WNBA All-Star game, Kansas City Chiefs aim to get third-time lucky

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

And at last, it’s time for sports.

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SIMON: WNBA All-Star Game. And the Kansas City Chiefs go for a three-peat. Michele Steele of ESPN joins us. Michele, thanks very much for being with us.

MICHELE STEELE: You bet, Scott.

SIMON: And you’re joining us from Phoenix. And thank you so much. I know it’s early. The WNBA All-Star Game takes place tonight. A twist – this time, the best players from the league are taking on the U.S. Women’s Olympic team. There’s some overlap, isn’t there?

STEELE: Sure. The best 12 players in the country will be there. They’re all representing USA Basketball. We’re talking about Diana Taurasi and A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart. They’re all current WNBA players, and they’ll be facing other current WNBA players who did not make the team…

SIMON: Yeah.

STEELE: …The WNBA All-Stars. So it makes for some intriguing storyline, Scott.

SIMON: Well, and perhaps the most prominent, Caitlin Clark, Iowa’s own, now of the Indiana Fever, will play for the WNBA side. She was not selected for the Olympic team. Is there a sub drama going on there? She seems to have been on fire ever since she wasn’t selected to show the coaches that they might have been wrong not sending her to Paris.

STEELE: You’re right about that. The first three weeks of the season, she sort of struggled, and then there was a moment where it appeared that she turned the corner. You know, of course, this was a huge controversy when it was announced. Caitlin Clark, the biggest star in women’s basketball not getting the nod. I asked Caitlin Clark about this, and she said, you know what? I’m not going to be motivated by that. I have so much respect for Team USA. And it just gives you motivation to make the team in 2028.

Now, I should mention, though, Scott, the last time we had a game format like this – the WNBA All-Stars versus the Olympic team – a player who did not make the team, Arike Ogunbowale, dropped 26 points in that game.

SIMON: Wow.

STEELE: Beat Team USA and took home the All-Star MVP.

SIMON: Oof. You got a chance to interview the Diana Taurasi, who’s just been named the top WNBA player so far this century by ESPN. She’s going be on the Olympic team tonight. She’s on the crest of history, too, isn’t she?

STEELE: She is – 42 years old. She’s the GOAT, greatest women’s player of this century, and she told me this is her last rodeo for the Olympics. Now, it’s been a wild ride. If the U.S. team wins as expected, this will be her sixth straight gold medal, which is absolutely remarkable, Scott. But one of her teammates, Breanna Stewart, told me that Dee, as they call her, said the exact same thing in Tokyo. So if anyone can do it in four years at 46, it might be her.

SIMON: NFL training camps opened. You were in Missouri – or Missouruh (ph) – in that part of the state. Two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs’ training camp. So what did you learn from being in the orbit of Patrick Mahomes?

STEELE: Yeah. It’s the heat of July, so NFL training camps are getting underway here. And it sounds strange to say for a team with Patrick Mahomes, but the Chiefs actually do need to get better on offense. The defense carried that team to the playoffs last year. They really did. So Mahomes is in a dorm room in St. Joseph, Mo., right now, where they have training camp, and he’s putting his receivers through their paces. They want to win a third Super Bowl.

SIMON: Yeah. That would be an extraordinary achievement, wouldn’t it?

STEELE: Historic. Never been done.

SIMON: All right. ESPN’s Michele Steele. Have a great weekend. Boy, you’re going to be on the court where it happens. Good work.

STEELE: Thanks, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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