The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - ALLEY OOP (Ep 12)⁠: The WNBA CBA Debacle and Will the Liberty Take It All w/ Trysta & Sarah

Episode Date: July 28, 2025

Juju Gotti chats with Trysta Krick and Sarah Chovnick of "Let Her Shoot" about the WNBA CBA, Emma Meesseman going to the Liberty, that Sophie Cunningham viral video about the W refs, and much more. Plus, an insider's take on that bag line at the W's All-Star Week. Alley Oop is everything basketball, hoops, and hoopers.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To succeed in the future of work, forward thinkers use AI to deliver measurable results. Workday is the AI platform for HR and finance that frees you from the mundane so you can focus on more meaningful work. Workday, moving business forever forward. I want to know how can I become a WNBA referee? Is there a school I need to go to? I want to enroll. Do I got to do some high school games? I spent All-Star weekend with the illustrious Sarah and Trista and I saw Sarah about to murder Trista umpteen times. You saw it.

Like umpteen times. You saw it. Umpteen times. You saw it. I started looking her eyes. You saw it. I think it was the purse situation. The purse situation. That really got me that I was just out. I just peaced out.

There were so many good moments. And so we get there and it's like oh yeah by the way you can't bring your person. And I'm trying to they've got like this little envelope wooden box And I'm like trying to stuff it in just And juju's the best cuz he's like just give me all the stuff out of the purse And I'll put in my pockets, then you can see I'm trying to finesse the security guard and tears like it's not gonna work It's not it's not gonna work. It does not fit. It was too low The math did not math for you to get it in there.

Juju was humoring you and... She's like, I'm outta here. We've already missed the skills challenge. Natasha Cloud's already won. I'm not trying to miss this three point challenge. How about this 2025, brothers? Can we get something, uh, uh, uh, uh a metal detector or something that can see what's in bags because the line to check your bag was unnecessary we here

for the skills competition we here for the W of course we got purses what do you mean so I don't know but they might have to get that together ASAP bro especially if All-Star Friday is only gonna be an hour long. There we go. Talk about that. You know, what are you gonna do? We wasted half the time trying to get in the building. The line which I cut, sneakily cut, cut the hell out of the line to try to get my purse back,

that line was gonna be longer to stand in than the skills competition was for the whole damn event. Yep, yep. And I know that they want us to buy clear bags for the stadium, get you a clear tote. Ain't nobody got time to go to Dick's Sporting Goods to get a clear book bag for $30. Nah, but this is my Louis, it goes with my pants.

Let's go, I'm here for the All-Star weekend. It don't fit in this box, but this is my Louis. It goes with my pants. Let's go. I'm here for the All-Star weekend. It don't fit in this box. Get out of my line, sir. I mean, I don't carry a purse, so I don't have this problem. But when was the last time you carried a purse? Good question. And by the way, Sarah had on the Della Donne Washington Mystics jersey. So she was fresh with the Jays. You feel me? Like she was fresh as hell that day.

So she didn't need a, a century bag or nothing. And my sister was fresh too. Green and white pants. They went right with the purse. Come on. Look at the memory on Juju. Juju's got style memory. He's got the memory.

Kathy, Ms. Kathy, you're going to have to hold that L coming soon because these CBA negotiations are ramping up fast and it's still not making a lot of sense to me for the players not to get at least some type of increase on this bag that y'all about to make. $2.2 billion dollar media rights deal starting next year, $250 million dollars from the new expansion teams, all three of them, which is five times the amount that the Valkyrie had to pay. Excuse me, pardon me, the Valkyries had to pay.

You feel me? What do y'all think about these CBA negotiations? Let's start with Sarah. What you think, dog? I think, do I, I don't really necessarily think that the players are going to get 50% of the revenue that they're asking for. I just don't think that the WNBA or the NBA, whoever's really in charge of these negotiations, is going to give them that 50%.

I think they got to hold strong though at at least 30%. I know TK thinks that they're going to get 50%. I don't think they're going to get 50. I don't think they're going to get 50. But I do think that there has to be- Wait, did you spoil my take? Damn, spoiler alert. TK. Sheesh. I was like, who's TK? Oh yeah, my sister. But I do think that there has to be an increase for at least the for the minimums and the maximums because Caitlin Clark is out here making $78,000 a year and you cannot tell me that there is

a more underpaid employee of a company in the country. Yeah, I mean you might be looking at one but neither here nor there. Trista, what about you? What do you think? I think in general the players did everything that you would want them to do to apply pressure Yeah, and I was talking about this earlier with an economist is you know that excuse us excuse us Southern Utah economist coming out on heat check. He's he's come on the show before Only reason he didn't come on letter of shooters because is because he's a man. So we gotta have Nefer Titi, the woman who,

that's her name, the woman who co-wrote the book with them. That's her name, y'all. Stop. It's also the name of like an Egyptian queen, I think. Right. Is there a middle name for the Maksim Amon? The way I said it kind of makes it sound like I made the name up.

But it's not name never sorry Never auntie so we were just talking about like how it normally goes overseas and when you are like all these different rules and guidelines that the WNBA and the NBA have terms of how how they pay their players. Those don't exist. They're illegal overseas. So when you take into account how much WNBA players that play overseas are making, it's

like around 70 to 80% of league revenue. So you're talking about, like, if we allow the owners to say we're really opening this up to free market and they want to win these billionaires want to win Then they should be getting paid at least with the men's are getting paid now juju You said that the rights deal was 2.2 billion dollars But actually that's just what the little like little scraps that the NBA decided to give the WNBA. They got 78 billion 78 billion and they said oh well, we you know, we think they WNBA. They got 78 billion, 78 billion, and they said, oh well we, you know, we think the WNBA rights, we'll just give you, because they basically packaged them together, hey we'll do all this for 78, and then we decided to give the W2. The economist

that I spoke to said that that rights deal should be really around 10 billion for the W, which means that the NBA is pocketing 8 billion. So you can't tell me that this is not a profitable situation for an NBA owner to be a part of, especially when you said you're getting all of the expansion fees put into your pocket, and then when you sell a franchise, you're making a hell of a lot of money off of that as well. So you can't talk out of both sides of your mouth and say to the players, hey, we're losing all this money. And then say to the investors, hey, this is such a phenomenal investment.

We know it was 50 million to invest in an expansion team, but now the price has gone up 4X in a year. Cannot do that. Kaitlyn Clark, Angel Reese, bro, every city they go to damn near, the tickets gonna be boosted. The New York Liberty, how much were they bought for? How much are they worth now? Like, how much were the Valkyries? They're worth $450 million now.

I think Juju, next time we see, like I think we need to be paying attention to the next time Adam Silver has a press conference, and we need to show up in our Skytown jerseys and our Atlanta Dream jerseys and we need to have media members who are down for the W and start asking those types of questions to Adam Silver about like, hey, how are you guys getting 250 million for an expansion team and you're telling us that you're losing 40 or maybe 50 million when back in the last time that you had this conversation it was 10 million that you were losing. So how are the revenues going up? But also the losses going up?

There's there's also just no way that they're losing that much money right now. No, there's not that's what I'm trying to say is It's funny money math. The people who believe that are the people who have not watched a WNBA game There's just no way. There's no way. You go to that arena that we were in this weekend, it's sold out. It's sold out for the skills comp. And they're telling us they're losing money. Right, these is valid questions that we got.

They sold out the TD Garden for Leah Boston going back to Boston. You feel me? Like, bruh, the math, like you said, Sarah, math ain't math then. Call for a juju, got it. Welcome back to the alley-oop. I'm your, oi.

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Hello? Andrew Reese? Anytime, anytime. Wrong number, sorry. The season has started back though, and we had some great games last night, but the New York Liberty versus the Fever game I was watching it and I got some breaking damn news that I did not see coming. What is it? The New York Liberty have signed Emma Missiman from Portugal Spain I forgot the team she played for Belgium yeah she played for Belgium I Yeah, she played for Belgium. I just remember she get buckets in the Olympics. She got buckets.

She's the MVP right now of the tournament they just had. MV 2019 finals MVP on the team with your girl, Sarah, Elena Dele Don with the mistakes. Come on, man. What do y'all think that does for a delivery? Does that make them the all out favorites right now? Start with you Trista. Yeah, I mean that was who the links were trying

to go after and get. And so that was like all the chatter was that Minnesota was gonna go sign Emma Misamin. That would have been a player that they could have really used and needed. To add Emma Misamin to going out and getting Natasha Cloud is just two pieces that the Liberty truthfully did not need in order to be title contenders.

Now you got Jonquell all the way back like the seats on a Cadillac and she's looking unstoppable. It's gonna be tough to beat the Liberty. Very tough. What about you, Sarah? What's your thoughts sis? Yeah, I like the Liberty, but I also liked the Lynx coming off this break. I liked how he looked.

I liked the energy of the stud buds. You know, I just, I liked the Lynx, but I do agree with Trista. It's gonna be really hard to take down the Liberty this year. Yeah, speaking of the stud buds, Natisha went down last night with an ankle injury, a little boo boo. Get well soon stud butter. My guy, get well soon.

Stud butter. Courtney had to play with the second team last night through the fourth quarter so we know that they gonna be good. We know the links. And they had to play the the sky for the fifth time in July. I don't know what's going on right there. Get the schedule together, Kathy. Moving on, the Sparks, they played the Mystics last night, got the job done. Kelsey, she twisted her ankle, Kelsey Plon twisted her ankle, went to the sideline,

told them folks, shoot me up, take me up, put me back in the game, still had a phenomenal game. What y'all think about the Sparks getting healthy at the right time right now? I do not believe in them at all, Juju. I just still can't do it. Where is Cam Brink? Is she coming back?

No. Is she coming back? I mean, yes, but no. Not this year, most likely. Like, she was supposed to come back at the beginning, like, a month into the season. And it's like, tick, tock, tick, tock. They're 9 and 13.

It feels like this is a developmental team. Like, they've got pieces. They obviously have, you know, a lot of drama going on with what happened with Odyssey Sims. I still want to know why she was cut after putting up, you know, super buckets like the night before and really what this team is doing. So I think I'm kind of like, wait and see on the Sparks. They're doing absolutely zero in terms of like contention or playoffs to me, but I'm happy that they're getting healthy Damn put that on newspaper Trista say

Absolutely zero when it comes to the Sparks you hear that as a ray Trista said that you hear that Rekia Trista's absolutely zero you hear that right real Absolutely, sorry, we love you Absolutely zero. Sorry, Ray. We love you, Ray. I love Ray. You can't talk to me like that. By the way, by the way, don't be loving her now.

You say she ain't making the playoffs. I didn't say it. I didn't say it. She said it. I bet you Ray Burrell knows they're not going to the playoffs. By the way, Ray Burrell, Ray Burrell, 10 outfit changes before you leave the house is a crazy stat. For her to say, sometimes it takes me five to 10 outfit changes before I leave the crib.

She got some wet sauce. She also said that sometimes it's in the first outfit, so you gotta give her that too. Come on man. My sister Ray been ballin' man. I know man my sister right been balling man. She last night them Dallas wings Spanked that baby in Seattle without though with it They didn't have Skyler Diggins Which is a big deal because you know she will bite my nose off and spit it out and serve it to me on the plate And tell me to have a good game and so without Skyler Diggins they got the job done But the news from that game

Mrs. Madam President slammed Louisa Geisel sold her down by her throat down there and got on top of her and told her how duke it, god damn it, like stay down. What do y'all think about the Seattle storm right now? What state are they in? Are they in the state to make a playoff push or have we seen the best of them this year? Yeah, I like Seattle. They're a sneaky contender if you bet on them, right? Like, I want to say

it was 25 to 1. I think when everybody's healthy, they're a team that you feel like has a lot of pieces. Gabby is playing some of the best basketball in her life. Neca is having a renaissance. Erica Wheeler is, you know, she didn't play well last night, but I feel like she's been a nice crucial piece for them. Lexi Brown has been okay for them. Ezzy's been okay for them.

And then you add in, you know, Skyler Diggins having a career year as well. And that's, I think, Skyler Diggins having a career year as well. And that's, I think the reason that they ended up losing that game by 20 is you, you need those 20 points from Skyler on a night to night basis. You can't necessarily rely on some of the younger players. Like Zaya Cook had to step in and like, I like Zaya Cook a lot, but she's just not Sky. Yeah. And Tiffany Mitchell too. She stepped up, but like you said, she had a long night,

especially with Arikay becoming Arikay in that second half last night. She stepped up. If you guys could change one thing, let's go three things, and we gonna go around rapping style about the WNBA. What would you change? I'll start with myself because I want to get it out of the way. Referees. Oh you stole mine. You took mine too. Oh but

you see that's why when you get the hostess show you get the steal from the people. Referees, good gosh, Shemoli. I want to know how can I become a WNBA referee? Is there a school I need to go to? I want to enroll. Do I got to do some high school games? I want to start doing them because I done seen some atrocious calls throughout the last couple years, not just this year, the last couple years, they don't have their stuff together it seems like. What about y'all? Since we all got that one, let's elaborate on that one. Starting with you, Sarah.

Yeah, I mean, I feel like the referees are just taking the spirit out of the game right now. Yeah. Like, it feels like there's no consistency on calls. There's missed calls, there's over calls, there's wrong calls. It just makes it not fun. I don't like, and then you see things like NECA last night just getting fed up on things not being called that they throw them down. And we've seen that how many times. And I feel like that also just delivers the wrong narrative about the W.

Because altogether. Yeah, I agree with that. I think when every player in the league is saying, hey, these, like, I don't know if you guys saw the Sophie Cunningham video that she put up. It was like a trend. Bruh, she got fined? She got fined for that.

She got fined for that. She got fined got 500 big ones Like they could be dumb They could be something or they just could be clueless And she was all about the WNBA refs and I just think in general That the physicality should stay but the bad refereeing needs to go It's to the point where it's been this way for 20 years. Okay, we just need to pull some NBA refs over

and then bring them to the W. And I know it's a different game, but it actually is like an epidemic. Yeah, it is, bro. I be out there calling stuff for the, I be like, bro, travel, call travel. I understand the NBA barely calls travel sometimes, but this WNBA sometimes, hey man, you gotta call that travel, bruh.

Especially on game winners. Travel, Brandon Stewart, nothing out here, nothing there. But, bruh, travel. What else would y'all change about the league? Ooh, that's a good one. What else would I change? If you the league? Ooh, that's a good one. What else would I change? If you haven't watched the WNBA outside of the Caitlin Clark year, you can't tweet about Caitlin Clark or Andrews.

Ba-ba-bow. Say it again. Anyone. Like, you can ask questions like, hey, like Grok. grok like hey explain this to me Like tell me about why Ryan Howard is so dope or tell me about what's poppin What airy McDonald but like you can't give your own opinion on a league You don't know anything about especially about a player. That's the only player you know anything about I Like that if I had to change something know anything about. I like that.

If I had to change something about the W, I think I'm changing the schedule. Because I want to watch multiple games in one day and I don't wanna have to do it on four different screens at one time. Right, right, right. Maybe let's try moving them around a little bit. Oh, I like the schedule change.

That's a good one. That's a good one. That's a good one. Thank you, thank you. Exactly, especially you gotta watch it on the ION channel. Sluice to ION, Sluice to Hawaii Five-O, that's up next, always. But come on, bruh.

What you about to say, Trish? Oh, I was just gonna say, if you have a WNBA franchise, yeah, then it's not a really a rule change It's a change to the fundamental system if you own a WNBA franchise That practice facility needs to be on par with the men's game You can't have them practicing in a rec center. If Joey from the north side of Chicago can watch Angel Reese from Bayonne in the layup line, I'm sorry, you either need to build that right now or you need to sell the team.

Where can everybody check out y'all podcasts right now today? As after you listen to this, go check them out right damn now. Tell them where y'all. Yeah, our podcast this episode was super dope. We talked about the party that me, Juju and Sarah were at. The Paisie party, the AZ FUD podcast release party. Our podcast is also on I Heart called Lettershoot. It's wherever you get your podcast. It's on Apple, it's on Spotify.

We talked about the stream of consciousness of our whole weekend. Sarah had to do a lot of surgery on it because we were all over the place. But we give you the details, sprinkle in a little of the tea every Tuesday. We also have a special interview next week on Tuesday. We already pre-recorded it, it was fire, with Joy Taylor. First interview since all the dust up, that's my girl. She dropped some jams. I know Juju's gonna be up in there listening.

What a get, Joy Taylor, come on now. The whole world wanna know how she feel right now She's a little girl. We'll tell you what a kid. I'm locked in. I know I'm turning in any last words Sarah What you got bro, you don't give up the hoodie secrets or what? Well, I think this is I think this is under armor Okay, so the stuff You know, do you guys want to say thank you for hanging out with us this weekend and being the beacon at the AZ FUD party that I could find since I was getting lost.

Really, Juju is the tallest guy in there. And it's like, where's Juju? Oh, there he is. We're good. Everything's good. Tequila? What was it? It was tequila and something red. Cranberry. I had like six of them guys that I feel like almost and I still was able to maneuver. They were big. I saw Ju in the lobby at like five and he had a case of water like 24 24. He got 24 pack of water. The people don't take advantage of that. Uber East, they will deliver you a pack of water. Neither here nor there.

It's cheaper than one bottle in the hotel. All right, thank y'all so much for pulling up on me on the alley, ooh man. Thank you for behind the scenes, Ms. Rebecca and my dog Dylan, the most handsome man in the entire world Man catch us next week catch us next time same bad time same bad channel Oh, there's a hand signal too. Ka-ka!

Aha! Aha! Squee-wee! Oh-oh-oh-ha-ha-ha! Aha! Ah-ha! Ah-ha!