This is Kia Nurse’s offseason — this one week right here. She’s coming off her second consecutive WNBL championship with the Canberra Capitals last week, hitting the last-minute game-winner to cap an MVP season in Australia. Now, it’s her offseason, and she has all of a week off before getting ready to go all over again with the New York Liberty training camp opening next month. Is she tired?
"You know, some days, it hits more than others,” she laughs. “Right now, this is my offseason, this week that I have now not doing anything physical will be the rest that I get.”
Players in the WNBA, including Nurse, have long held second jobs playing overseas during their nominal offseason to supplement their income. This might finally change: In January, the league and the players’ union reached a new collective bargaining agreement that will increase the players’ share of league revenue. Higher salaries, hopefully, can translate to a real offseason.
Nurse recently spoke to us by phone from Australia about the improvements for players under the new CBA, as well as becoming an All-Star and a go-to scorer with the Liberty. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Kevin Yeung: First off, congratulations on winning the WNBL championship.
Kia Nurse: Thanks!
Pretty busy month for you! You were in Australia for the end of the regular season, and then you flew to Belgium for Olympic qualifiers, and then right back for WNBL Finals. You also have WNBA training camp coming up next month, too. Are you feeling tired at all?
You know, some days, it hits more than others. Right now, this is my offseason, this week that I have now not doing anything physical will be the rest that I get. [laughs] Then, getting ramped up and ready to go again for the WNBA season will be all of the next preparation.
Right, well, hopefully with the new CBA that the WNBA players signed for a more even split of revenue, you know, that can maybe ease the burden of having to play through the year to make money. It’s obviously pretty early, but is that something you’ve given any thought to, your own future playing overseas?
Yeah, it’s come into play. With the CBA and what it’s allowed us to do and look at, and the agreement we’ve come to, I think within the next three to five years, it becomes more of an ideal situation for people to not go overseas.
For those of us who aren’t max players or aren’t top players in the league, it still allows us the opportunity to go overseas, and it’s still a lucrative opportunity for us to do that. But, as we continue to get older and move our way throughout the league and get to the top levels and the vet status, that allows us to really have the opportunity to stay home.
Just in general, how significant are the changes in the new CBA for players? You know, not just the higher salaries, but also the other provisions such as better travel accommodations and maternity leave.
Yeah, I think what they’ve done is something that’s great for us. The main focus was the increase in pay from bottom up, but also, the wellness of players overall and the basic rights that we have as athletes. I think they did a really, really good job with that. For the mothers especially, you know, they’re superhuman, they do everything from practice to taking care of their little ones. Anything that the league could do to help them is immense and it’s huge, and they did a really, really good job on that side.
For us and our travel, and having our own hotel room on the road, it makes a big difference in ways that people might not understand if you’re not in our situation. But I’m very, very proud and happy about that as well.
To me, it seems like there’s been a lot of real momentum towards getting things towards a more equitable point for women in basketball. You know, the new CBA falls under that, but also making sure that your games can be seen, where young girls, especially in Canada, can watch on TV.
Playing in the WNBA, do you feel like it’s still hard for players to get recognition, or is that changing a little bit?
Yeah, I think it still has a ways to go. Obviously, it’s changing in the sense that, TSN picked up 50 games last year, and that’s 50 games that people are able to see in the WNBA that they weren’t able to see before in Canada. That’s an increase that we want to see, an increase that’s really helped in pushing our league forward, but also allowing young women to see something they can dream of being.
But, it’s still always going to be a challenge for us. We need people to invest in our league to get those endorsements, to be able to have sponsors that want to put us out on billboards and help us be seen so that when people look at us or they see us on the street, they know, oh, that’s the face of a WNBA player, and they can make that connection. I think that’s really important as a next step.
The Canadian women are ranked fourth in the world right now. What’s working for this team going into the Olympics?
I think we just are really, really gelling well together. It’s a pretty similar core to what we’ve had over the last four years working up to this Olympics. I think we’ve become really good at what we do, right? We play hard defence, we play hard every single game, our offence is where it needs to be. We’re young, we’re talented and we have a passion and drive to really get something done here and be super special in this next Olympics.
Last year in the WNBA, your first All-Star season, it seems like the Liberty gave you more on-ball responsibilities, more chances to create in the offence. Are there any new developments in your game you’ve been working on for this upcoming season?
Little things here and there. I think last year, there was a huge jump in my game, and that’s probably a big indicator of the system that I was in. It was very different from the system I was in at UConn where it wasn’t my job to score, it was my job to be on the frontlines with the ball in my hands. When I got to the WNBA, it became a little bit more, just play freely, and your job is to have to be a scorer. And then I got to Australia, where they told me, just score. [laughs]
I think the freedom that I’ve had, especially here overseas, and really trying to understand the things that I need to get better at and the things I want to be better at, has allowed me to bring in a bit more of a midrange game and a bit more of an off-the-dribble game from beyond the arc — shooting threes and ball screens, there’s been a lot of work on that. Continued work needs to be done. Obviously I think my shot’s pretty quick, but I would love to get it even quicker.
The Liberty are going to be able to add with the first overall pick in the draft next month and it looks like a pretty good one, obviously Sabrina Ionescu stands out. What are you defining as a successful season for the team this year?
I think there’s a lot of exciting stuff happening in New York right now. Obivously, we have a new coach [Walt Hopkins] and a new coaching staff that’s coming in. We also have a brand new home in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center, which I think it’s really important that we even got that done and that we’re able to play in a venue that’s going to be home for us. [Note: For the last two seasons, the Liberty have played most of their home games in White Plains, NY, amid an ownership change.]
I think that’s super exciting, so a successful season for us is going to be one where we really continue to get better and grow as a program. The goal is always going to be a WNBA championship every season we go out there. This year, as you can see from the free agency and trades, it’s going to be a really tough and really fun year. [laughs] But, I think we have an opportunity to do something really special with New York as well.
Yeah, you touched on it — this WNBA offseason seems like it’s been kind of a wild one, with all of the player movement and superstar trades. Even as a player in the league, is it exciting for you to follow all the trades going on?
It’s funny because here, I’m 16 hours ahead, so most of the time when a trade happens, I’m in bed asleep and then I wake up and I see it on social media. It’s been really fun to follow that and see what happens. For me, I’m always like, oh, maybe I saw that coming, and then there’s others where I’m like, I didn’t see that coming at all, so I have no idea what’s happening.
It’s been really, really fun. Obviously, you want to see your team also do all their trades and see what they do with that as well, because sometimes, you don’t even know anything’s coming, but it’s been really, really fun to see. Our league is just continuing to get better, day in and day out and with every draft year that comes in, so it’s one of the best leagues in the world for a reason. It’s the hardest one to get into because there’s only 144 spots, so to keep a spot and be there is an achievement in itself.
