Category: Sports

Since 2017, Tina Charles has been on teams that have fallen below the .500 mark every year. She has been with the Mystics, Mercury, and now the Seattle Storm, who are 17-8 and are undefeated coming out of the All-Star break.

But the winning hasn’t mattered to Charles, as she values the personnel she plays with higher than winning.

“I love playing basketball. So regardless of (the schemes), it’s just more so — the individuals that I’m alongside of. How each of them approach every single practice, caring about every single possession, defensive possession. Just seeing how the coaching staff prepares for the game and makes sure everyone is readily prepared,” Charles said via SB Nation. “I think that’s the beauty of it; I think that’s what the main difference is. You know, what attracted me to Seattle were the players on this team and just their approach and just what’s known about Seattle.”

In the seven games she’s played with Seattle, Charles has averaged 10.3 points and 5.9 rebounds on 50.0 percent shooting in those games. She’s taken a backseat to the likes of Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd but remains effective in her role.

“Tina obviously brings a lot, everyone knows, she’s an amazing player, she’s one of the best players in our league, and the way she can really affect and change a game,” Stewart said. “But, if I’m being completely honest, the thing that she’s brought has just been confidence.”

Charles, a 2012 MVP and eight-time All-Star, has been consistently great even in the later years of her career. She’s embarked on a new challenge of being a role player rather than a headliner. She has only aided the cause for the 17-8 Seattle Storm on their quest for a WNBA title in the final year of Sue Bird’s storied career, and Charles will only help that goal become more realistic.

This story appears in the second edition of WSLAM 2. Get your copy here.

Emma Meesseman admits it right from the jump. She doesn’t like change.

“But it came to the point where I needed to change something and grow as a person,” says the 29-year-old Belgian.

Meesseman made the leap last winter when she chose to move from her comfort zone in Washington, where she spent seven seasons and won a title with the Mystics, to join the defending champion Chicago Sky. It was one of the biggest free-agent moves of the 2022 offseason. But let’s be real: Meesseman’s new start came with the knowledge that she was surrounding herself with old friends.

Meesseman, the 2019 WNBA Finals MVP, played in Russia with Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley for UMMC Ekaterinburg. Sky head coach James Wade was an assistant coach on that team. Sky assistant coach Ann Wauters is a long-time teammate of Meesseman on the Belgian national team, and Belgian national team teammate Julie Allemand is also on the Sky roster.

Wade has called Meesseman’s transition “effortless.”

But Wauters has seen her friend out of her comfort zone and knows different. She said she thinks it’s been “challenging” for Meesseman to settle into a new city and a new team.

“Emma is out of her comfort zone, and she is having to come out of her shell,” Wauters says. “But I think it only helps her.”

Comfortable or not, Meesseman is doing what she has done for the past eight years: filling the stat sheet. And she’s doing it without a lot of fanfare or hype. Ask those who know her and her game well and they will tell you that one of the WNBA’s most understated talents is actually one of the most gifted players on the planet.

Mystics coach Mike Thibault, who drafted Meesseman as a 19-year-old back in 2013, called her “one of the best players in the world.”

Wade, for whom Meesseman was the first player he ever scouted back in France, said he knew from the moment he saw her that he wanted her on his team. He couldn’t know that nine years later she would be the centerpiece of his team’s effort to defend a WNBA championship.

Meesseman is already a fixture in the Sky’s starting lineup, starting every game in the early part of the season and ranking among the team leaders in minutes played. Her averages (through eight games) of 10.5 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.9 steals show her versatility and value to the Sky, who are trying to become the first WNBA team to become repeat champions since the Los Angeles Sparks did it in 2001 and 2002.

On May 14, she collected the 500th assist of her WNBA career. She also grabbed a career-high 7 steals, a game in which she also notched 17 points, 7 rebounds and hit 3 three-pointers. It’s the quintessential testament to what Meesseman can do. But it’s not just the kind of versatility that the Sky expected from her. 

“It’s what I expect from myself,” Meesseman said. “It’s about doing whatever I can to make this team better, doing all the things that your team needs you to do.” 

Wauters says she thinks that Meesseman can play better as the season goes along.

“I think that’s a positive,” Wauters says. “We love that she has the championship experience with Washington and she knows it’s not easy. There’s a lot of room for growth.”

The kind that Meesseman knew she would be positioning herself for if she embraced change.

“It’s still a process,”  Meesseman says. “But it’s coming for me, day by day and step by step.” 

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WSLAM 2 is available now. Get your copy here.

Photos via Getty Images

Although his Summer League stint was cut short, Paolo Banchero has received some high praise from superstars around the League, including NBA champion Draymond Green.

Green recently shared his thoughts on the Magic’s No. 1 pick on his podcast, the Draymond Green Show.

“Paolo Banchero, I think, is one of them ones. And the reason I think Paolo is one of them guys is because of the things that he did on the basketball court that were not scoring. … Yes, he did all the things with the basketball. Yes, he made the plays, but the plays that he made that did not involve him having the basketball is why I think Paolo is going to be one of them guys.”

Paolo continued to impress during his few Summer League matchups. The SLAM 235 cover star was pretty solid in first game and dropped 17 points, along with six dimes, and four boards.

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Very solid opening night for Paolo.

17 pts, 6 reb, 4 last. (via @OrlandoMagic) pic.twitter.com/QQlxw6iHLH

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) July 8, 2022

He then followed that up with a 23-point masterpiece, while scoring the game-winning assist before Coach Jamahl Mosley made the executive decision to shut P5 down for the remainder of Summer League.

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rook was hooping @Pp_doesit 🪄

23 PTS | 6 REB | 6 AST pic.twitter.com/nlklro39t5

— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) July 9, 2022

The two games he played were enough for the Magic to know what type of player they were getting.

“I hope that organization is ready for that player because that player is a winner, that player, he cares. I mean, he was out there playing in Summer League games like he was playing in the NBA Finals, with that type of intensity,” Green continued. “That is a winner right before your eyes, and I hope that that organization is ready for that player.”

Paolo Banchero is set to make his regular season debut in October.

Another day, another WNBA record broken for Sue Bird. Bird recorded two steals during Sunday’s 81-65 victory against the Indiana Fever, moving her to third on the WNBA’s all-time steals list. 

Bird, who now has 711 career steals, passed former Mystics and Sparks guard Alana Beard for the third spot.

The 2022 season has been a victory lap of sorts for Bird, who announced in June that this year will be her final WNBA season. Bird’s climb on the all-time steals list comes less than a month after the 41-year-old became the winningest player in WNBA history following a victory over the Las Vegas Aces in June.

Bird recently played in her final All-Star game and will finish her career with 13 All-Star game appearances. The four-time WNBA Champ and five-time Olympic Gold Medalist received a standing ovation from the All-Star crowd in Chicago.

Bird is looking for a final championship push with the Seattle Storm, who currently stands at 17-8 and are jostling with the Las Vegas Aces for the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference.

Bird is averaging 7.8 points, 6.0 assists, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game in 20 games this season.

On Sunday, the Las Vegas Aces announced they signed 2022 All-Star MVP and 2021 Olympic Gold Medalist Kelsey Plum to a two-year contract.

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𝗣𝗟𝗨𝗠 𝗗𝗔𝗪𝗚 𝗜𝗦 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗬𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗡 𝗩𝗘𝗚𝗔𝗦! ♦️♠️

𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟: The Las Vegas Aces organization is excited to announce the contract extension of All-Star guard Kelsey Plum.@Kelseyplum10 // #ALLIN

— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) July 17, 2022

The fifth-year guard is posting career-highs in points (20.3 per game), assists (5.5 per game), and steals (1.1 per game) while shooting 44.3 percent from the field and a scorching 41.5 percent from three-point range this season. Plum ranks second in the League in points per game behind only Breanna Stewart and her 21 points per game average.

Plum earned her first All-Star Game selection in 2022 and scored 30 points for Team Wilson en route to being named the game’s MVP. She broke Pete Maravich’s NCAA Division-I scoring record while playing for Washington.

Plum averaged just 8.9 points per game in her first three WNBA seasons but caught fire when she adjusted to coming off the bench in 2021, scoring 14.8 points per game that season. After a rocky start to her career and overcoming a torn Achilles tendon in 2020, the 2017 No. 1 overall pick has been awarded a two-year deal to remain in Las Vegas.

“I’m thrilled to remain with the Aces and continue playing with my teammates and for our coaching staff,” Plum said in a press release. “I look forward to persisting in our journey to delivering a championship to Las Vegas.”

The Aces currently stand atop the Western Conference with an 18-7 record. Las Vegas has another month to cement itself as the West’s top team before the WNBA Playoffs begin on Aug. 17.

James Harden’s sense of urgency has heightened into his 16th season in the NBA. Winning his first title is so crucial that the 32-years-old is willing to take a substantial $15 million pay cut to make it happen.

Harden taking less money allowed 76ers president Daryl Morey to answer the teams’ depth problems by signing two-way powerhouse PJ Tucker, sharpshooter Danuel House, 2022 G League MVP Trevelin Queen, and acquiring combo guard De’Anthony Melton via trade this summer.

Now with some more pieces surrounding Harden and Joel Embiid, the 76ers will need Harden to come back healthy and with a vengeance not seen since Oklahoma City traded him to Houston and he established as the most dangerous lefty playmaker in the League today.

“I had conversations with Daryl, and it was explained how we could get better and what the market value was for certain players. I told Daryl to improve the roster, sign who we needed to sign and give me whatever is left over,” Harden said per Yahoo Sports. “This is how bad I want to win. I want to compete for a championship. That’s all that matters to me at this stage. I’m willing to take less to put us in position to accomplish that.”

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“I told Daryl to improve the roster, sign who we needed to sign and give me whatever is left over…This is how bad I want to win. I want to compete for a championship…I’m willing to take less to put us in position to accomplish that.”✊

– James Harden to @ChrisBHaynes pic.twitter.com/qMJSCP2oSm

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) July 18, 2022

That starts with Harden being able to produce more than 21.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 10.5 assists per game on 40.2 percent shooting from the field and 32.6 percent from deep he averaged in 21 games with Philly last year.

While many around the League may not even expect to see “Houston” James Harden reemerge next year, Harden says that part of the reason he struggled was because of numerous injuries, including a persistenly balky hamstring. To those unsure of what Harden to expect, Harden only has the following to say.

“I don’t really listen to what people are saying. I wasn’t right last season and I still almost averaged a triple-double,” Harden said. “If anybody else had those numbers, we’d be talking about them getting the max. People were used to seeing me averaging 40, 30 points, and so they viewed it as a down year. I was in Philadelphia for a couple of months and I had to learn on the fly. That’s just what it was. I’m in a good space physically and mentally right now, and I’m just looking forward to next season.”

Tristan Thompson, who most recently played for Chicago Bulls, is about to be a new dad again – but instead of being in L.A. for the imminent birth … he’s halfway across the world, living it up with some lovely ladies.

TMZ has obtained footage of the NBA power forward at a club called Bonbonniere in Mykonos, Greece very early Friday morning: