‘It’s always an honor’: Gonzaga great Courtney Vandersloot soaks in fifth All-Star game, first with New York Liberty
LAS VEGAS – Courtney Vandersloot flashed an ear-to-ear grin, sitting between former Chicago Sky teammate Kahleah Copper and current New York Liberty teammate Sabrina Ionescu as they reminisced about one of “Sloot’s” greatest passes.
Copper recalled it was in a game against the Liberty, on a backdoor cut where she finished with a reverse lay-up.
“I remember that,” Vandersloot said.
“I remember that, too,” Ionescu said with a hint of relief that Vandersloot is now her teammate in New York.
The memory was the sidebar.
The moment was fantastic.
“It’s always an honor to be an All-Star,” said Vandersloot, who finished with two points and an assist for Team Stewart on Saturday, playing in her fifth WNBA All-Star game. “It’s fun, it’s light, you get to compete with the best players in the world, you get to share it with your teammates, your former teammates – it’s just an exciting time. I’m happy to be here and just going to enjoy it and soak in every moment.”
Might as well, considering the league itself has been able to soak in every moment of one of the greatest WNBA careers.
Vandersloot, the former Gonzaga standout who had her No. 21 raised to the rafters at McCarthey Athletic Center last February, heads into the second half of her 13th season as the third all-time leader with 2,542 assists and is tied for fourth with two career triple-doubles.
“You know, there’s not many true point guards anymore in basketball in general,” Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi said. “And I think Sloot still embodies that in every way, where she’s looking to make sure everyone’s in the right spot to get the right shot at the right time.”
Taurasi added her own stinging memory, recalling Game 4 of the 2021 WNBA Finals when Vandersloot seemingly took control of the tempo.
Trailing 72-69 with 1:57 remaining, Vandersloot found Candace Parker for a 3-pointer to tie the game. Sixteen seconds later, she rebounded a Taurasi miss, and 19 seconds later lasered a dime to a cutting Stephanie Dolson for a layup that gave the Sky a 74-72 lead.
Vandersloot then iced the game with a short jumper with 23 seconds left and two free throws with 10 seconds remaining to give the Sky a 3-1 series win and the WNBA title.
“That skill doesn’t live in many of us anymore, but it does in Sloot and that’s why every team she’s on right now seems to be at the top of the ladder,” Taurasi said.
Give me Liberty, or …
After 12 seasons in Chicago, Vandersloot was ready for a change.
She’d won a WNBA title with the Sky, her wife Allie Quigley announced she was sitting out the 2023 season but wasn’t retiring, and Parker was headed to Las Vegas. A change of scenery seemed inevitable.
That change almost came last summer when talks with the Sky stalled. She told The Spokesman-Review last season she spoke to Seattle about the possibility of bringing her home to finish her career – “I thought about it … ’cause I did meet with them” – but she ended up playing one more season in Chicago.
The conversation resumed this past offseason when Seattle great Sue Bird retired, and the Storm was in need of a point guard.
But when Breanna Stewart decided she was also ready for a change, the two former Team USA teammates began talking in the offseason.
So when former MVP Jonquel Jones was traded to the Liberty in January, Stewart and Vandersloot helped form a super team in New York two weeks later, looking to counter the powerhouse the defending champion Aces formed in Las Vegas.
“Really excited to kind of be on the same side of her and play with her,” Stewart said. “I think that when you think about her mindset, she’s competitive, she’ll do whatever the team needs. She’s a leader and a voice in the locker room that we need to have. So happy to be with her in New York.”
Ionescu, the former Oregon star who won Friday’s 3-point shootout with a record 37 out of 40 possible points, said it’s been a unique experience to learn from all three offseason acquisitions while playing in the same backcourt with someone of Vandersloot’s stature.
“Just that veteran leadership and being champions on and off the court and everything it is that they do,” Ionescu said. “Whether it’s taking care of their bodies, being on time, really just being professionals, it’s really been something that all of us have followed and been able to just watch and see how they lead by example and how they hold themselves to a higher standard. In turn that makes us all hold each other to that same standard.
“And so, it’s been really a blessing for me as a younger player in this league to be able to have that veteran leadership come into this team and have so many different experiences and perspectives.”
New beginnings
Though she brought a wealth of experience with her to New York, the 34-year-old has embraced the opportunity to accept new challenges among a star-studded cast.
Playing for coach Sandy Brondello with a new roster has pushed Vandersloot with different voices in a different environment, sometimes making her uncomfortable and forcing her to find a new comfort zone.
“And that’s exactly what I wanted,” the six-time WNBA assists leader said. “I really wanted to expand my game, get better and I wanted to be uncomfortable and that’s where the growth happened. So, it’s a really good feeling. Obviously, I’m not where I want to be individually playing but I knew that there was going to be growing pains for me individually, and so I’m just embracing it and trying to make sure that I continue on the right path.”
Her 8.7 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game this season are an all-time career third-best while she’s currently averaging a career-high 31.8 minutes per contest.
She also has five double-doubles this season and came close to her third career triple-double when she finished with 18 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds against her former Chicago team on June 4.
“She’s one that poses a threat and can … rack up assists in an instance,” said Las Vegas Aces point guard Chelsea Gray, the 2022 WNBA Finals MVP. “She makes others around her better. If somebody is open, she’s gonna find you and she’s been able to do this for a long time. Everybody knows she’s probably gonna throw the ball and get an assist, but it’s still hard to stop. What she’s been able to do coming out of Gonzaga and the type of legacy she’s leaving, she’s brought a championship to Chicago after being there for a long period of time, so she’s had a great career thus far.”
Off the stat sheet, she’s also been challenged in new ways as a leader.
In Chicago, she was a foundational piece of its championship culture. In New York, she’s learned to lead an established group of women.
It’s created moments of belief in one another no matter the situation, establishing chemistry, which develops into resiliency and domination when the Liberty have been at their best.
“I was so comfortable in Chicago, and I think that it was easy to be a leader there,” the three-time EuroLeague champion said. “But coming into this situation like this, when really we needed like a lot of leadership, I felt like that’s where my growth really has happened a lot. Just being able to demand a lot from really respectable players and people I’m not really that comfortable with yet, and with a coaching staff that doesn’t really know me that well yet – those types of moments, I think.
“I’m very happy. It’s (been) kind of that breath of fresh air that I really needed. That change up that I really needed.”
W.G. Ramirez is a 36-year veteran covering sports in southern Nevada, and a resident of 50 years. He is a freelance reporter in Las Vegas and a southern Nevada correspondent for the Associated Press. Follow him on Twitter at @WillieGRamirez