CHICAGO — If there was ever going to be a ‘welcome to your first All-Star Game, rookie’ moment for Olivia Miles, her schedule didn’t allow her to notice. In addition to her role as the lone rookie selected to participate in the WNBA’s mid-summer classic, Miles was in nearly contant motion through various events and activations to mark the first of what she hopes to be many All-Star Weekends in her career.
“I haven’t had a moment to kind of take it all in,” Miles said during Saturday night’s pregam press conference while seated between fellow All-Stars A’ja Wilson and Jessica Shepard. “It’s kind of been just one event after the next, but I think that’s the beauty in it because you just get to stay present and really be where your feet are at.”
The pregame press conference served as a microcosm for those on the outside who can only just imagine the rookie All-Star experience. Moments before Miles, Shepard, and Wilson took the podium, honorary GMs Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon met with the gathered media and Weatherspoon picked Miles of all the talent on Team Spoon as the player who most reminded her of herself as a young player.
“If I think of someone who reminds me of myself, defensively, I would go with Olivia Miles,” Weatherspoon said. “How she plays and how she’s such a floor general, she gets everybody involved and then she knows when to inject herself. I really have enjoyed watching her. And her confidence. I really like her confidence. She steps between those four lines and everyone sees her as a rookie. That’s not how she sees herself. She sees herself as a player who belongs between those four lines with the lions, tigers, and bears, oh my.”
Such is life under the game’s brightest lights. In one moment a legend of the game is praising you, in the next you’re getting teased by the reinging MVP for being born during the second to last year of said legend’s career.
“Too young. Are you a 2000s baby?” Wilson asked Miles after the rookie confirmed she was too young to have watched much of Weatherspoon during childhood.
“‘03,” Miles confirmed, smiling.
Wilson turned away before gasping out, “oh my god,” through a breath, bringing the whole room to laughter.
“Aren’t you [only] 27?” Miles asked.
“Girl, I’m 29, don’t do that,” Wilson responded.
Miles smiled and moved to the next question with poise, as if getting teased by a player referred to as the G.O.A.T. were a daily occurrence. Though, when your first ever All-Star practice is visited by President Obama, there’s likely few things left that can knock one of their toes.
“I mean it’s definitely crazy,” Miles said after the vist by the former president during media day at the Obama Presidential Center. “A lot happening all at once. My schedule’s been booked with appearances, things I have to do, and people I have to see, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think it’s really special that it’s grown to this point. I was at the Chicago All-Star [Weekend] three or four years ago, and it wasn’t nearly [this]. It was good, but it wasn’t nearly as big as what it is now. It’s just special.”
Miles may not have had another rookie on the roster to share a first All-Star experience with, but she had plenty of familiarity around her with Lynx backcourt mate Courtney Williams as a teammate on Team Spoon, Natasha Howard as an opponent on Team Coop, and a familiar boss calling the shots — or whatever shots there are to be called during All-Star Weekend.
A boss who declared days before the weekend commenced that the rookie would have a strong affinity for, “All-Star Cheryl.”
“More than anything, All-Star is a celebration,” Minnesota Lynx (and for a weekend, Team Spoon) head coach Cheryl Reeve said during All-Star Media Day. “Obviously very different than being with your team and practicing and preparing for a game. So All-Star Cheryl is, you know, don’t really care what they do. So we’re going to practice, we’re not going to do two-on-to closeout drills or anything like that. So I think Liv is going to soak it all in and have a great time.”
By the time the weekend reached it’s climactic spectavle, the player known as ‘The Spectacle,’ had already enjoyed/endured a full weekend, but once the game tipped off the only thing the Rookie of the Year frontrunner concerned herself with was figuring out the appropriate level of motor for the exhibition.
“It was so [hard],” Miles told reporters after the game. “I was asking everybody like ‘What do I do?’ I didn’t have another rookie with me to bounce off of… I found a healthy balance and it’s easier when you read how the other team is playing too. So yeah, you get a feel for it.”
Miles punctuated her first All-Star appearance with a double-double with 11 points, and 12 rebounds, and finished just two assists shy of a triple-double. Sharing the starting backcourt on Team Spoon with Indiana’s Caitlin Clark, the ball flew around as it does in games like these and powered Team Spoon to a 129-122 victory.
“There’s some really, really special guard play,” Reeve said at All-Star Media Day when asked about having both Clark and Miles on the Team Spoon Roster. “We knew a time when you had Sue [Bird] and Diana [Taurasi], that sort of thing. This next era of guard play, Caitlin will be a big part of that, Olivia Miles will be a big part of that, so it’s fun to have them as our backcourt in this game.”
Miles also provided one of the game’s highlights with a slick give-and-go behind-the-back pass to Atlanta’s Allisha Gray for a 3-pointer in transition, among other sensational passes she’s earned a reputation for during her rookie season.
“So proud of her,” Williams said after the game. “I’m so proud of her. We told her we need some flashiness for y’all and you saw a couple of the passes. I’m super proud of her, man… That girl, she be doing so much raw stuff, I can’t even. You know what I’m saying? I can’t even tell you.”
Williams’ veteran stamp of approval was merely the sugar on top of an epic weekend that more than lived up to the hype for Miles.
“Yeah, so great and then some,” Miles said after the game. “I’ve been [to All-Star Weekend] as a fan. It’s fun, but not as fun as a player. You get to do all of your appearances and see a bunch of people, talk to people, see little kids and inspire people. Obviously, the game is fun too. A nice little halftime show. I just like the aspect that it’s not too serious. We don’t have to out there and really lace up, play defense and stuff. You just go and have fun.”
Miles won’t have too many moments to pause and reflect on the hectic weekend. Minnesota is right back at it and hosting the Toronto Tempo on Tuesday night as the season officially enters playoff push territory. For Miles, Williams, Reeve and the rest of the Minnesota contingent, the hope is that the fun is just getting started.
“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.
