In Super Squads, The Athletic follows the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces in their quests to win a WNBA championship. Our reporters will tell the stories of the players on two of the most star-studded teams in league history and examine how their paths shape the future of the WNBA.
The WNBA season was only a few games young, and reigning defensive player of the year A’ja Wilson had just added a highlight that was sure to make the reel for her encore campaign.
Advertisement
The Sparks were in Las Vegas for the Aces’ ring night, and Zia Cooke was trying to get ahead of the defense for a transition layup. Unfortunately for the rookie, Wilson kept pace with her down the court and swatted the attempt out of bounds when it had barely left Cooke’s hands.
SC on SC ‼️@_ajawilson22 gets the best of this one with the big time block 🚫
📺 @NBATV pic.twitter.com/kZhWEHMaWi
— WNBA (@WNBA) May 28, 2023
Cooke eventually would refer to this play as her welcome-to-the-league moment, but it was more than just that: This was fodder for the South Carolina group chat. Wilson was adamant that the rejection was clean, while Cooke appealed for a foul — but not from the referee. Cooke’s arbiter wasn’t actually at the game. It was South Carolina coach Dawn Staley.
Staley elected not to take a side between her former national champions. However, she did think Wilson could have been a bit more charitable to her Gamecocks sister. Even after they get to the pros, Staley still wants her South Carolina products looking after one another.
“(Wilson) didn’t have to do the baby like that,” Staley said about Wilson’s block. “She really did not have to do the baby like that. She didn’t. I told her.”
It’s a sentiment Wilson can take to heart considering the pride she and the other Gamecocks have in representing South Carolina.
Since Staley turned the Gamecocks into a national power in Columbia, S.C., that influence has extended into the WNBA, where nine players are currently on rosters. That is the third-highest total in the league behind Notre Dame (10, though two are on maternity leave) and Connecticut (16, including two inactives). By the end of the season, South Carolina will have three of the last seven rookies of the year — Allisha Gray, Wilson and Aliyah Boston — more than any other program in that time frame.
Advertisement
“To see all of us achieving our goals and being able to play against each other, it’s special,” Cooke says.
The process starts early, as Staley strives to get her players ready for the WNBA from the moment they step on campus. They work on their “pro habits” as freshmen. For Staley, that means having mental toughness, taking your career seriously and doing the work. For Wilson, those include accountability, humility and discipline. Destanni Henderson, a 2022 national champion, adds accepting coaching to the list.
Whatever the exact formula, those behaviors lead to players who don’t just make the league, but figure out a way to stay. In a league that consistently churns through even the most talented players, the fact that nine of the last 13 Gamecocks to get drafted — all within the Staley era — are still in the WNBA is a testament to the preparation they received at South Carolina. Even Henderson, who was cut during training camp, earned a series of hardship contracts this season and played 15 games, starting one.
The pipeline is poised to continue in the years to come as South Carolina brings in more top recruits. Kamilla Cardoso, a 6-foot-7 senior, dazzled as a reserve behind Boston and Saxton last season and will take center stage next season. Sophomore Raven Johnson led the Gamecocks in assists off the bench last year, and fellow sophomore Chloe Kitts is coming off a star turn at the U19 World Cup.
Their particular brand of toughness resonates across the league. Sparks head coach Curt Miller, who had the opportunity to work with Cooke and Henderson, said, “That South Carolina program really grooms these guys to compete.”
That development doesn’t just come from their head coach; it also comes from former Gamecocks who return to campus to pay it forward.
“When they come back, I try to get them to practice with us,” Staley said. “I try to get them to impart knowledge on how to play at the next level, the type of habits they’ve created to have staying power and to have dominating power once they’re in the league.”
Advertisement
Dawn Staley is cheering on Zia Cooke courtside in her WNBA debut pic.twitter.com/KKJNHOGiKk
— Matt Dowell (@MattDowellTV) May 20, 2023
Though Staley works to foster camaraderie within her players, new and old, the community around them has also grown closer. As a result, the Gamecocks don’t just bring their success and competitive spirit into the league — they bring their fans, too. The South Carolina following has become so attached to the players that they can’t imagine saying goodbye simply because players have exhausted their eligibility.
Every game in Atlanta, where Staley is a season-ticket holder, feels like a home game for the USC alums, and the university will often take a busload of fans from Columbia to attend Dream games. Indiana Fever guard Erica Wheeler, who played for Atlanta in 2022 and currently suits up with two South Carolina products in Boston and Victaria Saxton, jokingly calls South Carolina a cult while praising how “ride-or-die” the fans are. The Dream fans cheer as loudly for the former rookies of the year as they do for Laeticia Amihere, the 12th woman in the rotation.
The influence of that raucous crowd was most evident on Aug. 13. On that night, Wilson tied the WNBA single-game scoring record with 53 points against the Dream in front of her family and college fan base, and she was explicit about the role the fans play in her success in Atlanta.
“We talk about bridging the gap from college to pros, and I feel like that is a huge key in what I do and how I am in this league,” Wilson said earlier in the season. “I love home; South Carolina is my home through and through. And when they show out and show up, it really means a lot. If I can do that and bring fans to our games and put butts in the seats, that’s so key.”
One of the fans who has been a more frequent attendee this year is Staley. According to Wilson, she never came to as many games as she has this season, when all her “favorites” — Wilson’s teasing words — entered the league, but Staley’s physical presence is ultimately immaterial. She always checks in with her players, no matter whether she attends their games in person.
Cooke says she speaks to Staley every few days to talk through her situation on the Sparks, and Staley mostly reminds her that she already has the mental fortitude to handle the ups and downs. Henderson likes having a person to call on who will be in her corner, no matter what. Saxton gets reassurance from Staley that she’s a great teammate, and that her time to play will come.
Staley says she doesn’t like to hover, or in her words, “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday quarterback.” However, sometimes she sees an opening to take on a more active role with her former players.
Advertisement
On opening night in Los Angeles, she challenged Cooke to stop getting hit on screens from her courtside seat, telling her that her body couldn’t handle taking that much contact from grown women — she would have to fight through the picks. Later in the year, at a Fever game in Atlanta, she repeatedly yelled “single coverage” at Boston, encouraging her rookie center to shoot even if it felt selfish because it was the best play for the team. Boston ended up taking 22 shots, the most in a game this season and more than she ever took in a contest at South Carolina.
Staley’s former players are willing to listen because she’s the one who helped get them there. She raised them on the basketball court, developing them tactically and mentally for this moment, and the proof is in the hordes of Gamecocks who surround them in the league.
“To see it all unfold and to see us all here being successful across the league, it’s truly something special,” Wilson says. “I’m always proud to say, I’m a product of Dawn Staley, and that’s the stamp. That’s a big stamp for me and I love it, and you can see it carries out throughout my college teammates. And it’s just a type of vibe that we give, the culture that we built there. It’s no surprise that we’re being very successful in this league.”
As long as Staley stays in Columbia, that culture will also stay in the WNBA — an ethos that encourages all South Carolina players to be competitors first, but sisters a close second.
The Super Squads series is part of a partnership with Google Lens. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; Photo of Aliyah Boston, right, and A’ja Wilson: David Becker / Getty Images)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k3Frcm5jbXxzfJFsZmlxX2Z%2BcL%2FOrquhZZOWv7C4yKeYZq%2Bel65usMCwpWarpJa5psWO