches in the league, unfortunately, and so I'm sure she had a reason. Like she's seen something. You know what I mean?
BonnieBut I mean Jalen does play a little wild, but that doesn't mean like she's she's still really good.
AmandaShe's a good high-energy player. I thought that she I don't know. I thought she would be a good I don't know. Not that I wanted her on Minnesota, of course, but I don't know. I wanted her to land somewhere.
BonnieYeah, I feel like she has room to grow and mature.
AmandaYeah. Maybe she still will. She'll find a spot. Yeah. I think she'll find a spot. There will there will be injuries, there will be a lot of things going on. Like I think she'll be okay. But anyway, back to Haley Van Lith. Haley Van Lith had an incredible preseason. She made a game where she shot 100%, and then they cut her.
BonnieLike the next day.
AmandaLike the next day. And they cut her to do what? To then pick up Natasha Cloud, which is crazy because it's Guard City over there. It's the Chicago Guards, actually.
BonnieCamilla is like the only tall.
unknownThat's crazy.
AmandaAnd she and she will be tired.
BonnieYeah, I know. I feel like I like Camilla, but she doesn't have the same hustle as some of the other bigs in the league.
AmandaNo, I mean you would think that you would take you would keep Angel Reese, but I just think they didn't like her. I just genuinely I think that the organiz organization did not like her.
BonnieSomething I mean something's going on with Chicago though, because they lost I mean during this pre this um free agency, they lost every single 2025 draft pick they had. And it's four.
AmandaYeah.
BonnieLike did you see that the other girl Yeah, they traded them all the way. And the other girl, I don't know how to pronounce her name. It's like Asha Sivka is going to Connectic Kentucky. Yeah, she like was drafted and then University of Kentucky.
AmandaThere was actually a lot of conversation and discourse around this. I want to say like last year, the year before, because it might have been last year, because there are some men's players who have played in professional leagues who have been like returning to to play in college, and some of the coaches have been like, You played professionally. That's an unfair advantage. You can't just come back to college and hoop.
BonnieLike I would say that's unfair. Yeah, I wouldn't. But they have that rule where you don't even have to finish college, right? Like you can just play one year and then go into the league.
AmandaYeah. You don't even have to I don't even think you even have to go to college. Damn. Like I'm fairly certain LeBron was drafted from high school.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you're probably right.
AmandaLeBron James. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02LeBron.
AmandaYeah, so I think that's super weird too. But I mean, what do you think about Tosh?
BonnieIt's I'm happy for her. But again, I just don't understand the strategy of Chicago. And I feel like she'll be a decent point guard for them.
SPEAKER_04But they got so many point guards.
BonnieYeah, I don't know where that puts Vance uh, what's her name? Sloot. What's her last name?
AmandaOkay.
BonnieIt's just right.
AmandaVandersloot. Courtney Vanders. Okay, wait, yeah, that's a good point because why would you keep Sloot and then not keep a young player? You know what I mean?
BonnieYeah. I really feel like for Haley Van Lith to like have literally a perfect game for the minutes that she played, and then them to be like, it's not good enough.
AmandaBut good news for her, because she got picked up by Connecticut.
BonnieHonestly, she's gonna thrive.
AmandaAnd now she's in the vibe time locker room. Yeah. And she I think she'll get a lot of playing time there. I think I think she'll I think she'll shine in Connecticut. Oh, in Chicago, yeah, that's what I mean. They have Skylar, Tosh, Sleot. Why do you need so many point guards? And also, like Sloot, just fucking retire.
BonnieDude, for real.
AmandaLike, Angel was right on a money, Loki. Like, move on.
BonnieI feel like she's weirdly bitter.
AmandaI know. It's it's I don't know, it's really weird.
BonnieDid you see that post that was like, why'd the retirement guys take uh Tina Charles? Yeah. Sloot was right there.
AmandaI mean, yeah.
BonnieOkay, anyway, yeah. Who else was who else?
AmandaOh my god, wait! Kate Martin.
BonnieI know, I was about to get there. Sorry, sorry. Kate Kate Martin, what the fuck?
AmandaThat's crazy.
BonnieI can't believe that she got waived. When I saw that this morning, I was like, I'm gonna be sick.
AmandaDo we think okay, but do we think that do we think that Kate Martin was doing anything like I don't know. Like, was she hooping?
BonnieUm, I think not to her potential.
SPEAKER_04Not us being like, um, but was she hooping?
BonnieI feel like she has a lot of potential. She just hasn't unlocked it yet.
AmandaMm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I would agree with that. I mean, send her back to Vegas.
BonnieYeah.
AmandaSend her back to her mother.
BonnieSend her back to Asia. Asia. I can't remember anyone's name right now. Becky, who I'm thinking of.
AmandaOh, Becky Hammond.
BonnieBecky Hammond.
AmandaYou see, she wasn't wearing a hoodie for the first time in forever.
BonnieMoved on from that phase of life?
AmandaGod, I really hope so. I like, it gives me the ick every time I say I'm like girly pop. You don't need it. Why do you need that?
BonnieIt's like 1984. Let's say.
AmandaIt's like, it's like literally, it's like wear the hoodie or wear the blazer. Do not wear both.
BonnieYeah.
AmandaAnd that's it. So.
BonnieDid you have a Deb? You know the clothing star Deb?
AmandaYeah. Oh my god, I forgot about that story. Yeah, where it's like, it's not actually. Yeah, because it's not actually like a blazer hoodie combo. It's actually like a hoodie sewn. Yeah. Yeah. Same thing.
BonnieJust like the hood. And like this part.
AmandaYeah, the zipper, which she never zippers because it's gotta be open. I used to hate shit like that. Like so corny. Brenda really Brenda really likes the blazer hoodie combo.
SPEAKER_01I said low-key.
AmandaWell, now it's high key. Now everyone knows. Brenda loves the blazer hoodie.
BonnieI like that.
SPEAKER_00She is gay though.
AmandaShe yeah, she is gay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but she has to be identifiably gay. Does she? Sometimes.
AmandaSo are you saying that you need to be identifiably gay, tall girl?
unknownYeah.
AmandaYeah.
BonnieWhat are your identifiers, Eliza?
unknownHeight. Height?
AmandaHeight is definitely one. Height makes her gay for sure.
BonnieThose are you.
AmandaNo, no, I don't know.
unknownOn the gay ear?
AmandaOn the gay ear. Oh, wait, which one was the gay ear? I don't remember. One of them was the gay ear. Um. I don't know.
unknownThe backwards caps I wear.
AmandaYou wear backwards caps? What are we doing? What are we even talking about? It's crazy, Bonnie, because obviously we are the identifiably gay people in our relationship. So it's crazy. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
BonnieI think to try.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, Bonnie just gives gay. Like, I don't know. It just like eman it emanates from her Bonnie.
BonnieAnd we're like, that's a lesbian. Yeah. Brenda said I'm blessed by the homogods.
AmandaI think so.
BonnieI think so.
AmandaI think so. Me too. I don't know. People sometimes think I'm straight.
BonnieWhat? That's a joke wild.
AmandaStraight men. Yeah, for some reason, straight men think that they take a look at me and they're like flirting, and I'm just like, dude, like, I literally just came from the barber. Like half of my head is shaved. Like, what are we even talking about? Like, it's fine though. Anyway.
BonnieStreet men are just like, they don't think about anybody besides themselves. I yeah.
AmandaI would agree with that. Yeah. But anyway, you and I are very gay. Anyway, and we give so gay.
BonnieUm, so yeah, R.I.P. Kate Martin. I don't know. The thing is, is like we're just to get back on track. The thing is like I feel like people are getting waived and then picked up. Wave, pick up, wave, pick up, gonna be any fucking spots left, to be honest.
AmandaI know. I I honestly have whiplash. I'm happy. I think, well, I was just thinking, like, Flager is still she's good. Yeah, right. I think they are gonna keep her. Seattle only got pennies, so they gotta keep her. Yeah.
BonnieAnd like she's really good for them.
AmandaAnd she I think they could build around her. Me too. Her and Dom. Oh my god, her and Dom. Yeah. An olifum tum. Crazy. Uh okay. Any is there any other like notable like waves?
SPEAKER_02One more.
AmandaI'm scared.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god, that's right. Fuck, I forgot. Annalie Maley.
AmandaOh my god. R IP.
BonnieMoment of silence for the lesbians.
AmandaReally sorry, you guys.
unknownChris.
AmandaFred really wanted it to happen. Yeah, I mean, Krista Markle is clearly homophobic. I don't know.
BonnieAlthough Eliza did call it before it was happening because she's a forward, and like we have We got too many. We have that already. We have it in Leo, but Nija flexes from Guard to Forward. We have Satu now. We have JJ and Han, who are centers, but yeah, I just feel like it kind of makes sense.
AmandaYeah. I mean, from a from a roster perspective, yeah.
BonnieBut sometimes you try again next to your Annalise.
AmandaYeah, and okay, wait. So so now that we don't have Tosh, who's our personality hire?
BonniePersonality hire is hot.
AmandaI guess.
BonnieWell, I mean, I don't know.
AmandaI feel like we haven't I mean, well, because before Tosh, I felt like we had it in KB too.
BonnieYeah, and KT.
AmandaAnd KT, yeah.
BonnieAnd before that, it was like Stephanie Dulson.
AmandaAnd now hold on. What is Sabrina? Oh, I guess she has JJ. I was just like, what's she gonna do without a stud in her life? I feel like Sabrina plays well when she's got a stud on her team.
BonnieOkay, should we talk about the Liberty Roster? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
AmandaOh my god, you're right. I forgot about this formula. I like don't even know what's happening anymore. I don't know who's gay and who's not. Okay.
BonnieYeah, let's okay. So the starting five is probably gonna be Sab. Stewie. JJ. And then do we think Benija?
AmandaI think so.
BonnieAnd Satu.
AmandaYeah, definitely Satu. Okay, so this is the thing. Sabrina is allegedly a straight. There's three straights, two gays. In the starting lineup. I'm not gonna lie to you.
BonnieWell, and I think Satu's gay.
AmandaShe better be.
SPEAKER_02You said that is her one redeeming quality.
AmandaNo, I think I think actually, I think she is gay because I remember hearing it from someone and being very surprised because I thought she was straight. Okay, hold on. So maybe okay, three and two then. Sorry, I was worried that it was two and three, and I was just like, that's gonna really fuck up the balance. We can't have three power straights. It's true. Well, I guess we only have one power straight, Sabrina, and the others are just regular.
BonnieBonaja's regular straight?
AmandaI think so. Well, she could be a power straight, really.
BonnieI'm so happy that Bonaja's back. Oh my god, I know.
AmandaI'm really excited for her. I'm I'm interested to see how Chris DeMarco coaches and like what his game plan is. It's like hard because I feel like typically like you would see a coach move to a new team and you kind of have an idea of what their style is, and they have like kind of a you know a history, but as we know, he's never fucking coached women, so I don't even know what to expect. Yeah, I have no idea.
BonnieSo I'm looking at the post of the final final roster, and all the comments are like, it's incomplete without Melee. I was waiting for Maylee and DP. You better give Maylee that last dev spot. She was amazing during preseason.
AmandaYeah, I mean, listen, the gays were begging to keep May like a dog that they found on the street like a little puppy. Like, please can we keep her? And well, that's just how the cookie crumbled.
BonnieThat's how the cookie crumbled. We have a lot of French people on the team. We have we have like a very European team. Yeah. Well, we now have three Marines. We have three Marines. Wait, sorry.
AmandaTwo Marines. Still, that's that's still a lot. So a lot of Marines. And we have Beck Allen. Yep. Okay, so super sad about Annalie Maley, R-I-P. I mean, I guess like away from the team. She's not dead, but really tough.
BonnieTill next season.
AmandaThe WNBA did recently release their GM survey, and I thought it would be fun to go through the highlights and share some thoughts. Please. It's me flipping my page. Okay, so I don't I didn't write down every single category, but I did think that there was just some notable ones that would be fun to talk about. So based on the new CBA and obviously all of these player moves, one thing they were asked was who they thought would would be the most impactful player, like the who was acquired, like in in the in free agency. So at the top sitting Angel Reese and Gabby Williams, both at 27%. I would agree with that. Yeah. Neko at 20%. And I was surprised to see that Satu sat at 13%.
BonnieYeah.
AmandaOnce again, she's gonna have to show me.
BonnieSo she's out or something.
AmandaYeah, and then okay, so most improved team, Dallas was voted top with 67%.
BonnieI agree with that.
AmandaI would agree with that too because they got Alana Smith.
BonnieThey got Alana Smith, they got AZ.
AmandaYeah.
BonnieThey're they got Zaza. They have a good one.
AmandaThey're tough. Jess Shepard. Yeah, it's tough. Yeah, it's tough. Um, and then they have Chicago at 20%, LA at 13%.
BonnieI'm a little worried about Chicago.
AmandaI just don't know what they're doing. I just don't know what they're doing.
BonnieYeah, they're like they can only play small ball.
AmandaYeah, which I mean, I guess we'll see if it works. We'll see. We'll see. Okay. So then they were also asked which rookie do you think will be the best player in five years? Who do you think? Who do you think, Bon?
BonnieUm who was who like this rookie meaning the first year.
AmandaYeah, who will be a rookie this year? Which rookie will be the best player in five years?
BonnieOkay. Oh. I know.
AmandaDo you know?
BonnieWho is it? Olivia Miles.
AmandaNo.
BonnieOh.
AmandaAw Fam Tiam at 67%. Olivia Miles came in at 33%.
BonnieOkay. Damn, Awa Fam Tiam.
AmandaIsn't that crazy?
BonnieThat is crazy.
AmandaPeople don't think AZ's gonna be good. I mean She's a shooter.
BonnieShe's already good.
AmandaOh that's true. Wow. What is that?
SPEAKER_02Okay. No, I think she's gonna be really good. Biggest steal of the draft.
AmandaNell Angloma.
SPEAKER_02Who?
AmandaNo, Anne Gloma. She was drafted, I believe, to the Valkyries, possibly. Then Tania Latson at 21%. They were both tied. Um, and she was drafted by the Sparks. Okay. She played at uh South Carolina with Don, and then Flagget at 14%.
BonnieOkay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
AmandaOkay. So best defensive player of the year.
SPEAKER_02Guess. What'd she say?
AmandaI don't know. What is she? Asia? Yeah. Asia at 53%. Gabby Williams at 20%. And AT at 13%, which I thought was really random. And also, listen, we all know that I'm an Alana Smith lover, okay? I've been converted.
BonnieI feel like Alana Smith should be the person.
AmandaI know. I'm just saying I've been converted, but I just want to say it's very interesting that she was not a notable name mentioned, considering they gave her co-defensive player of the year, which I still do not agree with. I like respectfully, they should have just gave it to Asia. Yeah, they don't need to be doing we don't need any pity. It's not share, it's not sharing. It's just like it I remember like somebody somebody posted last year when Fee didn't win MVP, like, oh, like, what else does fee have to do? And I was just like, well, she well, not even that. Fee has to just not have been born and existed and played at the same time as Asia Wilson. Like, it's just unfortunately, like, that's how things are going for her. Like, respectfully, Asia's the best player in the league. It's true. And she's on this trajectory. I don't think she's gonna stop.
BonnieSo who do they say for MVP? MVP odds.
Amanda60% Asia.
BonnieOkay. Damn.
Amanda27% Stewie. Yeah. Okay, Stewie. Okay, Stew York. Okay, also, this was not from the GM survey. This was from like some stupid ass like ESPN ranking or something like that. The odds for Caitlin Clark to win MVP are apparently like, I don't know, I don't know how to talk about odds, but it's like the she's like the lowest plus. Yeah. She's like plus 200 or something.
BonnieThat means that she's very likely.
AmandaWell, right?
BonnieIt would be negative if she was very likely.
AmandaOh, wait, yeah. No one was in the negative.
BonnieOkay, then yeah, I mean like that's pretty likely.
AmandaYeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Which who the fuck is compiling this data? On what fucking planet is she gonna win MVP before Asia, before Phi, before Stewie. It ain't gonna happen.
AmandaEven before Paige.
BonnieYeah, no. I don't see that happening.
AmandaAnd respectfully, Paige is not winning MVP this year either. And if you do, Paige, shout out to you, but I highly doubt it. Not while Asia Wilson's in the league. Like, I don't know.
BonnieIt's true.
AmandaI just I don't see it. So that was really annoying. Anyway, back to the GM survey. Best defensive team, Golden State.
BonnieWho do they have again?
AmandaGabby Williams, Veronica Burton.
BonnieYeah, yeah, yeah.
AmandaAnd why is that all I know?
BonnieCaitlin Chin.
unknownYeah.
AmandaWait.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, wait, duh. KT.
AmandaOkay, alright. I can't think of anyone else. They have Atlanta at 36. They had Minnesota at 7%. And then they had Indiana at 7%. And I guarantee you that that 7% is all Raven Johnson.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
AmandaLike that's literally all it is. Oh, okay. This one I thought was really interesting. Tell me. Most athletic.
BonnieAs a team or a player?
AmandaA player.
BonnieMost athletic. Jackie Young.
AmandaNo. I think I I think it's gonna be someone that you didn't expect. Do you want me to just tell you?
BonnieYeah.
AmandaEliza, do you have a guess? I'm gonna need you to yell.
BonnieGabby Williams.
AmandaNo.
BonnieOkay, that's a good guess, though.
AmandaThat was a good guess. Not Gabby though. Should I just say it?
BonnieBrenda, do you have another guess? But Nija?
unknownYeah. Oh, is it doing?
AmandaNo.
BonnieBrittany Sykes! What? Yeah, she's pretty athletic.
AmandaShe's pretty athletic. Yeah, and then Dom at 15%, which duh, she can fucking dunk.
BonnieYeah. So she's not as strong as some of the other players.
AmandaNot yet. True. Maybe it's about potential. I don't know. Okay, best passer.
SPEAKER_00Same as um Wendy.
AmandaYeah. But okay, best passer. 93%. Chelsea Gray. Yeah, overwhelmingly Chelsea Gray. For some reason, Caitlin Clark came in at 7%. And I she's not even the she's not even the second best point guard in the league. So I this is crazy. Okay. And then most versatile was between Stewie Gabby and Alyssa Thomas, and Stewie got 36%.
BonnieSo for most versatile, I agree with that. Yeah.
AmandaShe yeah, I mean that 7-1 wingspan, you know what I mean?
BonnieShe can do anything.
AmandaShe can. And that was that was it for the GM survey. There were some other categories too, but I thought these were the most fun. I think something notable though is that even though we only mentioned Asia twice, she was mentioned in almost every single category as best. Which, man, like imagine perfecting your craft and you're still like working on perfecting it. You just keep getting better, and it's just like every year you elevate a bit more.
BonnieIt's amazing.
AmandaIt's incredible. And I feel like she's gonna have a monster season again. I'm scared of her. She came in with a red wig this time, and she said, Yeah, she drew inspiration from Jean Gray.
BonnieYeah, yeah.
AmandaAnd Jean Gray actually ended up like taking over the world.
BonnieSo Okay, it's just about to take over the world.
AmandaYeah, I'm scared of her. I don't want to play her.
BonnieYeah, don't worry, you won't ever play her.
AmandaI won't ever.
SPEAKER_04Oh my god, imagine she would swallow me up.
AmandaThat is a real tall girl.
BonnieImagine trying to shoot while she's defending you.
AmandaShe won't even jump. Also, hold on. I had this, I discovered this before you guys got here because I was on Instagram, whatever. Georgia Amore signed with Jordan.
BonnieOkay, I did see the well, I didn't see the full post.
AmandaWell, then I was looking at her pictures from the post and I was like, wow, she looks really small. Like, I wonder how tall she is.
SPEAKER_02She's five foot six.
AmandaYou know what that means?
SPEAKER_02She's taller than us.
AmandaOkay.
SPEAKER_02Wow. Yeah. What I was gonna say is that Eliza is taller than her.
BonnieYes, Eliza still has a chance.
AmandaThis is what I mean. We keep talking about it. End up talking about it. We gotta be about it. We gotta be about it. Oh my god, wait, yeah, she is Australian, and I I think I already knew that, but the marketing campaign for this was increasing. You know what they called her in the post?
BonnieWhat?
AmandaThe Wizard of Oz.
BonnieTop that's like who did this? That's tough. That's cute. I love that.
AmandaYeah, it was really sick. And I feel like, I don't know, like Jordan athletes, like the women, I feel like it's it's the face card brand because they got Fee, they got Georgia, they got um Gabby. Yep. I don't know. I feel like every every girly pop who signs with them, I'm just like, I get it.
BonnieWell, there's a new um partnership with sketchers.
AmandaYes, that's also true.
BonnieAnd Kiki's one of the yeah, it's Kiki.
AmandaRikia was the first.
BonnieRikia, Kiki, and who's the third? Jackie Young, I think.
AmandaOh yeah, Jackie Young.
BonnieSo cute.
AmandaWhich sure. Yeah, why not? Why not? Yeah, I don't, I don't care. I'm trying to like get your money. I'm trying to disassociate from the negative, like, like societal perspective on sketchers because I remember as a kid we would go to payless and I'd be like, Mom, please don't give me these fucking sketchers. I'm gonna be bullied.
BonnieI mean like they were not cool back in the day.
AmandaMaybe they're still they're still not cool, but Joel Embiid is also an athlete for sketchers, and his shoes are ugly.
BonnieThey also have a campaign with um Fiagata. Yeah, I don't like her. I mean, I don't either, but she's on a billboard, like wearing this course and holding a sketcher. It's like really scandalous.
AmandaIt's not okay, yeah. And let me just say, it's not that I don't like her. I don't like I don't like the characters that she plays on TV because I feel like it really feeds into negative stereotypes about Hispanics. I literally on a call today said that. I was just like, let's not use her.
BonnieYeah, she's always not a very good actress.
AmandaYeah, I just feel like she plays the same roles. I think there was a like a drug lord cartel show on Netflix, and apparently she did a really good job. Yes, Griselda, yeah. Okay, apparently she did really great there. It was like a more serious role. Anyway, back to business. Um, but yeah, that was that was um, I think the most interesting part of the GM survey. I can't wait to see how that kind of plays out in real time. And we'll see, and we'll see as soon as tomorrow. Well, today, when you're listening, as soon as today.
BonnieWell, the Athletic also did preseason power rankings of teams. Oh, okay. Um, and they said, Can anyone dethrone the Las Vegas Aces? So they I'm gonna be honest, I don't know. They have them on top, and then we're number two. Go Liberty.
SPEAKER_04I gotta believe. Uh okay. You knew you knew exactly what I was gonna say. I was just like, I'm not really sure why we're at that number two spot, but and then number three, I don't know if I've yeah. Who's number three? Who's number three?
BonnieAtlanta Dream.
SPEAKER_04I would even almost put them at two.
BonnieReally?
SPEAKER_04I thought they were really good last season, and I think they just got better.
AmandaYeah, like we couldn't, I don't think we beat them at all last season. I think they won that series.
BonnieYeah, I think they did.
AmandaI thought they were really good. Like, I feel like they finally had all the right pieces, and now they added Angel to it, and the vibes are immaculate. I don't know. I I could see Atlanta at number two, I think. But anyway, who's number three?
BonnieAtlanta.
AmandaOh, right, and who and four, Indiana. Okay, yes. I saw the same thing. This I wasn't sure if it was the same thing. They should not be at number four.
BonnieThis person commented, um, I'll fix it for you. Number 15, fever.
AmandaYeah, good.
BonnieYeah. So thanks, polo Rob. Shout out, Polo Rob Okay. Um, but they have Dallas at five, which I feel like they should be above Indiana.
AmandaThey should be above Indiana, but do we think they should be five? I'm trying to think of where everyone else landed. I guess they could be at five. I mean, they did just get an upgrade. They they stole the Aussie from us, you know.
BonnieThat's fine.
AmandaI'm trying to think of what other teams could be good. I know we've talked about Chicago a little bit. They'll have to play small ball. I can see them being decent just from I think the I think Valkyries are gonna be good. Right, you said that last time too, yeah.
BonnieAnd I think tempo is gonna be surprising. I think they're gonna be surprisingly good.
AmandaI agree with that. I don't know about Portland. Portland's gonna be bad. Portland is not gonna be a fire, it's gonna be an ember. Yeah.
BonnieRespectfully, I think they're gonna not do so well. But this is their first season. Also, I we recently learned that their coach is British. Oh. It's like a reverse Ted Lasso. You know what? Yeah, yeah. It is a reverse. What do you know about basketball? Yeah, they don't play that over there.
SPEAKER_02They don't, do they? No.
AmandaAre there any British basketball leagues? No. Huh.
BonnieNot that I know of.
AmandaWe should we should uh vet that with some research. Is there any like British basketball leagues?
BonnieI'm sure. No, like professional.
AmandaLike professional. I'm hearing you about like professional, like amateur, like pro-am.
SPEAKER_00Not just like out of the euro late.
AmandaMaybe oh sorry, not pro-am.
SPEAKER_04No, yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Super League Basketball.
unknownYeah, that's what you said.
SPEAKER_00That sounds dumb.
AmandaSounds not real. It sounds like someone updated a Wikipedia page. British basket, but the BBL?
SPEAKER_01The BBL.
BonnieThat's pretty good. Never heard of them.
AmandaNever they only have nine franchises, which means that it's not a real league. That's not even an even number. How do you divide them into conferences?
BonnieWell, technically we have 15 teams right now.
AmandaFuck. Well, that's not my fault. That's Kathy's fault.
BonnieThat's Kathy's fault.
AmandaAnd we are the premiere basketball. I can't believe there's only 15 teams. Like when you think about it.
BonnieYeah, there used to be only 12? 13.
AmandaNo.
BonnieWell, last year.
AmandaWell, of course, there were only like four or five in the beginning. Yeah. So you gotta start somewhere. But I wouldn't say that the UK is like a um when I think UK, I don't think basketball. Yeah. Why was I gonna say a hot plate for basketball? Is that right? There's like a hot spot? I don't know. Hot spot? I don't know. I'll be saying I'll be saying phrases wrong. I don't know. Who knows what I was trying to say?
BonnieYeah, so that's that. Okay, we're gonna see tomorrow slash today.
AmandaOkay. I think we should talk about fantasy.
BonnieLet's talk about fantasy. So we play in a league. I'm the commissioner. Shout out. Second time in a row. This is Amanda's second season, so she's gonna do better this time.
AmandaI am gonna do better this time.
BonnieShe was a rookie last season.
AmandaOh my gosh, you were the commissioner last season. Is that why you were texting me? Yeah.
BonnieWow. Amanda would forget to put her well to fill her roster. You should take Kathy's job. And then I would just text her on the side and say, hey, you might want to. She really would.
SPEAKER_04And I was just like, wow, that's so kind. Every time I've done it.
BonnieEveryone on your bench would be playing that day. And I was like, um, you should put these people in. Oh my god. Anyway, we have 10 people in the league. Biggest league yet.
AmandaWow.
BonnieUm and growing. And it's really exciting. Do you want to say who's on your team? Yeah. Who you excite for?
AmandaFirst of all. Man, I I didn't intentionally draft so many Chicago players. Like, it just was an accident. I went with my heart and I didn't I just didn't even think about them all playing for Chicago. Just a disclaimer.
SPEAKER_01That's okay.
AmandaI have Kelsey Plum Dog.
BonnieYeah, yeah.
AmandaI have Skylar Diggins, Aliyah Boston, Brittany Greiner, Miara Saboli, Camilla Cardoso, Rikia Jackson, Dijanae Carrington, and Pal Pow.
BonnieThat's a great team.
AmandaI'm excited for Pal Powell. I don't know how much she'll play, but I just I think she's so sweet. She does everything with a smile on her face.
BonnieShe's always smiling. I just I love her. She's so cute and small. I feel like when she does get minutes, she really like capitalizes on her.
AmandaYeah, and she's a she's a great three-point shooter. I'm like looking at her now to see how tall she is. Because I'm just curious because she's pretty small. I th I mean, at least, you know, at first glance, she's pretty small.
BonnieYeah.
AmandaBut I'm gonna I'm gonna look that up. But why don't you why don't you tell me who's on your right?
BonnieMy team. I've got Veronica Burton, Plough J Johnson, Lauren Betts. Okay, Izzy Harrison.
unknownOkay.
AmandaUm Maybe that's not what maybe they don't play till the 13th.
BonnieI've got Stewie, Janelle Salon, Kennedy Carter.
AmandaI think she's gonna eat in Vegas.
BonnieI think so too.
AmandaI think so.
BonnieAnd Becky's gonna be like, don't be doing that drama shit.
AmandaNot even Becky, I think Asia too. Like Asia was ra Asia was raised by Dawn. You know, she's she's not doing nothing crazy. So true.
BonnieUm Isaiah James and Jackie. That's a good thing. Sammy Whitcomb, but she's in IR right now.
AmandaWhat happened? What happened to Sammy Whitcomb?
BonnieShe will underground undergo an anthroscop each Thursday to remove a loose body in her left knee.
AmandaWhoa. I don't know what that means. An anthroscopic to remove a loose body in her knee.
BonnieShe's just got some like a bone floating around.
AmandaSounds like it. Why would they say body?
BonnieI don't know.
AmandaLike a like a mass? Maybe it wasn't a mass.
BonnieDo you guys want to say your teams? Yeah. Okay, come over.
AmandaCome on down down.
BonnieI don't know.
AmandaEliza looks really comfortable. Oh, here she comes. She said, I would love to talk about me.
SPEAKER_00My team is Alicia Gray, Kiki Rice, Derek Ahamby, Myesha Heinz Allen. I just picked up to replace Brianna Jones, who is in my IR. How long is she injured? Um, a couple of weeks. Oh, okay. Um, Azare Stevens, uh Arike, Duana Bonner, even though I'm a hater. Cam Bringers. She's gonna snap those ankles. Those ankles are gonna snap. I mean, actually, now that I'm looking at my team, everybody is just like tall and skinny. I got Cam Bring.
AmandaIt sounds like you have an unconscious bias. Do you hate short people?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I just thought you meant skinny people. No, I love my showgirls.
SPEAKER_02Wow. Thanks, babe.
AmandaNot her pointing at literally all three of us. That is crazy. I'm taller than my mom.
SPEAKER_01That's okay. I'm not gonna lie. I feel like my roster is showing some tall girl bias too. Okay, put it come closer to the page. I have Caitlin Clark. Boom! Friend's favorite player. I was trying to figure out how the draft worked while that happened. It's okay. Um, then I have Sonia Citron, nice uh Leone Phoebitch, duh. Crush. Um Shakira Austin, Shakira, Shakira, Bridget Carlton, which is my op.
AmandaHer mortal enemy, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But she can shoot. Uh Jordan Canada. Stephanie Dolson. Nijah Laney Hamilton. Nice. And I just picked up Tash. Nice. Nice. Dang.
BonnieWell, I hope she dropped Kate Martin. I dropped Kate. Teamless right now.
SPEAKER_01She she's waved and then she was already um like out for a bit. I don't know why.
BonnieMaybe that's also maybe that went into the wave factor.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say, yeah, maybe. Because she didn't get to play during training camp. Oh yeah. Yeah.
AmandaI mean, anything is possible.
SPEAKER_01Richard's on the phrase already, right? Yeah.
AmandaI don't know. I thought it was weird because she had a roster spot last season. I feel like it's it's is it unheard of for her to be for a player who had a roster spot to be cut in training camp? Like waived?
BonnieI mean Hayley Van Lith had a roster spot last year.
AmandaI mean, yeah, but Chicago's drunk driving.
SPEAKER_01St. Martin also like progressed during the season. I don't think she had the best season. She like definitely starting season, but she she got better again. And I think she did really well on Unrivaled.
AmandaI thought she did decent at Unrivaled, but that's what we were talking about. Like, was she hooping for real? Like, and I don't know. I don't know if she was.
SPEAKER_04So we love you, Kate.
AmandaYeah. Shout out, shout out to Kate. Wait, listen to this. This is my karma for like making fun of Brenda for having Caitlin Clark. So I joined another league, and it was too late for me to like back out, even though I was already feeling overwhelmed because you know I'm not good at doing my lineups. And so I signed up for this league, but on Monday when we had the draft, I was hooping with Tall Girl.
BonnieYeah.
AmandaActually, Eliza was helping me retool my shop mechanic, and I'll be working on that all summer. Actually, shout out to Megan Takahashi. She was also helping. Coach Meg. Coach Meg. Yeah, so I missed our draft. Oh no. I didn't even know what spot I had in the draft.
SPEAKER_04I had the number two pick, and the auto draft gave me Caitlin Clark.
AmandaWait, so who else is on your Oh my gosh, on my other fantasy team? I'll tell you right now because I'm gonna be honest. This league is called the Diana Tarasi Consortium. Shout out to Maddie, our commissioner.
BonnieThat's funny.
AmandaI have geez, Caitlin Clark, Sonia Citron, Satu, Camilla, Cheyenne Parker Tayus. Oh, I have Mabrie. Okay, I clearly have not. Maybe that dirty. No, I have Erica Wheeler, I have Natisha Heideman, Beck Allen, and Monique Billings. So yeah, that's you still have a pretty good team. I know, but you know, to be petty, I'm gonna make Caitlyn ride the bench. I'm not gonna play her all season.
BonnieThe thing is about Natisha Heideman, I had her on my fantasy team last year, and she's the most inconsistent. I swear to God, every time I'd be like, oh, I'm not gonna put her in because she didn't play that well last game, she would go off and get like 30 points. And she was on my bench. It was so frustrating. Anyway.
AmandaWell, I'm like trying to know that. Well, I'm trying to see if anyone in this league picked up Natasha Cloud. Oh my god, I don't know if anyone picked her up. No, Brenda just didn't know. No, and my other circuit league. Oh, never mind. Someone did pick her. Whatever, man. Sorry. I was just like, oh, maybe I can outsmart them like Brenda. No, um, so yeah, that's my team, but like I said, to be petty, I'm definitely gonna have Caitlin ride the bench all season. Yeah, I think she'll feel that. I think she will too. Um anyway.
BonnieSo that's our fantasy teams. We'll probably talk about it a few times during the season. Why not?
AmandaYeah. And and we'll be here to say that I was doing my lineup by myself.
BonnieYep.
AmandaEvery time.
BonnieEvery time. She's got this.
AmandaYeah, I got it. And Bonnie's not gonna text me one time to remind me.
BonnieNope, I'm not.
AmandaAnd if and if she does, I will I will buy you worms. Okay.
BonnieOkay, the good kind.
AmandaYeah, the good kind, the special kind.
BonnieThe one that Brenda got that one time.
AmandaYeah, I got you. Okay.
BonnieIs it time for overtime? I think it's time for overtime. I think so. Let's talk about overtime. Okay. So something popped up on my newsfeed and I said, hmm, what's that? And I wanted to do a little bit more digging. So there's a new league, a new women's basketball league called Upshot League. And it begins on May 15th, featuring a founding four team structure with expansion planned for 2027. The season runs until September. So it's like pretty much exactly like the W season. The teams are Jacksonville Waves, Charlotte Crown, Greensboro Groove, and Savannah Steel with 11 roster spots. So 44 players all together. The league is really has like a developmental focus. It's positioned as a call-up league for for the WW with two-way contracts.
AmandaOh. So kind of like a G. Kind of like the GM. Okay.
BonnieYeah. Or it's I think that's what they want it to be eventually.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
BonnieUm so yeah, I mean, and and at like you know, unrivaled and um athletes unlimited goals, they're all just trying to keep players from having to go overseas to play. But it's bridging that college sort of competition and professional play, which is it's really it's gonna be interesting to see how it goes. Um it's the the inaugural season, so we'll see how it goes. But it is founded by this guy named Andy Kaufman. I don't know who he is. He like owns um a sports management company, they own like other teams, other minor league teams. Um but uh he founded it with Donna Arinder, who used to be the former WNBA president. Um and they have investors like Hall of Famer, Hall of Famers Cheryl Miller and Tamika Ketchings.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
BonnieI know, and they've already raised$40 million.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
BonnieYeah. So I mean, I feel like it could be interesting. I mean, it's like I was just thinking about like all these sort of like college players that got waived. I wonder if they'll be able to sort of drop into this league and still be able to play. And what would what's helpful about this league being on the same schedule as the W is that then they could play potentially an unrivaled or something like that once the season is over.
AmandaThat's really interesting. What it sounds like to me is that the WMBA needs to tighten up because there's fucking competition. And so they need to get it. I mean they keep saying like we're not competing with the W, whatever, but I mean, I do I do think it's good though, even if they're not directly competing, like it does still put some pressure on them to get their shit together because even if they say they're not competing, that is technically if it's happening same time, like right.
BonnieIt has how how can you Yeah, yeah.
AmandaSo interesting.
BonnieOvertime was quick, but keep uh keep an eye on for upshot league, maybe we'll keep an eye on it.
AmandaYeah, that's really interesting. Yeah, I really love that I feel like I was torn initially about all of the new attention to women's basketball just because it brought in all of these kind of annoying and unwelcome opinions from people who clearly have no fucking idea what they're talking about. But I don't know, it's kind of nice now. I'm like, everybody wants a piece of the girls.
BonnieI know. And now I think it's time for 24 seconds on the clock.
AmandaOkay, let's do it. Let's do it. I think so.
BonnieTell me when you're ready.
AmandaYou tell me when to go.
BonnieOkay, 24 seconds on the clock, starting now.
AmandaOkay, and if you say Collier did a interview with MPR today or yesterday, last week. I don't fucking know, but she was on there just talking, yapping, yapping, yapping. Usually I like when Fee talks, but then she was talking about how she thinks the WNBA is too physical. What the fuck are you talking about, bro? Because you be fucking Mollywin and murking people on the court all the time. Then you got rookies coming in trying to guard Asia and AZ not even touching her. Boop, whistleblown. That's a problem. We cannot change the rules.
BonnieThat was good. 24 seconds over. Ew.
AmandaThanks.
BonnieI just that was good. I mean, that's the highlight. That's the highlight. We can't be changing the rules when we've already fought for so much equality and for people to take the W seriously. I just like it's not like we're acting like hockey players. You know what I mean?
AmandaLike we're not like I actually don't think the league is that physical. I think that I don't know. I I worry about changing the rules, rules on like calling fouls just because we're seeing what it's done to the NBA. Like Oh yeah, you wanted to Yeah, this is the you know, this is an actually relevant tie back to the NBA. Like, big topic of conversation is how people are flopping, and now there's a actually that's also a new addition to the W this season. It's a new flopping rule, so it's like the first time is a warning, the second time, I believe, is a fine. Um, which honestly I think is valid because just get up and fucking hoop. Like, what are we even doing? Like, you you've got like Shea Gilgis Alexander, also known as SGA, on OKC. He is known as a foul merchant, and there are highlight reels of him like rather than driving to the lane to score, he's driving to the lane to get fouled. Like, and don't get me wrong, like you should be looking for that contact, especially like if there's a defender down there, but like you shouldn't be trying to fake a foul just to get to the line, especially when it's so unbelievable. Like at this point, the NBA is giving soccer.
BonnieI know, yeah. That's what I was gonna say. I feel like at a certain point it just becomes like you're taking advantage of everybody in the situation. It's just not really fair.
AmandaIt's just corny.
BonnieCorny, like a corn on the cub.
AmandaWow. I really like when you sing on the pod. They're like my favorite parts. I had do you just have these tunes in your head?
BonnieYeah. Yeah. I just have a little worm in my head that's always singing.
AmandaNo, I get it. I like to in real time remix songs when I sing to Banks. You know, like I just insert her name in songs that are playing.
BonnieI used to do that with my one of my roommates in college. I used to insert her name into random songs. It was pretty funny.
AmandaI just feel like when I do it, she like really understands me. Yeah. Like she's just like, I don't know what you're saying, but that's my name. Yep. And she always looks so happy after.
BonnieWell, then that's why you gotta keep doing it.
AmandaI know it's my daughter. Okay, well, I mean, that was that was episode, what is this, 14 of Chasing the W. And for those of y'all listening before the Liberty game, go libs. Go libs. It's gonna be a good one. Let's go. Or I can only hope because Sabrina's out, but I can't. Yeah, I think it's gonna be fine. The energy's gonna be electric, and Ellie better not be any skinnier.
BonnieWe'll report back on Ellie's waist.
AmandaWe we will. I'm going over there with a fucking tape measure.
BonnieEllie, come here real quick. Let me see.
AmandaOkay, well, thanks for listening, you guys. That was another episode of Chasing the W