The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - GOOD FOLLOW - Paige Drops a 40-Piece, Liberty and Lynx Rivalry, A’ja’s MVP Run, & More

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Today on Good Follow: Ros & Logan break down the Liberty and Lynx regular season games and all the trash talk that comes with the rivalry. They determine if A’ja Wilson should be in the conversation for MVP. Then, they react to Angel Reese’s return to the court and how we should look at her second season. Finally, Ros enters the Conspiracy Corner to get to the bottom of whatever is going on in Indiana with Caitlin Clark. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Draft King's Network. Hey, what's up, everyone? Welcome to Good Follow show, presented by Draft Kings. I'm Ros Goldongued on Redai. That is Logan. and hack it. And that is my girl who just played in a pro am. Tell us how that golf swing was looking. How did you do, Boo? It was looking good. It was so much fun. I was actually paired up with three players on the Toronto Scepters. And then we had LPGA players. Two of them come for each

nine. So Gigi stole and Amy Yang, an amazing time just being with them, hanging out with them, and being able to golf, which I love so much. Did you win? No, we didn't really keep score, or we had a score keeping score for us, but she didn't really tell us at the end what was going on. It was for vibes. Did you have a cute, did you have a cute golf outfit on? I did. It was, we're in like a cold front right now. So it was a bit cold outside, but I did wear my Jordans. I have these Jordan golf shoes and they're my prize possessions. So that really tied everything together and obviously got lots of compliments. We are so proud of you here in the Good Follow family. I know everybody watching and listening right

now is so proud of Logan. You go, girl, representing for us. But, hey, you know what is hot? Our show that we have for you. We got that heat coming your way. Let me give you the menu. Let me tell you what we're serving up and dishing out on today's show of Good Follow. The Liberty and the Links regular season series have come to an end.

And we are going to cover what our thoughts and reflections are from it and the trash talk that came out of it. Remember, I was just there on the call at Barclays. And then, Asia Wilson, she could. continues to do her thing. She's propelling the aces to eight straight wins, and she's making the MVP race tighter and tighter. And Paige Beckers, she went off for 44 points. So I ask, is the rookie of the year race over? And then Angel Reese, she's making her return to the court. She made a return. She comes to Barclay Center tonight. We're going to talk about Angel Reese's comeback. And we return to our conspiracy.

at Sea Corner. Mu-ah-a-ha. What on earth is going on with the Indiana fever and Caitlin Clark, y'all? It's getting very, very confusing over there. We dive in. And don't forget, y'all can catch new episodes, not once but twice a week, one on Tuesday, and one on Thursday. And as always, thank you all for subscribing, commenting, liking,

following our socials, telling your friends about our show. But we have a good show to get into. So, Roz, are you ready? I'm ready. Let's do this thing. Let's do it. So I feel like all season it was leading up to Liberty and Links because it seemed like they weren't playing each other. And then they faced off four times in a span of 20 days with Minnesota taking the dub three times. Now, both teams had key players out with injuries, but that didn't really seem to slow anyone down. How does the series that we just witness prepare the Liberty for the playoffs? Yeah. And I was just at Barclays on the call for this. game, Liberty Links, the fourth one. It was absolutely electric in there. Of all the Liberty games this season, it was the most exciting. It was so cool to be on the call for it. And I do think in some ways it could prepare the Liberty and the links for the playoffs if they see each other, you know, again, as they're expecting to. Because I know for a lot of Liberty players,

you'd hear them saying that this felt like a mini playoff series within the regular season just because of the way the schedule lined up, and they had so many games to play against each other for the links. It was three straight versus the Liberty. And for the Liberty, they actually said, you know, they actually had to take a West Coast road trip in between those games. So they did have some extra turmoil to deal with, just say. But the mini series, it was like you had to make adjustments from match up to match up. I also think it was important psychologically for the liberty to come away with that victory against the links and not get swept in the regular season series. I think, and even though no team really seemed to want to admit it, you could

very much tell on the court that the links wanted to shut the liberty to out and the liberty really, really wanted to get one against against the links and certainly at home. But after that, I think it's a little bit harder to say just how helpful it is because there's a lot of players missing in the series. Obviously, the links are without, you know, their MVP candidate. And if Lisa Collier. They're only going to get better when Fee gets back. But here's the thing, no matter who is on the court, we know exactly right now who the links are. They are phenomenal on defense. My goodness. And then they share the ball so well. They take care of it. And they knock down threes. That's who they are no matter who's on the court. On the other side for the liberty,

their identity is not nearly as in stone. And actually in some ways, I think that means from this point on, if you look at both teams, in my opinion, I think it's the liberty who have more upside. It makes them more dangerous in some ways the potential of what they could be

once they get Stewie back, and they combine that with Emma Misman and John Quill Jones and that triplet of bigs get a chance to mesh and work with each other because of their IQ and because of their versatility, all of them could play with each other on the court. The Liberty could be super big on the court. Imagine also putting Leoni Phoebus on there as a wing at 6'4. And then it's Sabrina Yonescu. She's 511. Or at times, we've even seen Coach Rendello use Stewie as a point

guard. And they can be really big. But I'm just, I think with the skill, the versatility, the IQ, the Liberty could be very dangerous. We really have no idea just how much so. And And if they can put it all together in time, we shall see. You know, all season, they've been recovering from different injuries and trying to figure out, you know, rotations. So now's the time to try and put it all together just in time for a playoff run. I feel like if they do end up meeting in the finals again, it's going to be even bigger and better than last year.

But that actually brings me into my next point. I feel like since last year, there has been a huge rivalry between the two. And it is giving us so much entertainment this season, especially with the Ashok, which y'all know that I love the drama. But this, Doddbut said this on stream with the new links, Jalen Schrod. Take a look. All right. I'm saying my one piece that I was going to say, Jay with the good guys now.

She left that punk-ass team and she with the good guys now. Shirtle, believe it. Believe it. T. Absolute T. But word about this got back to coach Sandy, and she had this to say. I heard about the punk-ass thing. That's it.

So yeah, so I just called, I saw, I saw Jalen and then I saw the Natisha Hyderman. I'm like, who's calling us a punk-ass team? She goes, not me, not me. I am absolutely obsessed. And the best part about this is that it is very much, it's not a one-sided rivalry. I mean, you think about Serena Maria Sharpova. That was very much one-sided. But this could be pretty even.

But, Ross, do you think it is the best rivalry in the WMBA right now? for sure this liberty links are the best rivalry in the league right now they're really the only real rivalry that hasn't been manufactured or pushed on us by like media or league PR this one is is new it's growing it's blossoming but it is real it has come naturally via tough games and controversial finishes having a championship on the line and the trash talk you know you're seeing it it's coming from the players it's coming from the coaches the fans um You know, Coach Vandello laughed it off there, but I know that John Quill Jones was asked about the comments that Courtney Williams made on the Studbutt's comment podcast, and she didn't like it. I know the Liberty for Effect heard that punk-ass comment and used that for motivation.

And it was interesting that Courtney did that with their former teammate on the podcast show, Jalen Chirad was there, which put Jalen in such an awkward situation, you know? I was like, dang, what's she even going to do? Because obviously, that's her old team, but she also wants to fit in with her new team. And like, I feel like that was kind of hard to do that to Jalen, you know, on the podcast like that.

But, you know, then the Liberty hit back. So post-game, Sabrina Nescu hits that big shot. They win the game. And she gives the interview. She says, night-night. And, you know, as soon as she said night-night, I was like, oh, but at the same time, I was like, ooh, I hope that doesn't come back to bite the liberty.

Because I know for a fact that the links on their end are going to hold on to that night-night. Oh, my God. And they're going to be waiting for a chance. to give that night, night back to the liberty. So, you know, this is a rivalry, okay? It's very clear. Players are losing sleep over this.

You know, Courtney Williams talked about how after game five of the finals last season, she played poorly. And like, she changed her entire life because of the liberty. Her diet, her regiment, her routine. Think about Nefisa Collier, who once was so sweet. And now during unrivaled, she did an interview talking about, yes, I am a sore loser. I'm sore about losing.

you know her her villain origin story came out of that final series so there's so much to follow here it's a lot of fun i think also mixed in there's a lot of respect um Sabrina yanescu told me that playing the links makes them better so a lot of respect to and i look forward to hopefully seeing them again in the playoff run yeah absolutely and that playoff run is going to be absolutely close just like the MVP race and oh my gosh i feel like new names are coming up every single day everyone's being added to the mix, but I want to talk about Asia Wilson because the aces have now won eight straight and she has been absolutely showing out, earning herself another Western conference player of the week title and recording 32 points, 12 rebounds, forces, and five blocks against the dream. Now, this is Asia's fourth game with 30 plus points and they'll pass five games. So how much pressure do you really think that she's putting on this MVP race? Asia is absolutely putting pressure on this MVP case. It is getting interesting. Listen, it's Asia's dominance, her sheer will. Carrying the aces to age straight victories, this is against top opponents right now.

The last victory against the Atlanta Dream, that's the number two seat in the standings. It was a lot on the line. They won by one bucket. As of taping tonight, they're going to play the Phoenix Mercury. That's a huge game. You know, you're looking at two teams that are fighting in the top quadrant of the standings right there. And for Asia, it's not just the physical dominance. for me, it's her mental dominance and how it's contagious for her team and just her overall

leadership. The body of work through the season, even though her team has not been consistent at the beginning of the year, the ACE has stacked up losses, Aisha's been very good when she's been on the court. And her stats will speak to that. She's number one in the league in blocks. She's number two in scoring and rebounding. In this eight-game winning streak, she's averaging 27 points, about 13 rebounds, about two blocks, one and a half steals. It's offense and defense. I mean, it's absolutely pressure on the MVP race. And here's where it's going to get tighter and tighter and tighter.

It's where Fee continues to miss games. So Nefisa Collier has missed five straight games. And the more that she misses and Asia dominates and the aces find ways to continue to climb the standings, the tighter this thing will get. but one thing I really want to push back on and say should not be part of the discussion, I don't like penalizing the Fisa Collier's MVP case simply because her team is good

or that they've been able to win without her. You'll hear people say that like, oh, Femis, you know, all these games and her team continued to win. Well, she shouldn't be punished because they're talented and well coached. So that's what I have my eye on in this tight tightening MVP race

where Alyssa Thomas is also. for a candidate and Kelsey Mitchell is certainly in the conversation. And also fees mounting amount of games that she's missing. We'll see when she comes back, which Coach Reid said is soon. Oh, I cannot wait to see that. But I wonder what the criteria is like for choosing an MVP. And I'm sure there honestly is none. But you made a great point there with not penalizing fee for missing games because that is a

huge aspect, especially because the Liberty of only, or sorry, the links have only lost one. And that was to the Liberty. Well, y'all, coming up, we talk buckets, conspiracies, and more. We'll be right back. The rivalries, the bans, the upsets, college football is back. Think you know the game? Put it to the test with Drafking Sportsbook and turn picks into big payouts. New customers.

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Logan, the crown is yours. What you got for us? The crown actually belongs to Page Buckets right now because we have got to talk about her performance last night. She went off for 44 points while shooting 81% and broke the infamous DoorDash curse. She is the first player in league history with 40 plus shooting and over 80% from the field

and has the highest scoring game this season. I mean, there was a huge debate about rookie of the year leading up to last night. And at this point, I don't know if it's a conversation anymore, but what's the best way to describe what we're seeing from Paige in this rookie year?

Yeah, I have an answer for you. Hold on, Logan. Okay, fork. Okay, fork, okay? Fork, do you know what this is? Logan, do you know what? this means. Either eating or fork found in kitchen,

not too sure. Logan, that completely went over your head. And I'm going to say that because maybe you're just too young. It means stick a fork in it. The rookie of the year race is done. Okay.

That's what these forks are for. The rookie of the race, rookie of the year race is done, my friends. That's enough. That's enough. Everybody have a seat. The discussion is over.

Page has ended it. It has been very fun. and honorable and, you know, to see how great Sonia Citron has been and certainly put some pressure on the discussion of Rookie of the Year, but the race is over, friends, that's enough. Look, on top of the history that Paige has already made throughout her rookie season and all of the statistical categories that she's currently leading all rookies in,

the 44 points in that game, as he brought up in that beautiful graphic for us, was not only the most for any rookie ever in WNBA history. It was the most by any player of any age or rank at all this season. Nobody has scored more than 44 points this season. And certainly nobody ever in the history of the entire WNBA has anyone scored 44 or had a 40 pith at 80% shooting.

She missed four shots. She was perfect from three. She sat 17 for 21. If you enjoy basketball, go watch the highlight of those buckets. It was surgical. It was clinical. Like, if you watch, you will just see that her bag is so deep. Okay?

She's got such great craftiness and skill and the finishes and the handle and her poise and her change of pace and all the ranges she can score from and the footwork. It's off the catch. It's off the bounce. Like Paige went so crazy. Her talent is so crazy. She's about to go so crazy on this lead over the course of her career. health withstanding, I just find it really exciting as a basketball fan.

Like, I think the future of Paige and the future of this league is very bright. Absolutely. There could be a little conspiracy here, actually, with the fact that she's a DoorDash athlete and she happens to be the first player to break the DoorDash curse. Who knows what's going on? But very ironically, if you were to say a few years ago, maybe in her freshman year at Yukon, that she were to score 44 points in her rookie year, a lot of people would believe that. And I think over the years, she's been a bit caught up or maybe

has trended downward in the conversation between layman. And if she wouldn't have missed those two years, maybe she'd be higher in the conversation. But I love that everyone is now seeing what we have been seeing. I mean, there's a tweet from someone, forget the name, but she is what, seven years old saying remember the name, Paige Becker, she is going to be a good one. And that's what we're witnessing right now. Yeah, I think part of it too is like being able to, to stack seasons of healthiness and like that's hard for players who are constantly riddled with injuries and like it's not even just like putting together consistent seasons that you play it's where your body is strong and have its fullest potential and so um you know health has played a

big role and page's storyline and we're seeing her healthy and we hope that we get to for a long time and actually speaking of that we saw angel reese return to the court Tuesday after being out with a back injury. I feel like she's missed a ton of time as well. Despite the loss to the storm, she still recorded 19.7 rebounds and four assists after her seven games away. And she had this to say after the game. It's all great. I love that school. It's my pride and joy sitting sitting on the sidelines. It's no fun. I have, we're sitting just doing what we have every single day. It's no fun. And also just sitting and figuring out what's going on with myself. And I think I learned a lot about myself in the last three, three, four weeks.

But I was super grateful for everybody that was in my corner, my teammates, my coaches, they're here for me through the whole process. So I'm really happy to be back at the team and just being able to be out there and give them the better I can't. Absolutely love that. Now, I believe 100% almost that Chicago was out of playoff contention. They won't be going on to postseason. But even with that, how should we reflect on Angel's second year in the W?

You know, watching Angel talk about, you know, I'm so glad to be back playing the game that I love. She tweeted that as well after the game. I just, I believe that. It takes a lot of love and passion for the game and heart and work ethic to push through a turbulent second season. That's what it has been for not only Angel, but the Chicago Sky this year. You know, when you think about the struggles, personally, how hard it was as she started

out this season and she raised her hand and said, look, it wasn't a strong start for me. But the way she battled back and then strung together an amazing. amazing run of performances where like the skill level showed improvement to go along with the great rebounding. And just like the response of that and how she carried her team with her, it was incredible. And then an injury hit, right? And injuries hit the entire team. There were many players that either missed chunks of the season or were out altogether. She missed seven games right now with the back injury. Instead comes back and puts up 19 and 7. And so I think what I see is someone who is resilient, has a love and a passion for the game and a bumpy season, and she has a lot

of respect from her peers. So tonight, the Sky are in New York. They're going to play the Liberty in Brooklyn. I'll be on the call for the Liberty Sky game. And actually, I shoot around today for the Liberty. I spoke exclusively with Emma Misamon, and I asked her about Angel Reese and just check out how much love and respect she gave to Angel Reese, who think about it, Emma Misman, this is her first time seeing Angel. She just got back to the W. She's never played her. She's only seen her from a distance. Take a listen. I mean, I think she's a very aggressive player and, like, fight him for every single thing.

Like, I think that's a talent, too. That it's almost given, you know. You can practice that, of course. And, like, it's a state of mind, but she's actually going for every single thing, no matter what the situation is. So I have a lot of respect for that, you know. Also, like, having seen the game from outside since she came in the league, I think she has to be a very strong person.

to be able to handle every single thing. I don't know if I would be able to, at that age, to be able to withstand all that hate almost, negative comments. So the fact that she's still here, like, just pretty love the game and everything, says a lot about everything. I absolutely love that. And I love how she touched on every single aspect, because I feel like a lot of people would be kind of scared or weary to touch on Angel's hate,

but it is very clear that Emma is seeing that and speaking on it. So huge props to Emma for that. But I do want to get into our conspiracy corner again. Oh my goodness. So many conspiracies come to mind now that I am watching when I watch the W. I just think conspiracy conspiracy, but we have a huge one because what the heck slash and or what the fever is going on with Caitlin Clark and her injuries. Girl, I don't even know who to trust anymore.

Like, who can we even listen to? The messaging, it doesn't seem consistent and it doesn't seem transparent. We're getting different cues from everyone, from websites, from media, from reporters, from the franchise themselves. Like, remember there was some hype coming in and people were getting excited for the return of Caitlin Clark? And then all of a sudden it was a strong, like, just forearm in the face where coach was like, well, actually, no, she's not ramping up to come back. She's still working on body weight running and like being full body weight. And I was like, okay, well, she walked that all the way back. And now we got a Scott Agnes report, I think, that reveals that there was a setback most

recently that nobody told us about. You can apparently that this ankle bone bruise happened on August 7th. It didn't break until August 20th. Why didn't anyone say anything? Why was it a secret? How can we trust anyone? Why the lack of transparency here? Like, what is the motivation?

So what is very mysterious? is? Here's what I do know. Okay, Logan, it might be time to shut this thing down. Okay, it might be time. Okay, when you think about it, it started with the left quad. Then it was the left groin. Then Caitlin tries to come back. Then it's the right groin. Then she tries to ramp it up. Now we're hearing there's a left ankle bone bruise. It's like every time she tries to do more, there's a new injury. You might be playing with fire. Already the season ending injuries have mounted, Airy McDonald's, Sidney Colson, Sophie Cunningham, and it's all injuries to the guards. Like, I don't even think the fever really have enough depth at the guard position, at the

guard position to support a Caitlin Clark comeback. Like, do you have enough bodies to support that? And then if you think about it, she's only played 13 games. She's missed 22. Right now at a time of taping, there's nine left. Like, by the time you even bring her back, is there enough, it's barely enough time for her to really, truly catch a rhythm. You know what I'm saying? And a stride. So look, the season, it's been honorable for the fever. Nothing but inspiration and respect for what this team has continued to do in the face of adversity.

But it just might be time to look on to the future. Absolutely. And maybe get some sage or something going on, especially in Phoenix. Because also to think that there was the Caitlin Bonebrews, Eric McDonald and Sid Colson, all went down within that, what, 24-hour span? in Phoenix. I mean, maybe there's another conspiracy there, but maybe they need to never go back. I love our conspiracy music. And that's how we're going to go out on this episode. We're talking conspiracies and all the things. But one thing in conspiracy is how much we love

y'all. We appreciate you guys tapping in. And that'll do it for this episode of Good Follow Show. It's presented by Draftings. We're on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. I'm Ros Golden Weddy. She's Logan Hackett. And we'll see y'all next time. I don't know. Thank you.