“Nobody was taking our pictures when I first got into the league 12 years ago,” says Skylar Diggins, Seattle Storm point guard, six-time WNBA All Star, three-time All WNBA team member and Olympic gold medal champion. “Now, with so much attention on the WNBA, we have the ‘tunnel runway,’ people debut high fashion collaborations and products—you can use that entrance into a walking billboard.” Diggins, previously known as Diggins-Smith (she recently dropped the “Smith” from her uniform after filing for divorce from her husband of eight years) is considered one of the most fashionable and fiercely competitive WNBA veterans. “The biggest change in the WNBA now is accessibility,” she says. “We’re on national TV, there’s more branding, and the game stands for more opportunities for girls to want to play basketball globally.”

Here, Diggins, the number three pick in the 2013 draft, who, prior to joining the Storm, played for the Dallas Wings and the Phoenix Mercury, talks to Lisa Robinson about the buzz around the sport, her “gremlin” reputation, her push for better resources for pregnant players (which led to a package of reforms unofficially known as “the Skylar clause”), Brittney Griner’s incarceration, and the new women’s Unrivaled league.

The WNBA has a new collective bargaining agreement coming up, and other than the extreme inequity in pay between the men’s and women’s leagues, what are some of the changes you want to see?

With the new CBA, we do have some power to capitalize on the success we’ve had. For the greater good of the league, salary is the number one thing we’re going to fight for, and collectively, figure out quality of life things. We’re 144 different people in this league and we prioritize different things. For me, I’m going to be talking about more benefits for moms. When you switch teams and move to a different city, trying to find resources; childcare, a pediatrician, a school, playdates.

Of all your many accomplishments and accolades, what are you most proud of?

The 2021 Olympic gold medal is what sticks out the most. Especially being a mom. I went to a lot of Olympic camps and didn’t make the team, so I tried again in four years. We had the Covid year, but then, when I was able to make the team, I had my son, and it wasn’t like I played a lot of minutes, but what I had to do to get myself on that team made me proud. Without sounding corny, I’ve gone through a lot in this league and I’ve labeled myself as an overcomer.

What was the hardest thing to overcome?

Coming back from the birth of my second child in 2023…After I had my son, when I came back to Dallas training camp, I had post-partum depression. I wasn’t really able to run around, I was breast feeding, I couldn’t travel, I wasn’t feeling good. I had to tell the team I couldn’t leave my baby; I had to take a leave of absence, and was gone from the team for a month. As the season went on, they told my assistant coach to stop working me out and started treating me funny. So, I asked to leave Dallas and in 2019 they traded me to Phoenix. In Phoenix, I told my coach I’m probably going to have another baby during that contract—then BG [Brittney Griner] got locked up in 2022. That year was wild, to say the least. BG and I were really close at the time, and trying to figure out what was going on with our teammate, trying to figure out how we could be a support to her—[with] nobody telling us a lot of information—that season was stressful. Then I got pregnant. Nobody really knew, but towards the end of that season, I had to take a leave of absence because of some complications with my pregnancy.

[Editor’s note: Reached for comment, a Dallas Wings spokesperson said: “We’ve always had the utmost respect and appreciation for Skylar Diggins. Our players’ well-being is our highest priority. We support our players, allowing them and the health professionals involved to guide recovery and return to play decisions.” A representative for the Phoenix Mercury did not respond to requests for comment.]

People thought you left because you had an issue with one of the players.

I never spoke out about this because there are so many layers. And in hindsight I think I might have handled some things differently. But Phoenix had been trying to trade me because I had a moment with the star player. Then, when they found out I was pregnant, they really wanted to trade me. I was eight months pregnant, and they had to pay me, but they were trying to move me. There were new coaches, no one contacted me, they wouldn’t let me park in the parking lot anymore….I think if you ask some of my peers they might categorize me as a bit of a gremlin. I’m very competitive, I’ve been an antagonist, and I get under people’s skin. But even if the coach, or players ask you to do something, like “Can you say something…?” you just don’t do it. So, for the rest of the year the relationship with me and the coach was rough. But players get into it, you get over it, you try to play through it and that’s what you try to do as a pro. I played at an extremely high level that year, and I was first team WNBA that year.

Guys have beefs, trash talk, there are even punches thrown at practice. When women have an issue, it gets blown up into a huge catfight.

I just want to be on the highlights, but it’s easier for everyone to talk about drama. Now, especially, with social media and views, clicks and comments, there’s more attention if it’s interpreted as drama. Or messy. Certain things are more hanging fruit for people who are about that.

When it comes to social justice issues, was there always unity within the W? The W was first among the sports leagues to publicly protest the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor murders.

Absolutely. The W has always been at the forefront about standing for change and fighting for equal rights. A lot of our league is made up of Black and brown women, and we understand that this was not something that was a temporary thing or paid attention to because of a traumatic event. We’ve always been on the right side of things and not afraid of being first. Frankly, we had to go into the bubble [in 2020] because if we hadn’t played, our league might have folded. We wanted to have visibility, and a platform to speak up and speak out at a time when a lot of people weren’t playing sports.

You’re from Indiana, where basketball is almost a religion, and you stayed close to home when you got a scholarship and played basketball at Notre Dame. When did you first get interested in basketball?

As soon as you can stand, they hand you a basketball.

You got a business degree at Notre Dame. Then, as a pro, why did you sign with Roc Nation Sports for representation?

It was a leap of faith. Roc Nation Sports was just beginning, and I think Robinson Cano and C.C. Sabathia were the only athletes signed at the time. And even though I didn’t know him, I knew about Jay-Z’s leadership; anything attached to him was successful. Other agencies I had spoken with just put me in a box; it was very cookie-cutter when it came to women’s basketball. And [in the off season] you played overseas, but I didn’t want to play overseas. I wanted to stay in the U.S. and have other opportunities. I wanted to dream bigger and I loved their vision for me.

This is your second year in Seattle. How do you feel that your team just got the second draft pick, the 19 year old, 6’6” Dominique Malonga from France? She’s been compared to a female Victor Wembanyama.

All of us in Seattle are very excited about adding Dominique to our roster. She’s just getting started in her career as a 19 year old and 6’6”—we don’t know if she’s done growing or will continue to grow. But she’s such a dynamic player on both sides of the floor, and our roster has a lot of vets, so she’ll be able to come into our environment and be able to develop her game. I’m very happy where I am right now. We’ve got a pretty good team this year and I’m going to be playing a lot. But the main thing for me is to come in and be a pro. Get my work done, not be a pain in the ass. But that doesn’t mean I’m an easy teammate.

How do you balance your passion with poise?

I’m very passionate, very driven, and I spend a lot of time on my game. I express my emotions and I try to be authentic, [but] sometimes I have to check myself when the competition gets the best of me. I meditate, I do Pilates and yoga, things that slow me down. But sometimes I just have to say “whoa” instead of “giddyup,”

You are one of the most fashionable women in the W. Do you enjoy all the dressing up, the glam, that tunnel runway?

Everybody has a signature look. I love to see everyone do their own thing; if that’s what you do, that’s what you do. Some days a little mascara wouldn’t hurt and I might want to have a little blush, and sometimes I don’t care and just want to get to it. But I love to see people dressing up and getting into fashion.

You have a six-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter. How do you manage your career with two young children?

I’m winging it. My son came with me to the bubble, to Phoenix and now to Seattle. I can take him anywhere. I’m showing them opportunities I never had, taking them to places I’d never been before, being around greatness. Sometimes I think, am I doing right by them? But it actually is all for them.

Do you think that Kobe Bryant bringing his daughter to women’s basketball games had as much to do with bringing attention to the women’s game as any new college stars like Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese coming to the WNBA?

For sure. Just him being one of the G.O.A.T.S, if not the G.O.A.T. Even before he brought Gigi to the games, he was always very vocal about our style of play, our work ethic. He supported it and inspired a lot of other male basketball players to be advocates for our game—and for our daughters to understand how important it is.

Unrivaled is the new three-on-three women’s league you were a part of this past year. It was formed by women players, (Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart) with facilities for women, including child care, spas and glam rooms, and most importantly, equity; you’re all part owners. Did this come about because of Brittney Griner’s incarceration and women not wanting to have to go overseas to make more money in the off-season?

We had been talking about other opportunities before that. I would hear my teammates talk about how they wish they didn’t have to play overseas to make enough money to feed their families, or want more of a break after the season and be able to spend more time with their families. After BG was locked up, people were understandably nervous about going overseas. Unrivaled is just another opportunity to blaze our own trails. I wanted to be a part of it, and even though we had a lot of nuances to work out that first season, it was a no-brainer. It gave more opportunities to work with different brands and partnerships outside of the traditional WNBA brands. We had buzzer beaters and great competition, a great response and they asked me to come back. So that was awesome.