Angel Reese Injury, Caitlin Clark’s 45, And A League On Edge

A single phrase from Sandy Brondello sparks a suspension and a bigger argument about intent, impact, and why context matters in WNBA coverage. We also hit the biggest on-court swings of the week, from Angel Reese’s injury ripple effects to Caitlin Clark’s monster stat line, Kelsey Mitchell’s scorching streak, and Brittney Griner’s best path to another ring. 
• Sandy Brondello’s “protected species” comment, what she meant, and why it landed wrong 
• Whether the one-game suspension feels fair given intent and public impact 
• Angel Reese’s knee injury and what it forces the Atlanta Dream to fix 
• Caitlin Clark’s 45 points and 10 assists, then the consistency question vs playoff teams 
• What “better efficiency” really means, including turnovers and tough-opponent production 
• Kelsey Mitchell’s 10 straight 20-point games and the top 10 player debate 
• Paige Bueckers’ recent form and the Paige Bueckers versus Sabrina Ionescu argument 
• Brittney Griner’s ring-chase options and which contender fit looks scariest 
So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone one about the WNBA and two about my show. 

Transcript

Welcome And What We’re Covering

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show, get a bucket. I'm your host, Train as usual. Hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Today we're gonna talk about some WNBA updates. But before we do that, please make sure to hit that like and subscribe button, comment on anyone who's anyone about the show. Try and get the ratings up a little bit, you know, just a little bit. And if you wonder where you heard this before, that's because you've been listening with me Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. So I greatly appreciate your support. Now, yeah, we're just gonna go right on into it, right?

Brondello’s Comment And Why Context Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:24

I've I've talked about racial discrimination before, right? And there was a conversation, or at least a phrase that was mentioned that might have some people wondering about Sandy Brundello and can she come to the cookout? Now, if you're wondering who that is, this is the Toronto Tempos head coach. She was also the Liberties head coach when they won the title, right? Well, recently she referred to Angel Reese as a protected species. Now, I think the word species is the real problem that was used. Okay, that was the real problem word that was used. The incident occurred where Angel Reese was in fact fouled, okay, by Niara Sabali, and Sandy's basically saying, oh, she's she's a protected player. That's really what she was trying to say, right? Like the league is gonna always give her foul calls, which we've heard, right? Like they they they say that SGA is a foul merchant. You know, we said that the NBA is gonna give fouls to LeBron and then James Harden and Giannis, yoke, like all these good players, great players, have been viewed as getting being able to get to the free throw line, a little more being viewed as protected sometimes. And that's what Sandy meant to say. And the word choice again that she used was protected species. Now that's something that that's a common phrase that I guess in Australia is used, and that's where Sandy's from. So I understand it wholeheartedly. And to be clear, Sandy was suspended one game for this comment. Now, Sandy did also reach out to try and you know apologize, but at the same time clarify and provide context. Here's my thing I'm not necessarily mad at the suspension. On the other hand, too, I could say it might not have been warranted. Again, I'm not losing any sleep, but because of who it is, I know for a fact it's gonna gain some traction. And that's the reason why I'm talking to you all, ladies and gentlemen, today. One, Angel Reese has been playing pretty well, right? The tempo, new organization, looking interesting. I don't think this messes up or is in a negative light too long. I don't think it should be. At the same time, I just wanted to point out, ladies and gentlemen, again, that's why context matters. You gotta understand what's actually being said by somebody. If you don't, ask questions. Because again, what someone might have thought protected species was a negative thing. It actually was not. Now, it it comes off a little weird, but again, it's not specifically negative. She just meant that, again, the refs are gonna call fouls for Angel Reese. So I just want to make note of that. Also, I want to kind of get ahead of the Caitlin Clark stands because I don't want to hear that from you all, to be clear. I feel like that was gonna be a jab throwing at Angel, right? And that's usually what happens by the stands of Caitlin Clark, to be clear. They're the biggest hating group of Angel Reese. I just want to make sure I note that. But again, I'm not the biggest fan of Sandy getting suspended, even though I understand it. Okay. It was one of them things that has to happen from a perspective, like a vantage point, right? Like people got to know, oh, well, that happened, that was said, action should be taken. So again, Angel Reese is happy that quote unquote justice was served. I wouldn't say it's justice per se, but again, I understand why it happened. Now, let's go ahead and move on because I don't want to harp on that too much. I've talked about race before. I don't want to try to make this too much of a racial aspect, okay?

Angel Reese Injury And Dream Adjustments

SPEAKER_00 3:55

But speaking of Angel Reese, she was recently injured after playing against the Chicago Sky, her former team. Uh her knee buckled, right? That one hurts. Like a knee. If anybody has ever buckled their knee while doing anything, you understand just how much that hurts. And my question is how much of an impact will this injury occur to this team? Because I've spoken about the dream, right? I view them as contenders. They did go on a five-game losing streak during the season, and then recently after that, they won four out of their five games. So it seems like they're back on track, okay? But we gotta get some consistency going forward. I do expect more out of Ryan and Alicia. Jordan Jordan Canada, okay with your play style for sure. Like you're a good player. Nas Hillman, you're doing your thing out there from a role player perspective because that's your role on the team. But we need y'all to play more consistent. And I wonder if having Angel Reese out during this stretch allows you all to figure out how to play with more consistency. Because you can't really depend on Angel's double-digit performance. When I'm saying double digits, I'm talking about points and rebounds, ladies and gentlemen. So again, for me, having Rangel, having Angel not on the team, if it's an extended stretch, I think that will challenge the dream and eventually make them better. And the reason why I say that is because again, Angel's play style, I don't think you have to call a play for Angel. Realistically, she can get points off putbacks. That her bread and butter is in fact her rebounding ability. So, again, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be curious how long Angel will be out, right? This happened before All-Star Break. Let's see what happens after All-Star Break. If she's out, what does that impact look like to the dream? But I think it could be a positive one because again, it would challenge the dream a little bit more. Now, a team that is interesting.

Caitlin Clark’s 45 And The Real Test

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Some have said they're on the come up. The fever, right? Caitlin Clark just dropped 45 points and 10 assists, ladies and gentlemen. Kudos to Caitlin Clark, and you gotta say kudos. Look, 45 and 10 is disgusting numbers, okay? Just off top, all right? And I gotta commend her for doing what she did, okay? This is the WNBA's first 45.10 assists, double double. So kudos to Caitlin Clark, alright. This was against the worst team in the WNBA, at least record-wise, right? Like the storm are in fact point in time when that happened, they were at the bottom of the barrel. Alright. Now, where again, I kudos Caitlin for her performance there, because that's still tough, right? On the flip side, I have noticed that when she plays against teams like a playoff team, right? I've had gripes against the Liberty. I said the Liberty are injured, they're still trying to get the cohesion. And when Caitlin goes up against teams like the like the Liberty, like the Aces, like the like like the Valkyrie, that's when I want to see a little bit better production from Caitlin. Like when she went up against Liberty, she gave 15 points, right? Again, not bad, but when you're doing five or fourteen from the field, it's not the best. And then when you couple that with seven assists and seven turnovers, again, not the best showcase from me. And that was the game directly after the 45 and 10. Now I'll give a little grace because again, she did give us 45 points and 10 assists. Can't scoff at that now. A lot of those points did come from the free throw line. She went to the free throw line like 19 times or nine times, I guess. Got 19 of them things off. That's ridiculous. Kudos to them. But again, I'd love to see Caitlin scoring a little bit more on a consistent basis and also showcasing better assists to turnover ratio against the tougher opponents. Because when we're there, when we're doing that, alright, now I can start hearing some of the stands when they talk about her the way they do. But until we get there, let's pump the brakes. Also, and we're gonna well, I'm gonna make this note. I gotta give a kudos to the Seattle Storm, right? Their future is very bright. You can arguably say that this will be the best front court in the W with Dominique Malonga, an Owl fam, okay, to be clear. And especially if I'm looking at it, can Awa or could AZ play the three? If they could play the small forward position, they have three players, six, four, and above, who could stretch the floor out. That and and also rim protect. That would be extremely scary. I love how the storm are built, but also I kind of hate them because my sparks should have been where they are, because they should have been able to draft that player and Dominique Malonga and possibly even Owl Fam, but that's another discussion for another day.

Kelsey Mitchell’s Streak And Top 10 Case

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Let's move on, right, from Caitlin Clark to her teammate Kelsey Mitchell, because she just had her 10th straight 20-point game. That's right. When Caitlin dropped 45, I think Kelsey had 30 points. Because again, they played without Aliyah Balston. So they had to do some scoring for sure. And again, that's why I say kudos to Kelsey, um, for Caitlin for doing what she did production-wise. Because it's not as consistent. Kelsey Mitchell, again, that's her 10th straight 20-point game, ladies and gentlemen. I've I've said countless times, this is the best player on the fever. Without a doubt. If you don't believe me, cool. But I'm at the point where I'm trying to figure out is Kelsey Mitchell a top 10 WNBA player. The only players I can consider her who are definitively better than her, we got Asia Wilson, we got Brianna Stewart, we got Nafisa Collier, and we got Jackie Young. I can argue some other players as well, too, right? But those are that first tier for me, if you will. Because they have WNBA MVP talent. All right. And Jackie don't even get as much love as she should. Now, the next tier, I'm looking at Kelsey Mitchell, right? Because I'm putting her alongside Paige Beckers, Ryan Howard, Alicia Gray, Gabby Williams, Neko Ogumake, Sabrina Ionescu, Alyssa Thomas, Aliyah Boston, John Quell Jones. Like those caliber players is where I'm putting Kelsey at. And that's in that second wave. And again, who would she be better than in that listing? Look, I can argue some folks for sure. Like I could argue Sabrina Ionescu. I can argue Paige Becker's being worse than Kelsey. Again, she's that stellar of a player. She's the ace, or she's the Fever's best player. So I gotta consider Leah Leah Boston worse than her, too. So again, Kelsey Mitchell, 10th straight 20-point game. Could we say she's the best scorer in the WNBA? I don't know. That that may need to be visited. That may need to be studied a little bit. But we'll flow on from that from that conversation. And let's move on real quick.

Paige Bueckers Versus Sabrina Debate

SPEAKER_00 10:49

I just gotta say this. Shout out to Paige Becker, right? Uh she had, although she's injured herself too, she got injured as well. And I wonder how long she'll be out. Unfortunately, that was right before the all-star break. Because over the last five games, she's been averaging 24 points, five rebounds, seven assists on one against 1.8 turnovers. So round up to two. And it was over 50, 35, 98 splits. Okay. That's not bad. Now keep in mind, this is against weak opponents, right? You got the Liberty, who, again, I've told you injury issues, right? Also working on also working on cohesion. You had the Tempo, who are not a playoff team, and you had them twice. The Chicago Sky, eh, not the best team from a talent perspective. And execution. And then my Sparks, who again, we're not in the playoffs. We're in the playoff race. We're not in the playoffs right now. And we're injured as well, too, to be clear. So again, five weak opponents, and these are around her averages, anyways. So that just shows she's consistently doing this. Kudos. And one thing that rose to my question to my mind is Paige Becker's better than Sabrina Ionescu. There's a discussion that needs to be had, and I think it's coming up sooner rather than later. So that's something I'm very focused on and looking forward to. Because don't get me wrong, Sabrina is on a very deep team. So her numbers aren't, they might not be the same as Paige. But I'm not focusing solely on numbers. It's that eye test I'm looking at. When I look at Paige, I don't know, bro. She's she she's more of a three-level score than Sabrina is. But and and then defensively, I can't lean one over the other definitively. But if I had to vote on somebody, I would say Paige is a better defender than Sabrina. So again, we may have to have a discussion for sure between the two, but that was something I noted. And again, that's because the Liberty went up against the uh wings, and I just saw a couple things. And then finally, ladies and gentlemen,

Brittney Griner And The Ring Chase

SPEAKER_00 12:48

look, Brittany Griner, she's on the Connecticut Sun. I'm not really liking it. Pineapples. Should she start the ring chase? Because arguably we can consider her still as the most dominant player physically in the WNBA. Yes, we have Asia Wilson. BG is still 6'9. She can still stretch the floor out. Quality rim protector. I'm wondering, should we start pairing her? Like, imagine if BG's on a team like the Aces. That's kind of scary. Now you got Britney Griner paired with Asia Wilson. Asia Wilson can now play the forward position, the power forward position, ladies and gentlemen. Bring someone like Nalissa Smith off the bench. Or you can bring BG off the bench and put either Nalissa or Asia alongside her. That's kind of scary. Or imagine how actually dang. The two most physically dominant players on the same team. That'd be interesting. Or put BG on the Lynx. The Lynx have needed height for the longest. Now, don't get me wrong, Nafisa Kalier and Natasha Howard will be very serviceable. But imagine bringing Britney Griner off the bench. Natasha Howard or Nafisa Collier could play alongside her with ease. And then from a defensive perspective, the Lynx are actually one of the better defensive teams. So adding one of the better defenders in the WNBA's history on their team is solid. I I thought at the draft, they probably should have taken Lauren Betts, right? Again, before the the draft started, before the WNBA season started, that's why I was leaning. I considered Olivia Miles going there because again, that guard perspective, if they can move, pretty much if Olivia could do what she was what she's been doing, then I would like that for sure, that pairing. But I did recognize that the Lynx needed a big center. And that's what Britney Griner could do. Imagine her on a on the team like the Lynx. Oh my gosh, you got Olivia and Courtney pairing with her. Well, you got Caleb McBride being able to have more confidence to shoot the ball because you got a rebounder like Britney on the team. That would be pretty spectacular. Or from a legacy perspective, what happens if Britney Griner decides to go to the Golden State Valkyries? Look, we saw Wilt Chamberlain go to Golden State. Brittany Griner go to Golden State. I've I I I genuinely can hear people talking about Britney Grinder in a similar, similar-ish light as they might have done with Wilt when he went to Golden State, to be clear. And I'm just talking, well, I guess maybe more so when he went to the Lakers. But the point is, when he was on the lake, when he was in Golden State, right? When we had Golden State. No, well, I guess technically it's Philadelphia Warriors, won't it? Damn. But imagine that was Golden State, right? Imagine I'm just focusing on the Warriors. And nowadays we got Golden State. But I can see that similar thing because you got her paired with Gabby Williams, two defensive-minded players, two depoy caliber players on the team. And I do think that the Valkyries are one piece away, like an all-star caliber player away from being viewed as a contender. And if you still look at Britney Grinder nowadays, she gives me those vibes. So again, I might even butcher up on the Will Chamberlain piece. As I'm talking about, I may change it up a little bit. But again, I hope you understand what I'm saying. From a legacy perspective, I think the Valkyries could help her out. Or what happens if she spins back and goes to the Mercury? Her, Alyssa Thomas, I think that could look pretty smooth with Khalia Copper as well, too. I'm just saying, ladies and gentlemen, Dawana Bonner out there, yes, older group, but I think it could work out. And again, her legacy is why I'm focusing on those, at least the last two for sure. But again, I would love to see Britney Griner being on a championship contender. Because her on the sun right now is not it. It's not it at all. I don't like it, and I hate it for it. I really

Rapid Questions And Final Takeaways

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do. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode. So again, I'm curious. What's your thoughts on the whole Sandy Brondello incident with Angel Reese? Did Sandy deserve a suspension? Curious. Also, Angel, what do you expect of the dream to do when Angel's out? What's that impact like? Let me know your thoughts. Also, Caitlin, hey, do you think that she can showcase this 45 and 10 sort of vibes going forward? Again, I'm not asking her to average 45 and 10. I'm not like that's ignorant. But can we get a little bit more consistency and efficiency from her? Against the good teams, mind you. I'm not talking about the bad teams. I'm talking about the good teams. That's when I'm waiting to see her development. And Kelsey Mitchell. Do y'all think she's not only just a top 10 player in the league, but also the best scorer in the WNBA right now? Let me know your thoughts. And and I've talked about Paige Beckers, right? Is she better than Sabrina Ionescu? Because I view them as the two best guards, point guards meaning, in the WNBA right now. We could talk about Chelsea Gray as well, too. Olivia Miles, Caitlin's in the mix. Hear all that. You can even throw Courtney because of what position she's played over the last couple seasons, right? Kelsey Plum is there. I think Sabrina and Paige right now are the best two guards. Chelsea Gray as well, too. So those are the best three. But out of Paige and Sabrina, which ones are the better guards? I'd love to know your thoughts. And finally, where would you want to see Britney Griner go if she had to leave? I'm definitely curious of your thoughts because yeah, she needs a title. She needs a ring for sure before she retires. Another ring before she retires. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode. So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone one about the WNBA and two about my show. My name is Trey. I'm the host of Get a Bucket. I hope you're all having a good one. Take care.