[Jay-Z's "Dead Presidents 3"]
- [singing] High school graduates,
straight to the league,
I ain't waiting for my knee to blow.
Yesterday I was needin' this dough.
Get it? I was kneadin' this dough.
[music continues]
[song fades]
- Nneka, thank you for coming
on "Kneading Dough" with me.
Pleasure to have you on.
- Thanks for having me.
- You've been such a successful
athlete and basketball player,
and obviously also successful off the court.
I mean, four consecutive Final Fours.
You won the Championship in the WNBA and
the EuroLeague title in '16. - Yeah.
- So congratulations on all your success.
At what point did you realize like,
"Whoa, I can earn a living playing basketball"?
- Well, I didn't realize it till, like,
you know, halfway through my senior year of college.
- Re--that late? - Yeah.
Up until halfway through my last year,
I was just convinced, I was like,
"Okay, let me--let me go into a post bacc--
"baccalaureate program, and get my pre-med out of the way
and see what I can do."
Then as the year that I had started going,
I was like, "Oh." I mean, it was mostly Chiney.
Chiney was like, "You can do this!
- [laughs] - And so--
and so I was like, "Okay.
You're right. I can."
And, um, things just kind of fell into place.
I prepared myself.
I graduated early. - Yep.
- So I was able to enter the draft
and smooth my way on into WNBA.
- And your parents just were kind of like,
"If this is what you..." Did they have a--opinion on it?
- Um, I mean, they were supportive, you know?
There wasn't any pushback.
We've had family members that have played professionally.
Um, but they also saw it as
you know, a way for me to make a really great living.
- Yep. - Um.
Even going into WNBA, we still weren't completely
knowledgeable about overseas play.
So that was another thing for me
that I didn't truly understand either.
But we obviously knew the discrepancy in, um, pay...
- Of course. - When it comes to--yeah--
women and men, but yeah. - Huge discrepancy.
And talking about that discrepancy,
obviously the max in the WNBA
is somewhere around $110,000-whatever.
And the minimum in the NBA
is like five times that.
And you're, obviously, the president of the union
in the WNBA, which is fantastic.
Congratulations, by the way. - Thank you.
- Like, how do we work to keep closing that gap?
And how does that make you feel when you think about that?
- Uh, I mean, I feel like we have a lot of work to do.
But I also feel as though, you know,
we're--what, I think, 21 years in?
- Yep.
- It's still quite young. - Very young, yeah.
- You know, it's still quite young.
Um, but I think that
it's getting better. - Yep.
- And once you get more people,
more eyes on us, more ears on us,
it'll bring more businesses
and, you know, more private entities
that want to put in and, um, really help support us.
- WNBA players, a lot of them, have to do a lot of things
to generate income in other ways.
What are some of the things that
they have to do to earn money?
- I think that's the beautiful thing about our league, is that
uh, a major majority of us have degrees.
And so you have people that own franchises;
you have people that have started their own businesses.
I mean, some--some-- some of the women in our league
have hair lines, uh, ice cream stores.
- Wow. - And they're, um,
working in different companies,
interning--even for the NBA, and stuff like that.
And so you have a lot of
very ambitious women in the league.
Obviously because of us being able to
experience overseas, experience a different life
in a different area, it really broadens our horizon.
And that allows for some really colorful experiences.
- Now, are there players, yourself or others,
who are making more from their overseas salary
than WNBA salary?
- I mean, I would think almost everyone.
- Most everyone is? - It's funny because
when people see me here in LA, they're like,
"Oh, you play for the Sparks. You're back in season."
- [soft laugh] - And they're like,
"So where are you in the off-season?"
And I'm like, "I-- well, I live in Russia."
Like, they ask me where I live. I'm like, "I live in Russia."
And they're like, "What do you mean?"
I'm like, "I'm there for seven months." That's where I live.
That's where I make, you know, a bulk of my living.
- Talking about, like, business off the court,
have you made investments and started investing
the money that you make, and do--do you have time to do it?
- Oh, yeah, um.
I guess the first investment
I made in myself was when we first came in.
And, you know, they give us rookie orientation.
They told us about 401K. So I've maxed out my 401K.
Every year, it's maxed out. - Every year you max it out?
- Yeah. Every year it's maxed out. So then--
I think they match it to the quarter,
they match a quarter to the dollar, something like that.
- Wow, the league does? - Yeah.
- That's amazing. - Yeah.
So by the time I get out, I'll be good.
That was kind of, I guess you could say, my first investment.
And then my parents helped me, um, invest a few things.
What do you think, to this point, has been
the best decision you've made, business-wise?
- Not buying a car.
- You don't own a car? - Mm-mm.
- Never owned a car? - Mm-mm.
Well, I mean, I did when I was in high school,
but my parents bought it.
- Yeah, but as a professional? - Yeah, mm-mm.
I'm not gonna buy a car till I have a house,
and I don't have a house, so.
- Oh--that's a good... - Where am I gonna park it?
- That's a great piece of advice.
- Yeah. - No car until you get a house?
- Yeah.
- So how do you get back and forth to practice?
- I mean, they set us up with rentals, so.
- Oh, so you get a rental.
- And there are moments when, like,
I'm driving into Staples and, like,
I see my teammates with their cars
and I'm, like, driving in my rental...
- [laughs] - I got like a nice outfit on.
And I-- [laughter]
I come out of my rental car, and I'm just like, "Ugh."
Like, "Nneka, snap out of it. It's gonna be worth it."
But, um, I mean, there's no reason for me to have it.
I'm not home, so. - You're only here five months.
- Yeah, so.
- And then when you're in Russia,
they give you a rental also? - I have a driver in Russia.
- You have a driver? - Yeah.
- The team provides you a driver?
- Yeah, the team provides a driver.
- Well, that's cool. - Yeah.
But I like driving myself.
- Do you really? - Yeah.
I--like, that's the--that's the number one thing I miss
when I come back, is driving myself.
- You're ready to get-- back in your rental?
- Yeah--yeah back in my rental. - [laughs]
- Exactly. [laughter]
- And is there any advice, like, that you've learned
from your parents and also, now being a professional,
that you would give to, like, rookies in your sport
or women that are coming in and turning pro just now?
- Yes.
Um, when it comes to managing your finances,
I feel like there's always two extremes.
It's like, "Whoo, drop bands on it."
- [laughs] - Or...
"I'm just gonna go get Chipotle
and then go back to my house."
- Yeah, yeah. - That--that's who I was.
And so once you start making more money,
you shouldn't get too carried away.
I just--I just really think that people--
you just gotta be smart, but at the same time,
I always tell people, you can't completely
cut yourself off from things that you want.
I think, here and there, you should treat yourself.
- Absolutely. - Yeah.
- And is there, like,
one guilty pleasure restaurant that's really expensive
or one meal that you just always have to have
or any purchase that's like... - Yeah.
- A thing you can't stop doing?
- Yeah, I guess you could say,
when I'm in Russia, I always go to Nobu.
- [laughs] - Always.
I always go to Nobu.
- By yourself, or you take people?
- I go with my teammates.
I don't pay for other people. [laughter]
I pay for myself, but... - Got it.
- You know, I always go to Nobu.
- Always go to Nobu? - Yeah.
- You can't stop? - No.
- No matter how expensive the raw fish is?
- I'ma get that crispy rice every time.
[laughter]
- And last question.
You obviously have thought about retirement.
Have you thought about life after basketball and
what you want to do and what you're thinking about doing?
- Yes, um, I want to go back to school.
Um, I've thought about it a long time,
and I want-- I think I want to get
a master's in public relations.
And I would like to involve myself, um,
maybe in the sports world again.
Maybe as like a president... - Of a club?
- Yeah, of a club, or even the league, you never know.
- Yep. - Yeah.
- And, you know-- I was at dinner last night
and I happened to see Michael Strahan.
I was explaining, uh,
to the people I was with that he was so smart because
he's--people didn't realize-- I didn't realize--is
he was setting himself up... - Yeah.
- Long before he retired, for what he's doing.
Have you started doing that, like,
as you want to be a president of a club,
have you started sending those signals and messages
and learning what a president's job is?
- I'm starting now,
um, picking brains,
networking, staying connected.
Obviously getting your face out there is--
is what's most important.
And so once you get your face out there,
you have to have people remember your face.
And so I'm really trying my best to, um,
just be in as many places as I can,
and also, um, respecting
what other people bring to the job as well,
because by the time I get to where I want to go,
I don't want to just mimic someone.
I want to be able to bring what I can bring.
So I try my best to, um, involve myself.
And I think being president of the union
really helps that too.
[hip-hop instrumental music]
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