It’s time for another episode of the Locked on Women’s Basketball podcast. In this episode, The Next’s New York Liberty beat writer Jackie Powell is joined by two guests. First, Jackie is joined by The Next’s Dallas Wings beat writer Arie Graham to discuss the hiring of Latricia Trammell and what we can expect to see from her at the helm in Dallas. You can read what Arie wrote about the vacancy before the hire was announced, including what Dallas needed to address with any hire.
Arie on how Trammell can be more effective in maximizing talent than Dallas’ prior head coach, Vickie Johnson:
First, she’s I think she’s going to have to build trust with the players, immediately. One of the things that was missing was that some of the players didn’t have a good rapport, and she’s going to have to get the trust of the entire team. I believe that she will be able to utilize the roster in the best way, from top to bottom. The way the roster was constructed in [Los Angeles], you had the starters and then the bench wasn’t as strong, but I think that’s the opposite here in Dallas.
Next, Jackie was joined by Alexa Philippou of ESPN, who wrote a feature story on the Cavinder twins, their move to Miami, and their NIL prominence. Alexa discussed the things most people don’t see in the lives of influencers like the Cavinders and how that feeds into misconceptions about who they are as athletes. Alexa also discussed the fact that they are benefiting from NIL far beyond more proven players on the court.
Alexa on how NIL tied into her trip to write about the Cavinder twins:
Big picture, this is a story about this NIL era, and who’s benefiting from it, why they’re benefiting from it, what this means for women’s sports and certain athletes in women’s sports. And there’s still so many unanswered questions we have about what this era will look like long-term.
For more coverage of the Dallas Wings, click here. For more coverage of Miami and the ACC, click here.