On the latest episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, host Howard Megdal sat down with WNBA phenom Katie Lou Samuelson to discuss her new chapter as a member of the Indiana Fever. Megdal and Samuelson discuss her free agency, balancing basketball with motherhood, Samuelson’s experience in training camp with the Fever, and more.
Megdal and Samuelson open the show by discussing Samuelson’s free agency process. “Free agency is pretty interesting,” Samuelson explains. “I went in not knowing what teams were going to think, what people were going to be interested in me or not.” But, Indiana was the first team to contact Samuelson’s agent. They expressed that they wanted her to visit on the very first day of free agency. “I hadn’t necessarily thought about Indiana,” Samuelson admits. “But when I took the actual visit … it exceeded all my expectations … I really bought into what they were saying.”
Later, Megdal and Samuelson discuss Samuelson’s return to the court after giving birth in August 2023. “I knew it was going to be hard,” Samuelson expresses. “There were times when I didn’t know if I could do it.” But she acknowledges that the mental strength she developed in her process to return to the game has made her an even stronger player. “Seeing all these women ahead of me that have done this before that have come back and are playing the best basketball they’ve played, that really inspired me.”
Megdal and Samuelson also discuss the progress coming out of Fever training camp. Megdal specifically asked about the team’s internal expectations and how strong they look so far. “We have such a unique and versatile group of players,” Samuelson explains, “so you can’t really put it on one person each night … now it’s us working together to become the best team unit.” Samuelson also acknowledges that she no longer feels like one of the younger players in the room. “This is a young team,” she acknowledges. “I’ve had a lot of different experience with a lot of different teams … I bring a lot of knowledge.”
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