The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Angel Reese Shades Her Very Own Sky & The Aces Rise From the Dead | Alley Oop | Ep 20

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

Co-hosts Juju Gotti and Trysta Krick disagree on whether or not Courtney Vandersloot should start after an acl injury. Is Angel Reese right and the Chicago Sky needs a massive re-build? Plus, the Vegas Aces come roaring back to dominate, while Juju and Trysta discuss who should win coach of the year. Alley Oop is all things basketball, hoops, and hoopers. #wnba2025 #wnba #valkyries #lasvegasaces #chicagosky #angelreese #basketball Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You know what they are? The Golden State Valky organization, they are great thrifters. They go to the thrift store and they find some shit. You'd be like, wait a fucking second. Like, when did they have this Wayne Griskey? Are these red bottoms? Right. What the fuck?

Julius Irving, not the Jay signed. Welcome to another show of the Alleyoop. I'm joined by my big doubt. Trista Crick, come on. Tell me how you're doing today. We're here. We're everywhere. I need a ball and I'm getting kicked out of this room because apparently I talk too loud. Oh, damn. Well, let's make this quick. Let's make this episode a very quick and silent one. Syke. Let's do it.

It's time for today's trends. How would you describe this tackle? I don't understand rugby really at all. So I don't know how the rules go and that's pretty much what I watch every time I'm like first of all That's just beast like that's the only woman on earth that could probably take down Derek Henry running full speed at you But she she gets I mean hold on me come on I'm not going to let you talk No, I got to interrupt you right there. That's not what she's doing. She's not tackling no damn Derek Henry salute it's a joke Juju we speak we speak we speak in exaggerations here okay those shoulders those leg i don't even know what those leg bands are

for look they're running through somebody's chest look like because damn this is my first time seeing it yes look to sis what league is this it's the all blacks right the one is the all blacks the other one i have it's the only team i know and what that mean i know who i'm room for somebody i had to tell somebody the other day outside of this rugby team you can't say blacks nah hell no no tell them jew like someone was like you know the blacks be and i said i'm gonna stop you right there right the minute you put an ass on it it's not good come on that's what i'm trying to you can't can't pluralize the race unless you're talking about the whites really exactly you definitely

I can't say colors. Do not say colors. Color should be removed from the... It should be crayons. That's all they use colors for. Listen, P-O-C, what are my brothers and sisters, okay? But no, you can't... The only blacks we're talking about is the all-blacks.

And I still get kind of a little queasy even saying that. I'm going to be like, what'd you call them again? Exactly. All blacks matter. Okay, this was worth it just for that conversation. Here's this tweet from Angel Reese. I'm not settling for the same shit we did this year. We have to get good players.

We have to get great players. However, I can get the best here. That's what I'm going to do this offseason. I'd like to be here for my career. But if things don't pan out, obviously, I might have to move in a different direction and do what's best for me. What do you guys think about that? I think this is just par for the course for any franchise star in any league.

And the WMBA, as much as I love them, that is just the most broke, dysfunctional, strange move to then go and say oh yeah we know that you went on the record with julia poe from the chicago sun times a local paper and we know that our team PR was right there and didn't stop you from saying any of your comments because they were just regular-ass comments but now we're going to suspend you for one half of basketball for conduct detrimental to the team because everybody's over here crying and i don't know about you juju but it feels like there's somebody in there's sowing seeds of dysfunction

and discord and I'm not willing to say it's Courtney van der Sloot but she was the only one that was mentioned by name being like, yo, we can't be rolling out a 37-year-old coming off of an ACL that cannot be our starting point guard. And also, for those

who don't know, she also said everybody else behind her is not championship caliber, aka my former teammate in Haley Van Lith. Damn. That's facts. They're suspended a head out of And then they suspended her for that first half And then she sat out the second half

Because of her back hurt My back in my back Ooh I had something tweet I don't know There's a lot going on in Chicago Even though there's no wins going on But at the same time I agree

It wasn't that egregious of a statement Shit, we getting beat down Every time almost two times a week We getting beat the hell out of And I don't like it I'm a superstar. I got my own shoe. I'm on 2K.

I'm on the cover. Come on, man. So I can say I don't like it here sometimes. If I don't happen to like it here, we want people to keep it real. Also, let me read that Courtney Vandersloot line because it's just a wild-ass comment that she made. Contrary to what people say or think, aka Angel Reese, because you clap back on this, my age is actually not a factor. I am coming back.

And then she even said, I'm going to come back even better than ever. Oh, yeah. How often do you tear an ACL at 37 and come back even better than you were pre-ACL? Courtney Vandersloot, we know you're only in Chicago because your wife and child are there. We know you got the hell out of that bum-ass organization to go get a ring with the New York Liberty. And the only reason you got a ring with the skies is because Candice Parker, one of the greatest players to ever face the earth of basketball came back came to chicago for god knows reason probably just because a local love since she's from chicago and you got to ring there as well do not act like angels

is the one out of pocket here in fact i think she's the one out of pocket to be like contrary what people say i'm back it's like well we don't really even want you back you know i mean oh damn she just said angel just said i don't want us to be relying on 37 year old coming off at acl who was a bench player in New York City. I mean, we got a key to respect on slew doggie dog. She's a great player, but she's my age. I mean, still, but she... You beat tippy towing.

This is how you get guests. Do you keep tippy towing so that we can bring the guests on? But I understand every side of this because you're losing. You see your counterparts. Caitlin Clark, she got hurt. And the fever in the damn play. house. I hear Angel Reese loud and clear. I hear slew doggy dog loud and clear. I hear the Chicago Sky loud and clear. Ain't nobody wrong. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What do you hear from

the Chicago Sky loud and clear? I hear, look, man, we understand you're the Barbie, but we got an organization to run. We can't just let you say certain stuff. This is the same stuff that got look, Henry Hunter out of here last year. You feel me? Because she is, fire that's that's one of the best players i ever seen in my entire life but they moved on from her because of conduct detrimental so i understand what they're coming from you can't just let your superstar say stuff that may not you feel me i yeah why can they do it in why can they do it in the men's game and mental health doesn't matter in the men's game but mental health matters in the women's game and we can't have you saying things because look the man they try to

stuff like this. They run away from stuff like this. They don't tell you, bro, I don't hurt. That shit hurt my feelings or respond to each other in this manner. These women more bold.

They say how they feel. They mean what they say. Why do we have to suspend Angel for saying the same thing that all the other star players say? Because she was hurt in the down way. She wasn't going to play these games. They're just trying to send a message.

You see, the game they suspended her from the first half. She ain't even played the second half when she could play. They know what they're a PR stunts to me. You feel I'm like they're trying to muzzle our girl, Angel Reese. They're not going to be muslin her. Look, and they're going to, look, they're going to muzzle their ass right up out of Chicago if they keep playing because she, no flash, she ain't got to resign there. She's on a rookie deal.

She can say, hey, I'll take less money, quote, unquote, less money than I'm getting from y'all anyway and just take my talents to. What was that? What was that? What was that? What was that? Was that her name? Oh, man.

Yeah, yeah. It's giving Kelly Loughler, like, change owners, change culture. So for those who aren't huge WMBA fans, that was the owner of Juju's team, the Atlanta Dream. And they had to force her to sell the team because she was not only problematic politically, but she was a dumpster fire in terms of how she ran that squad. You get a new owner. You get a new ownership group. And now you're the number three, number two seed in all the WM.

this ownership group has been there in chicago since the birth of the chicago sky i think it's time we take a hard look at them because as long as they're there things aren't changing you know who did build an airplane in the sky who's that the los vegas aces bro oh my god they built the damn jumbo jet in the sky bro they are second place in the entire w right now how many they don't want 14 how many games in the row they won? Listen, they played against the Minnesota links. They lost by over 50. Right.

And they haven't lost since. Come on, man. Becky woke them folks up. Let me see. They don't want, yeah, they won 14 games in the damn road, bro. Two against your Atlanta dream. Neither here nor there. Oh, dumb bitch is hurt.

I can't lie. Those two losses hurt. But I knew they was going to get it together, bro. I said on a couple early episodes, once they figure out the gold mamba situation they're going to be a right she said you know what bring me off the bench

and I figure it out you think she that was her call whoever called it was to the few because you're right you're right I don't know she said bring me out the bench but at the same time if Courtney Vanderslujoo's out here saying I'm coming

back better than ever off of an ACL at 37 don't doubt you see that you down You down, you doubt. Jewel Lloyd's not saying, hey, I think I'd be better coming off the bench. Brough, be that as it may. It was a good-ass move. That's neither here nor there.

Right. Them folks ran out 14 straight against great competition. They beat the links as the other night. They beat us, like I say here. They were cheering more for Asia Wilson than goddamn us in Atlanta. And they held Nefisa Collier to 12 points. That is the most impressive. thing and then if he's a call your defensive player of the year what age you put up 30 on them girls

bruh and becky hammond had the pink wig on last night they got the swag back you got becky and the pink wig come on you all already know she she's feeling herself she wasn't with any of those shenanigans when they were one of the worst teams in the league and they were ninth well i think they were seventh in the league just flirting with missing the playoffs there were no pink wigs There were no outfits. It was white T-shirt Asia. People were out here talking whether Bam at a bio was distracting her from playing her best basketball. I think that 50-point loss was a wake-up call.

Like, yo, we are getting clown right now. Moving on, Coach of the Year right now. Who do you got? I got a little Nat. Right. Nat-Nat-Nat going crazy in Golden State. You know what she said? She said, she's got swag.

She said, they said, hey, how do you? feel about a how do you feel about you know being coach of the year or like how would you feel if you won it and she's like that don't mean shit to me really and in fact like give it to the whole staff but all i'm trying to do is compete for championships i could give a damn she literally said it just like that i could give like a little bay area like this face on it you know what i'm like oh shit natalie i didn't even know you had it like that right me neither coach of the year for sure I like what my boy doing in Atlanta but at the same time that ain't that what we're doing here it ain't that first year inaugural season in the playoffs with a bunch of nobody's no

shade no no no we're not no okay let me just back it up see this is okay we need to just know that I just be saying okay like we just need to know come on Tiffany Hayes Tiffany hey man beat somebody Timmy Fat Ben Lay bit somebody man bit somebody man Kala Thornton, big somebody. Okay, Kayla Thornton, first of all, Kayla Thornton is done for the year. So she, that first, we can't just besmirch the first half of the season. That's the all-star. Listen, Veronica Burton, she is discarded by the Dallas wings.

But what these players. And Connecticut. And Connecticut, these players weren't really starting caliber players on their respective franchises. That's why they got snatched. Like, they are the chains in the jewelry box. They're not the everyday chains that. you wear around your neck okay so if they were chains that you wore every day around your neck they wouldn't have gotten snatched off your neck okay so Tiffany Hayes had an offer to come back to

the aces and say I'm going going back back to Kelly Kelly listen that was not a good fit for her I don't I don't think the a ACEs was a great situation she was wet she was a sense player of the year no no no I mean moving forward you get rid of Kelsey Plum you get rid of Kelsey Plum They're starting to go through some changes. You got Jewel Lloyd there, volunteering to come off the bench as a six-man. She's the one who asks to do it because she's such a good team player. No, but like all these, everybody in the W is really good. Like, nobody's a scrub.

But these were not like the marquee. I love Tammy Faggbenle in Indiana last year. She was low-key, probably one of my favorite players to see get starting run when she did. But this is a collection of players that has been added together in a way where the hole is bigger than the individual parts. Like I said, everybody's good. But these weren't starting caliber players. It's like Trigger on and Trigger on in like a suicide squad, the movie. These are just people we pick from here.

It's criminal, but we need to save the world. And guess what? We did. Will Smith has the dead eye. Yeah, for sure. For sure. I get what you're saying. So no disrespect.

They're not randoms. They're not randoms, but it was like, we'll take, we'll take this random bag at your closet. We'll take these shoes out of here. And it's like they've been, you've got to wipe the dust off of them a little bit because they haven't been worn much. Right. You know what they are? The Golden State Valky organization, they are great thrifters. They go to the thrift store and they find some shit.

You'd be like, wait a fucking second. Like, when did they have this Wayne Griskey? Are these red bottoms? Right. What the fias Irvin' out, the Jay signed. Yeah, they did that shit. Oh, yeah. Nat, Nat, Salute, Coach of the Year, hands down, in my opinion.

But yeah, man, another great episode, man. My sister, I wouldn't be anything without you. And I also wouldn't be anything without these wonderful, beautiful listeners and subscribers, man. Thank y'all so much for subscribing. I don't take down one view. I don't take now one subscriber for granted, man. Thank you all for keeping us. a part of your life.

Trista, anything you want to say on the way out. If you like these episodes, just subscribe to the YouTube page, comment, give us some feedback, give us what you like, what you don't like,

get into the conversation, tell Juju that he's just way too much of an L.A. Sparks Apologist and a Chicago Sky Apologist. And like, we'll see you next week. It'll be freaking fun. Right.

And if you hate me, come to the YouTube to say that. If you hate the sound of my voice, please leave that comment on the YouTube. Come on, man, lock in. Thank y'all for listening. You diggers.