The Basketball Feelings Podcast, Episode 59: Ben Pickman

WNBA players… there was this perception that a lot of people would hand-hold, that people were afraid or hesitant to criticize. And I think so many players respect those who ask the question of, very simply, “You shot 3-of-16, why did you struggle tonight?” So many pros just want to be treated like pros, because for so long they weren’t treated like pros.

Full disclosure: Ben and I recorded this episode before the Aces took their third WNBA title (and before a goggle-clad A’ja Wilson sat down next to him in the team’s post-win presser). But we did not get into playoff or Finals predictions at any part of our conversation, so listening to this episode will not be like hearing a relic of old.

Ben Pickman has covered women’s basketball since he was in college, and he currently does it for The Athletic. Along the way he had stops at CNN Sports and Sports Illustrated. He has a clear and curious way of covering the W; a sense of humour that lends to understanding the people in the league and recognizing their stories as human ones. That balance of professionalism and levity mirrors the W’s own unique blend.

We talked about Ben’s professional road into covering the W, where his interest in women’s basketball started and what compelled him toward it. We also talked about growing pains, league-expansion’s domino effects, the upside of competitive volatility, the continued mainstream commercialization of the league, the greenness of new fans to certain elements of the game (e.g. contact), whether growth automatically means a dilution of culture, the rising costs of commercialization on fans and the yet-to-be-seen revenue share of that growth for players as they continue to negotiate a new CBA.

Plus, unfortunately, dildos. It was Ben’s reporting that I leaned on when I wrote about the blatantly misogynistic menace of dildos being thrown onto WNBA courts earlier this season. We talked about that story, the additional vile details he learned in his reporting, and the threat women having a successful, powerful, and visual platform presents — especially in the U.S. at this particular moment.