The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - GOOD FOLLOW - Lexie Brown Talks CBA Negotiations, Seattle’s New Head Coach, Athletes Unlimited & More!

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

Ros Gold-Onwude sits down with Seattle Storm’s Lexie Brown in Nashville for Athletes Unlimited. Lexie explains what she is looking for going into this season of Athletes Unlimited. How will she support new players and how does AU allow these relationships to form? Then, they discuss free agency starting up, and how did Lexie secured her spot in Seattle. How will the Storm’s new head coach, Sonia Raman lead the team? Next, Lexie reacts to the ongoing CBA negotiations. How are the owners reacting? How is the WNBA responding? Lastly, Lexie shares her role on Athletes Unlimited player executive committee and how her dad Dee Brown is involved this season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Draft King's Network. Hey, what's up, y'all? Welcome to Good Follow show, presented by Draft Kings. It's your girl, Raz Golden Water, and I am coming to you from Nashville. Tennessee because I'm here for a preseason welcome week of extravaganza activities for athletes unlimited heading into their fifth season. And for this episode, we have a very special guest joining the show. She is a WNBA champion. She is most recently of the Seattle Storm and we'll be rejoining them. And for Athletes Unlimited entering her fifth season, also my home girl and friend, Lexie Brown. My girl.

What's up, Lexi, how are you? I'm great. How are you? I'm good. I'm always happy to see you. Yeah, we always run into each other. Yeah. Never for work, though.

So it's like our first work thing. This is a work thing. Last time I saw you, it was the woman's final four. And you were like, let me get you with an individual photo shoot. And I was like, no, there's no way. Like, Lexi, you do not have to take a picture for me. Because I was like what I was like having. No, no, no, no.

No, no, no. No, no. But I was like what I look like at the woman's final four having Lexi Brown taking my photos. I make everybody take my pictures. My friends already know. If we're going out, you have to take photos of me. Not for nothing, you nailed it. Like the post- good, you posted them. The likes went crazy. What I'm here for. Yeah, actually, you know, before we even started this, it took us a while to even get to the basketball because to me, you're a little sis, you know? Like, this is, you know, the youth coming up. And you just

told me you're heading into year nine of the W? Yes, nine. I'm proud of you. Thank you. That's a testimony. Considering all you've had to overcome through your basketball career. Yeah, which has been a lot. I didn't think I was going to even get to five years, honestly. I mean, I got cut after year three. I was like, oh, wrap it up. But now we're heading to year nine. I'm so blessed and grateful. That's crazy. And there's also been a lot of things that have been outside of your control, whether it's Crohn's disease. You know, it's also just a competitive league. You've played in it during a time where there were less teams. A lot of changes. Roster spots, like. Everything. Yeah. Almost anything.

you can experience as a Devon Bay player, I've probably experienced. I'm like a walking testimony of just how hard it is at times, but also how amazing it is at the same time. So knowing that, as you step into Athletes Unlimited this upcoming season, which will now be your fifth, you know, what do you need from this experience? What are you trying to get out of it? Honestly, I think this is like the first season. I don't need a thing. I'm here to serve and pour into everybody that's here. And I think for me, this is going to be a really special season. Because it is such a transformative year for women's sports and women's basketball, we have like a really, really good roster.

Like, this is the best roster we've ever had. And we were very intentional of who we brought to Nashville this season for season five. And there's going to be a lot of changes, a lot of excitement. And I'm just ready to pour into people. Like, I've just been poured into constantly every single year. I've been here. I just felt like I've always been the person. Everyone's like, are you good?

Do you need anything? What's going on? You got traded. Like, I got traded last year during season, like, right before a game. So, like, I walked into the arena and everyone was like, are you okay? I think I might have been there last step. Are you there? I literally was, like, late to warm-ups.

Like, I got the call literally on the way to a game. And, like, we were, I walked into, like, our pre-game meeting. And everyone was like, are you okay? I guess I'm employed. I'm fine. It's okay. Everything's going to be fine. But I just feel like every year has been something with me.

And I think this year will be the first year where I can really just show up for everybody else. And I'm really excited about that. Yeah, I'm happy for you and excited for you to experience that role and also to kind of pay it forward for all the people who poured into you. But it also kind of speaks, too, about how interesting and important these relatively new leagues that, you know, are alternative to the WNBA season are that have started to pop up. And this year, all eyes are going to be on a league like Athletes Unlimited as the CBA is, you know, hopefully renegotiated or continuing to be and certainly free. agency is about to be the biggest ever. Like, what is it like having all eyes on women's basketball during this time? It's amazing.

We're like, finally. We've been waiting. I mean, you know, you played in college. Like, we've been here. Like, I'm glad y'all are coming to the party. You're all a little late, but welcome. Like I said, like, this is the season. Like, I'm one of the two vets signs still.

Yeah. I'm not going to be a free agent, so that's something that I don't even have to worry about. That was by design, right? So for everybody, like, this is going to be a huge free agency for, you know, for just about everyone who isn't a rookie in the WNBA. It's going to be mad. It's going to be very exciting. But like you said, you're one of two, and that was by design.

How did you make that decision to have that? So the front office at the time with the sparks were around when I got, when I was peak illness time. And honestly, we didn't know if I was going to get better. We didn't know what was going on. And they were gracious enough to extend me in extension in the middle of me being sick. I hadn't played in months. But they were just like, you know what?

Like, we're going to trust that you're going to get better. You're going to get back. We're going to give you this extension. I needed the health insurance. You know, I wasn't worried about the salary. I'm not afraid to work hard for something. I knew I would make the money back on the back end. But just having that protection, not having to worry about if I was going to be employed or not,

where I was going to get my health insurance, if I was going to be straight with my medication, took such a weight off me. And that's why I decided to do the extension. And I know a lot of people just found out during the finals because they said it a lot during the finals. And everyone was like, what? Like, how, why would they do that? Like, it was very intentional, 100% intentional. And I, like, I knew maybe in the back end I would lose, like, a year of this new CBA money.

But there's a possibility for them to, like, renegotiate it, rip it up, whatever. But I know for a fact that, like, at least I'm going to have my health insurance. And for me, that was, like, top priority. Security is a real thing. Again, especially when you, you know, had so many situations or setbacks that have also been outside of your control. Yeah. You was like, I could lock this in. I mean, this year, last year and this year, we'll go.

be my first two protected contracts in my whole career. So I was like, I'm just taking, I need this. And you've got an interesting situation coming up with the Seattle store for year two of this contract and that you've got a brand new head coach. Brand new head coach. Yes. First of all, shout out to Sonia Rahman. Amazing.

Very much known for her intellect, super high IQ. I mean, literally the lady's a lawyer. Very, very well regarded in coaching circles. Also, you know, makes history as the first of Indian descent as a head coach in the W&N. NBA. Very cool. So knowing that is happening heading into year two, you got a new coach. How do you respond to that? I mean, I'm excited. We've been texting a little bit. We're going to talk a little bit later this week. But again, like you said, high, cute intellectual basketball mind. That's me head to toe. So hopefully that we can see eye to eye. You know, I'm waiting for a coach

that I can just build a really good relationship with. I just haven't been able to find that in the WNBA yet. So I'm hoping that she's the one. I've heard nothing but great things about her. So I'm really excited. Yeah. What are you guys talking about so far? she's so much she listens she's going to listen to my podcast really which like my coach last year never even mentioned my pod to me ever but I knew she was listening but I could tell she was listening but she never mentioned anything about it but she straight up was like I'm going to listen to your pod I downloaded it I'm listening to the flight which was great because we actually talked about her on that recent episode and how excited we were to have her in Seattle and I was

excited to get to know her so I already even mentioned like we were she just reached out to me mentioned the podcast like that was that was really special to me she probably I thought was just like a regular thing. But like having her and knowing that I even have a podcast is like super cool. It's an investment. Yeah. Like she's like, yo,

I'm going to put time into what it is that you're pouring into. Yeah. And I was like, I said great things about you by the way. Like, imagine if I was all there like, who is this new coach? Definitely don't listen to episode 56. No,

we literally had such high phrases for her. We had high phrases for her. So I'm glad you listened to that one. Yeah. And actually, you know, you're one of the givens for the storm. Again, with this free agency coming up, a lot of teams,

we don't really know what to expect. be insane. I can't wait to watch it all unfold. It's going to be. You have no idea who your teammates are going to be. None. I think it's me. Right now it's just me and the babies. So those are locked in. But again, you have the expansion draft too. We are only a few weeks in and the NBA season is already wild. Stars are going off. Rookies are popping. Get in on all of it right now with Draft King Sportsbook. An official sports betting partner of the NBA. The Emirates NBA Cup is rolling, baby. Big games, big stakes, non-stop drama.

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Limited time offer. It's going to be crazy. The regular drafts alike, we have no idea what's going to happen. There's so much new. There's so much, like, on the timeline that you need to get to, and the CBA is still hovering overhead. I mean, what are you most concerned about, or is your biggest interest right now with the CBA, especially given y'all just renegotiated an extension through November 30th?

So do you feel like the time is ticking to get this done for sure? I mean, the last CBA we went through January, I think. So this is like nothing new. So we've had extensions before. I wasn't as hands on with the last CBA because I was still relatively new to the league. And I didn't really know what was going on. But this time around, I'm like very invested in. I'm on the calls.

You know, NECA has been my teammate in L.A. and in Seattle. So I'm always asking her, bothering her like, what Kathy say? What's Terry saying? What should I talk about y'all meeting? She's like, Lexi, please leave me alone. I talk about this all the time. But I'm not concerned. I mean, the only concern is just like pushing back the season more and more.

We have more games, more teams. We need more roster spots, obviously. But the fact that we're going to be seeing all this new money, whatever that looks like is something that, like, I never thought I was going to be able to experience in my career. So I'm just really excited. I mean, I think even it's like getting a little messy. It's getting spicy.

But deep down, I think everybody is just like really excited about where the league is going. And hopefully we can figure it out. Yeah. Do you feel like you're close? No. Unfortunately. No. But maybe I'm not in the big, big meetings with the,

with the executive committee, but we just saw AC when she was in Nashville briefly when we were here and she was just like, yeah, I mean, the talks are, they're moving, but like they should have been moving like a few weeks ago, a few months ago. Yeah. But moving forward is better than moving backwards. Who do you think is first to feel the pressure of missing out on momentum built by not getting this done properly? I think the league, now that we have us and unrivaled, like we just have more leverage and more

power than we've ever had. We have so many opportunities outside of the W, which is amazing. And I feel like this is the first time that we really can afford to, like, not play. We don't want to do that. We love the W. We love our fans. We want to continue to push the league forward. But for the first time, I feel like in the history, there's enough of us to be like, oh, no, like, we'll be okay if we don't have this season. But again, like, that is worst case scenario. Yeah. But the perspective, there's got to be an attitude shift. I was just talking about. this with Angel McCartrey, actually. And I was like how the attitudes have to shift because maybe in the past, it used to be that, you know, WNBA players might have been lucky to have the platform

of the W. That's an old mindset. It's old. This is now an era of NIL, of people having star power before they enter the W, of people being millionaires before they enter the W. Like, y'all are partners now. Yes. Right. It's like not this, this power hierarchy. Like, it wasn't like, y'all just be grateful to be here just grateful like i mean that came out of cathay's mouth like we heard it from fee when she was like y'all everyone should be grateful that you even have this and yes we are grateful absolutely we love being able to make money playing a game that we love but at the end of the day there needs to be some type of you know value at it like you all have to show us that you guys value us as the players like there's no leave without the players so i feel i feel like we are

headed in the right direction but i think we had to kind of like light a little fire under the league a little bit and that's not what we wanted to do. We wanted to kind of keep it behind closed doors, but sometimes you just have to kind of let everything out in the open and see what happens. Do you wish it hadn't gotten quite as spicy and personal as it did? I mean, yeah. You don't ever want to throw anybody under the bus because we are, like you said, partners. At the end of the day, we want to keep things civil, but some things just have to be said. And I mean, fee of all people saying it, you know it was bad. Yeah, you know it was bad. And Sue Byrd said something interesting, too, on another podcast, she was saying, we have found, this was like me paraphrasing what she said, we have found that nobody will listen to us until we yell and start screaming.

And I was like, so like, that's kicking, screaming, throwing things against the wall. Right. That's basically what that was. And I mean, they have responded. And I think people now, I've said it a lot, like, people aren't being so dense about the conversation anymore. Or like, you're like, oh, your league just loses money. Like, the amount of comments I see, I'm like, okay, like, you guys don't know that. If the league was that much of a failure, it would have been done already.

Like, let's move past that and just get down to the nitty-gritty of what we're asking. We're asking for a bigger share of the pie that we have helped bake, you know? The pie keeps growing and our slice is getting smaller and smaller and smaller. We're not asking for the entire pie. We're not asking for a huge piece of the pie, just a bigger slice than we have right now. And we want the pie slice to grow as the pie grows. And right now, it's going the opposite direction and we need that to change. truth that the ownership structure is really complicated.

It's very complicated. For the WNBA, just to, there's like some, maybe 42% of WNBA owners, 42% owned by NBA owners. There's this other slice of 16% that was divvied out to an independent group that invested in the league, but also was comprised of WNBA owners who already had a slice so they got extra. Very complicated. So what do you think about that?

I mean, I think this is just the way that the league has had to survive and it was, it's been in survival mode for so many years. But it's like, again, it's like a lot of layers that you have to get through and just the league is just not very transparent about anything. So yes, we are probably just as confused as everybody else. Do we owe these people money? Like, who wants money where? And then all of a sudden, the league explodes and now everybody probably wants their money, their return on investment. But like, y'all weren't really investing in us for real. It was just a tax ride off to some of you.

It was just something that you had to do for some of you. And now you have the owners, our Seattle owners, the New York owners, the Vegas owners. Like, they are the first ones that really put the money where their mouths were like, and everybody has to follow suit. But I feel like people have been really hard on Kathy, as they should be. But she works for the owners. Like, everyone needs to be looking at the owners and like, what are y'all talking about in these meetings? Like, who's for the players and who's for themselves?

Like, that's the questions that need to be asked. Like, it's not all on Kathy, but she's just like the face of it. But she works for the owners. So I'm like, what are your owners talking about? on y'all's meetings. Like, do y'all really care about us? Do y'all really want to invest in us? Do y'all want everybody to have a facility? Because right now it's giving no. Y'all don't. Because everyone doesn't have one. And that's a bare minimum. If you want us to come out here and do our jobs and be put out a good product and we can't even have facilities. Like,

we haven't even got to that in the CBA yet. We're still stuck on salaries. But, like, having facilities is that there's a, that there's a minimum level that, like, you can't have any team not have you playing in a rec center. Like, everybody's got to have a certain requirement. And honestly, what I say, it's like a competitive advantage. In some ways, yes, like I've been on teams in the rec center. I'm now in Seattle with a beautiful facility. Like, it is like night and day, but like it doesn't like automatically give you wins. Doesn't automatically give you championships. It's the investment from the top down. And that's why Vegas has been running through the league the last four years because they are doing it the right way over

there. It feels like teams and ownership groups are following suit. It's almost like a facility's, arms race at this point and a coaching arms race and an analytics arms race. So, you know, look, with the demands of this level of investment in every single way, it's raising everybody's bar, right? Exactly. So hopefully we do see the CBA, you know, come to a positive place where everybody's winning together and we can get back to the court and the games and the schedule as planned. And let's actually, that'll be my transition into let's get back to the court here. Because we've been all over and it's been beautiful. But I want to come back to something you said in your exit interviews with the storm.

You said, I, no, man, you keep it real. You said, I don't believe I got the opportunity I deserved here. Yeah. You want more. And you clarified that you were healthy. Yeah. So what is it that you want out of your career this next season coming up with the storm? And at this point, heading into year nine

and your pro-WNBA career. Yeah, I just feel like a reintroduction is needed. All these new fans, like, just know me as the podcast girl that happens also playing the W. Because I've been battling, getting back healthy. So the last two years prior to this one, I, like, was not fully healthy. This was my first year healthy.

Had a great season last year in Nashville. Got traded. They were so excited for me to be there. You need your shooting. we're going to need this, this, this. I get there, and it's just, like, everything changed. And I was just kind of like, y'all told me y'all needed a shooter. Like, we literally had papers in our lockers of everyone's role.

And my number one role was efficient three-point shot maker. Nobody else on the team had that role but me. We had three roles. Nobody else had three-point shot maker but me on the entire team. And the biggest struggle for us this season was three-point shooting. And I was just like, okay. We have drills, we have shooting, we have PD, we have the gym. Like, I was in there doing what you guys asked me to do.

And y'all just didn't put me on the court. And that's just something that happens at time. You just have to be a professional about it and get through it. And that's what I did. But it started getting to the point where I was, we were going at games. And I was seeing other players and other coaches. And they're like, are you, are you okay? Yeah.

Are you still sick? Are you still? And I was like, oh, no, no, no, no. We're not going through this again. Like, I'm fine. I'm healthy. Like, I can't check myself into the game. I'm just not playing.

And so that's why I decided to use that opportunity to address the media. And because I was like, I don't really talk to none of y'all all season long, for real. Like, I don't really know y'all for real, but I appreciate y'all. So I'm just going to use this opportunity just to clear that up. Like, I'm healthy. I feel amazing. I just wasn't given any minutes. And that's happened sometimes.

How did you deal with something like that that you are not in control of when you're getting subbed in and you're playing time throughout the season? Honestly, I thought those days were behind me. I haven't had a, I'd had a DMP in like three years. So I was like, I got one in the second game of the season. So that kind of like took me out. I was like a DMP. Y'all brought me here. Like I was cool in L.A.

Like I had a whole life in Los Angeles. And y'all picked me up just to not play me any minutes, zero minutes, second game of the year against Dallas. No disrespect to Dallas. But it's like, you saw how their season ended. But I'm like, okay. So it took me a little bit of time to just wrap my mind around what this season was going to look like for me personally. and I just felt like, okay, let me pour into the young ones because I wasn't the only one dealing with hard things this season.

So I just decided to pour into McKenzie, Dom, Zaya, you know, who I was with in L.A., me and her, were able to, like, rebuild our relationship because we both had a hard time in L.A., too, towards the end. So that made my days, that made showing up to work a lot more Taliban for me because I got to see them every day and made sure that they were locked in. They were in the gym all the time, working out, doing all the things that they needed to do to be pros. So just seeing them doing that, just continue to keep me inspired and happy to show up to work.

Yeah, you have that characteristic about you. Like, you know, you're a leader. You also enjoy, you know, helping others and, you know, building something. And, you know, brings us back to A.U. Athletes Unlimited where you're on the player executive committee. And you mentioned right at the top of this interview you like to pour, you know, you want to try this year to pour into other people. I think, in my knowledge of AAU, last year was my first time pulling up. And one of the things that I didn't even know, and I think is an incredible story that people

can know even more, is that this league is player led. There's a player led aspect. Like, what is the role you have in the player executive community? What do y'all do? We literally do everything. Like, the only thing like we don't know is like what everybody's like getting paid. Like, that's the only thing like we don't know. We have weekly meetings.

We handpicked the roster. We discuss uniforms, what refs we're bringing in, if we're doing any rule changes. We all collectively decided to come to Nashville. I mean, we had other cities that we wanted to go to. Like, we vote on everything. We're, like, extremely hands-on. And I feel like we don't really have a group that likes to, like,

tooth their own horn, but, like, we have a very humble group. But I feel like we need to, like, pop it a little bit more. Like, we really built this lead from the ground up with the help of the Johns that, you know, founded this. and, you know, having the other sports has been amazing. But I feel like what we've built basketball-wise, like we tapped into this off-season thing way before anybody else did.

John believed in women's basketball before anybody else did. So, like, we're always so grateful for him. He's on all the meetings. He was in Nashville with us this weekend. And it's just so much fun. And it's like I'm getting my feet wet in the front office GM role that I want to have one day, hopefully. But it's been a blast.

And it's really like the optimal. opportunity for me to just pour into each other, pour into others, and continue to grow the women's game. Okay, I'll get you out on this one, because another cool aspect of this season of Athletes Unlimited is your dad. Yes, Dee Browns is going to be having a role in AU.

So, like, what's he going to be doing, and why is that special for you to have this with him? So he's going to join Danielle in doing a player development, skill development. So he actually asked me if he could come do some AU stuff. And at first I was like, no, like, this is my thing. And people are going to be like, oh, Lexi and her dad and la, la, la, la, la. But I was like, actually, like, that's a great idea, dad.

So I just brought it to Megan and the PEC. I mean, the PEC, they had a vote on it to make sure it was okay without me present. And they know that everyone's really excited. So he's been away from the women's game for a long time. But, you know, he's been training me since I've been a kid. He coached my AAU team. He's really passionate about women's basketball on the game. He coached the W.

He has a lot of knowledge. So he's just really excited. really excited and I haven't really been able to spend a ton of time with him. You know, in the last few years, I've been on the move. He's been on the move. So for us to be able to, you know, have some daddy daughter time in Nashville. I'm not gatekeeping him anymore. So I hope everybody just loves him as much as I do. Oh, it is so sweet to see your father-daughter relationship and and the love through the game and bonding. Yeah, he likes to be behind the scene. So even him asking to like come do this. I'm like, are you sure? You like to kind of be in the cut like Batman a little

bit, but he's like, no, I'm ready to come out and show everybody, like, my knowledge and everything that I can, I can teach y'all. And he has great drill. Like, I'm so excited for everyone to see his drills. Like, just his, his basketball mind is just incredible. So I'm really excited. Oh, it's going to be a family affair here at A.U. in Nashville. You know, I can't wait. I'll be back in February to see you there. But thank you for pulling up to Goodfollow show. Of course. Thanks. Yeah. Everybody, that'll do it for this episode of Goodfollow show. Lexie Brown and her pops coming to you from Nashville, Tennessee. We'll see you next time. We're going to be.

I'm a man man