Veteran Sykes discusses growth of WNBA, expectations for Tempo in year one

0:00 Well, you and Marina Mabrey made history when you both signed here.

0:03 Take me back to that moment when you made it official.

0:05 Um honestly, uh I don't know if I like I didn't tear up,

0:12 but I think it was more so of a like,

0:14 "Oh, wow, like this is this is real." You know,

0:17 I'm just signing the contract and sending it back.

0:21 I like look over and I'm just like, "Did this just happen?" You know,

0:25 kind of thing and um I went to go celebrate at dinner uh

0:28 with my manager and my partner and they were just looking at me like,

0:32 "Do you know what just happened?" And I'm just acting so

0:35 normal and then I'm packing and that's when it hit me like,

0:39 "Oh, Slim, you are one of the players.

0:41 Like, you you have a responsibility" kind of thing, but I mean, I wanted it.

0:46 So, once I signed the paper, it just made it real,

0:49 you know, but the talks were the talks.

0:51 And you made it very clear in the All-Star game.

0:54 You went viral on social media for holding up pay the players sign.

0:58 Yeah.

0:58 What does it mean to you to see

1:00 such a transformative CBA agreement finally come?

1:03 I'm just happy that that landed right.

1:07 [laughter] Um I just I just think it's just a a test

1:10 to just our hard work like in our due diligence.

1:12 We've been in this league for 30 years now and well,

1:17 this league has been around for 30 years.

1:19 I've been a part of it for 10 um

1:21 this year and just to see the change within that 10,

1:24 heck, the last 3 years alone.

1:27 You know, it was something to just witness,

1:30 but also be a part of and fight for and now you have the young ones, you know,

1:36 getting paid higher than what we would have

1:38 ever imagined and I feel like people they think

1:41 that we were doing it for us and we were trying to get paid and it's like,

1:45 "No, no, no, no, no." These kids are coming

1:47 out of college and it was kind of backwards.

1:50 Like, we we were they were we were flying private in college

1:53 and then we got to the league and we were commercial.

1:56 Like, it it wasn't clicking and then, you know,

1:59 they're now earning salaries and in IL and it's like,

2:02 so they're about to come and make 70,000, you know, like Make it make sense.

2:06 Make it make sense, you know,

2:07 so it's just uh being a vet, being those older, you know,

2:10 older players to just fight the fight for them and and and show them like,

2:15 "Hey, this is how you fight for more.

2:16 This is how you you show your worth.

2:17 This is how you fight for your worth." And now they get to carry that, you know,

2:20 that stick and just keep it pushing,

2:22 but um for sure moving that needle was was dope to be

2:25 a part of and just to see everybody kind of get,

2:28 you know, together and rally and get what we deserve.

2:31 And as a veteran, you've been around this league for 10 years now.

2:34 You've seen what makes a good team.

2:36 You know what takes good chemistry.

2:39 What do you think that is going to take for this team this year?

2:43 Uh for us, I think we have a really good group of girls and and and I

2:46 think it's more of the personalities and the individual

2:50 than it is like the actual team.

2:51 So, you get uh players that think alike.

2:55 Uh you get players that compliment each other.

2:57 You don't really want to have the same of everything, right?

2:59 Cuz then you can guard it.

3:00 But um with us, I think Sandy and and Monice did a great

3:03 job of just putting together a group of girls that, you know, play hard.

3:07 They play smart, but also they have a IQ to go out,

3:12 read the defense, and then come back with some answers, you know,

3:15 not necessarily something that you can draw up in the huddle,

3:18 but it's more so of a feel and and and an experience that you have to have.

3:21 And I think we have a good mix of that.

3:23 We all come from different types of teams.

3:24 We've all come from different types of cultures.

3:27 We all know what we liked.

3:28 We all know what we didn't like.

3:29 So, I think we just carry that, you know,

3:31 in the back of our minds like, "Hey, okay, when I was on this team,

3:34 I I probably didn't like how this was ran or the leadership was, you know,

3:37 for that." And how, you know, just focusing on what it is that we do want.

3:41 I think that's what really makes a team um great and it

3:44 separates you is not so much focusing on the things that you

3:46 don't want to happen and you put your energy towards like what

3:49 it is that you do and and you just go from there.

3:51 For sure.

3:52 And what are you excited to show Toronto fans about you individually?

3:56 Oh man.

3:57 I mean, I think they already kind of know what they getting.

4:01 Yeah, it's just it's getting to see it on a nightly basis.

4:03 I'm not being I'm not a visitor, you know,

4:05 I'm not coming in and playing and leaving like all right, this is home.

4:08 And I really like that cuz these fans are amazing.

4:11 Like there's not one time I'm walking down

4:13 the street and somebody don't be like, "Go DeMar!" [laughter]

4:17 At first I'll be like, "Oh god, is this safe?" And then yeah, you know,

4:21 and but then you realize how nice, you know, Canada,

4:24 Toronto, like how the the people are, how the community is.

4:28 It's you know, you walk down the street and I don't got to worry about nothing,

4:30 you know, it's it's cool.

4:32 Well, adversity has been a big part of your story.

4:35 You have struggled with two torn ACL injuries.

4:38 What are you going to bring to this team

4:39 to show that you can overcome challenges?

4:42 Um I mean, I think it's kind of like what you alluded

4:45 to, just being going through that type of adversity and just my ACLs.

4:50 And then that happened in college.

4:52 I had foot injury, too, actually.

4:55 Right foot, left foot, different times in my career,

4:57 but I think ultimately I just I've shown how I bounce back.

5:02 You know, I've shown the you know, the receipts,

5:05 if you want to call them, of okay, we don't really got to worry about Slim

5:08 not getting back in not only coming back, but coming back better.

5:12 I don't I very rarely come back the same.

5:13 Every year I've intentionally done something to my game, to my body,

5:17 for my career to be as, you know, long as it has been.

5:22 Yeah, you very rarely get to hear like, okay,

5:24 he's a 10-year vet and then a 10-year vet that now is a franchise player,

5:28 they're getting better.

5:29 Like, you know, you don't really see that.

5:31 People think you hit the 10 mark or the double-digit mark and you go down.

5:34 And it's like, no, you you keep going, you know, keep going up.

5:37 And I think that's like what I what I want to embody.

5:40 That's what I have embodied.

5:41 Like every year you just get better.

5:42 Like you age like fine wine kind of thing.

5:45 Sandy Brondello said that your best year is most likely going to be this year.

5:50 What does it mean to hear something like that from her?

5:52 Oh, it means a lot.

5:55 Um yeah, I mean, Sandy's been watching me on the sidelines for years.

6:01 [laughter]

6:01 We've had our little, you know, back and forth when I played against her team,

6:04 she'll ask me not to, you know,

6:05 kill them too much or and I'll go right ahead and do

6:08 that, but um that just shows you the type of, you know,

6:11 coach she is and the type of confidence that she

6:14 can instill in a player with just saying that.

6:16 Like, I know it, but I feel it.

6:18 I see it, you know, she reminds me like, "Hey, mate.

6:21 Go play.

6:22 Go have fun.

6:23 Have the confidence.

6:23 I know what you can do.

6:24 Like, don't don't worry about nothing else.

6:26 If something goes wrong, like,

6:27 I'll let you know." But, um just to have that type of certainty from a coach,

6:32 you know, and just like, "Yeah,

6:33 that's my player." I feel sorry for the rest of the league.

6:38 [laughter] As they should be.

6:40 Yeah.

6:40 What does your 30 mean to you?

6:42 Your 30 for the league?

6:43 For the league.

6:46 Ooh.

6:45 That's crazy.

6:46 I'm 2 years older.

6:47 Um your 30 for the league, I mean, wow.

6:52 It's only up from here, you know,

6:54 that's immediately thing I thought like when I was in high school or like I'm

7:00 at the Prudential Center watching Cappie Pondexter

7:03 and them play at the New York Liberty.

7:05 They're playing at Prudential like in my home city.

7:08 My home state, but like my home city, you know,

7:10 North New Jersey has all these negative thoughts behind it, right?

7:13 But the Liberty were there.

7:16 So, can't be that bad, you know,

7:18 kind of thing and then you see Indiana, they go from ghost town.

7:24 Like, that was a a game you go to and it was like,

7:27 "Man, this is my chill city." And it was like,

7:29 "You can't chill no more." You go there, you have to be prepared for a war,

7:33 you know, um with the team and the fans.

7:35 But, um it's it just dope to even see that that change.

7:39 Like, that atmosphere change and and them get the love that, you know,

7:42 that they're getting.

7:43 And then now you get to year 30 and it's like, "Wow,

7:46 people are really finally starting to buy in and and it

7:50 it's kind of those things where it was a long game,

7:52 a really long game." But um I'm just I'm I'm lucky.

7:56 I'm blessed to even be a part of that, to witness that, right?

7:59 But then it just makes me excited for like the babies that are coming

8:02 up or um and by babies I mean literally the babies, not the rookies.

8:07 [laughter] They get mad when you call them that.

8:08 But um yeah, like just seeing the little girls just come

8:12 to our games and and they're they're seeing more of them.

8:15 Mhm.

8:15 You know, there is a a a widespread of identities

8:19 that people can attach themselves to in our league now,

8:22 but that came with more visibility in the 30 years, more deals,

8:26 more endorsements, more, you know,

8:27 like getting pushed out there and people seeing.

8:30 So now these little girls who thought that you

8:32 couldn't do both or do everything, you can, you know?

8:35 Like you can you can embody everything.

8:37 Like I think you know, Angel, great example, you know?

8:41 She is doing her stuff, you know,

8:44 and but yet she still goes on the court and she does her job.

8:46 Mhm.

8:47 You know, some people might have a problem with that, but why?

8:49 Just most likely because they feel like they can't do it, you know?

8:52 And she's she's, you know,

8:53 embodied that that you can do both or you could do more and you could

8:56 be whatever you want and still play basketball at a high level, so it's dope.

9:00 Well, thank you for being a role model.

9:02 Congratulations on building this franchise and best of luck this season.

9:05 Thank you.

9:06 I appreciate it.