Carolyn Swords Sees The WNBA Becoming The League She Hoped For

Basketball has been a key part of my life since I was a little kid, both as entertainment and, very briefly, a possible career. I played school and club ball and participated in numerous expensive training camps knowing that my parents, both of whom played in high school, felt strongly that the world of professional sports might be a viable means of making a living. I never connected with that dream and ditched basketball the second I had the option. It wasn’t until I started attending Aces games here in Las Vegas that I began to fully appreciate the possibilities of the sport, as a game of finesse and skill and a stage for organized labor. Nascent but scrappy, the Aces were an expansion team created in a city that lacked a cohesive sports identity. The Aces have become a dynastic power in the WNBA, winning three of the last four titles, and their rise has come at a time attention and scrutiny on the league has dramatically increased. My family got a more intimate glimpse of these developments when we became friends with veteran journeyman Carolyn Swords, who played for the Seattle Storm, the New York Liberty, the Chicago Sky, and overseas teams during her career before dedicating her last years to the Aces. I reached out to Carolyn while the new WNBA collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was still being litigated to chat about her playing years, her time on the executive committee of the 2020 CBA, and what the future of the league holds when athletes continue to advocate for each other. Our conversation has been edited for clarity.