June 11, 2025
Locked On Women’s Basketball: Women’s sports crossover moment
By The Next
Ionescu: 'She knows she obviously has all of New York behind her'
On the latest episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, host Howard Megdal sheds light on a recent women’s sports crossover moment — tennis superstar Coco Gauff’s appearance at the New York Liberty’s game on Tuesday. He discusses this CBS Sports’ Isabel Gonzalez and also addresses other topics in the women’s basketball world, like Paige Bueckers‘s return to Dallas and what it will mean for The Wings as they look to improve on the season.
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To start the episode, Megdal hands it over to The Next’s Liberty beat reporter, Jackie Powell, who shares what she heard from Sabrina Ionescu after the Liberty’s game on Tuesday. “She knows she obviously has all of New York behind her,” Ionescu said about Gauff, who was crowned the 2025 French Open Women’s Singles champion on Saturday. “All of us are such big fans of her. … It’s super important, women supporting women.”
Later on, Megdal asked Gonzalez what she thought of the crossover moment. “I’m also a tennis writer at CBS,” Gonzalez explains, “so this was such a perfect combination for me. … Coco has been kind of going through ups and downs in her career, and she upset the world number one.
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Here at The Next, in addition to the 24/7/365 written content our staff provides, we also host the daily Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast. Join us Monday through Saturday each week as we discuss all things WNBA, collegiate basketball, basketball history and much more. Listen wherever you find podcasts or watch on YouTube.
Megdal then discusses Bueckers’s return with Gonzalez, and what it will mean for the team. “I think it’s no secret that the Wings have been struggling a lot this season,” Gonzalez says. Without her, as Gonzalez explains, the Wings didn’t have the player that could direct the orchestra. “Having her back will be good, because of that,” Gonzalez says, “but also because they need her offense.”
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