Locked On Women’s Basketball: Hall of Famer Alana Beard joins show, discusses WNBA legacy and future

First, Beard, who was initially drafted to the Washington Mystics but spent the last seven years of her WNBA career with the Los Angeles Sparks, spoke about her experience being inducted in Knoxville on Saturday, and what made the ceremony so special:

“I think the moment that tops everything is the fact that my son was able to escort me in,” Beard said. “… for him to be in the stands listening intently to what I was saying via my speech, had to be the best feeling ever. But on top of that, you know, what I understand is, being inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame, it’s a responsibility that comes with it, considering, you know, it sounds cliche, but the pioneers and the women who sort of paved the way for me to be standing on that stage accepting that award the entire weekend, it was a sense of calmness that came over me. And I remember, you know, speaking with my mom about it, because I hadn’t felt that calmness since I stepped on the court in Game Five in 2016 you know, against the Lynx, it was just you’ve done the work right, and you have to trust that that work and that preparation will will pay off.”

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Then, Beard and Megdal discussed Beard’s 2010 season, which she considers to be her “year of reinvention”:

“It was the year that the doctor said I had a 10% chance of returning to an elite level,” Beard said. “It was a posterior tibial tendon injury, where it’s the tendon that controls the function of your foot. And [the doctor’s] response was, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this, in basketball or football, this is a ballet injury.’ So for him, it was unsure. In fact, he wrote an entire report and study on the fact that I was capable of coming back and and sort of achieving at such a high level after this injury.”

“But it was 2010 that literally made me refocus onnot just on the court, but off the court,” she continued. “2012 came around. I was in free agency. The Mystics didn’t reach out, they just sort of took what the doctor said, and just assumed that that was the case. About three other teams kind of reached out, [were] interested in me, and [during] free agency came out to see me work out. But they weren’t sure, right? They were unsure if I could still go. But then it was LA, right? I knew LA needed me in that moment. [Former LA Sparks general manager Penny Toler] was, I’m so just in debt to her, because she literally kept my career alive by trusting in me, not just as a player, but as a person. … defense was always core in what I did, because I had a high school coach that [there] were days we would walk into the gym and we didn’t touch a basketball. It was all about the fundamentals, and defense was sort of priority. And so I always had confidence in my defensive ability, but I also knew that it was work that people chose whether they did or didn’t do. You don’t need to be skilled at it, and you just got to have a certain type of determination, of heart and IQ for the game, right? And I knew that I had to make myself invaluable to a team. And that’s why I hung my hat on defense.”

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They wrapped up the conversation by talking about the strides has made since Beard retired in 2019. Initially, the question of how the league has exploded in popularity was laughably simple:

“Caitlin Clark!” Beard said with a laugh. But as anyone who’s been around the sport as long as she has knows, there was plenty more to dig into.

“But obviously, the foundation was already laid for Caitlin Clark to come in and be who she is,” Beard explained. “One thing that I’ve been pointing to lately is … I’m based in D.C., I’ve gone to the Mystics games a few here and there since I’ve retired, and about a month ago, I went to my first game in Indiana and experienced it as a fan. When I’m in D.C., I still get the privileges of walking in the back way and, you know, just taking my time and being discreet in terms of how I get in. And so I was in Indiana about a month ago, flew in; one, I’ve never seen fans walking through an airport decked in gear, maybe one [person], but this was like more than two handfuls of people that I saw the moment that I landed, and seeing Fever gear all over the airport. [I] spent like the day in Indiana, I’m arriving to the game, and the fact that they’re blocking off streets to control traffic, right? That was one of the things that stood out. On top of that, it’s not just kids wearing Indiana Fever jerseys. It’s adults, right? It’s men, it’s women, it’s a really eclectic and diverse group of people wearing WNBA gear. The fact that that’s available, the way that it is, speaks to sort of the the growth on the business side as well.”

“And I walk into the front of [Gainbridge Fieldhouse] just like a fan,” she continued. “It took me 15 minutes to get through security. Not sure if that’s inefficiency on the Fever side, but whatever it is, I was happy that it took 15 minutes to get in, to get to my seat and just get comfortable. And so I share that to say that we are in good shape. Yes, Caitlin Clark is a huge driver in that. But it’s what the owners, it’s what the executives, it’s what the league has done, in the last couple of years to position us to to handle sort of the growth in the way that we’re experiencing it right now. And I couldn’t be more excited about the future of not just women’s basketball, but women’s sports in general. It took time for people to understand that this is a legitimate business, and all it took is maybe one or two big investors to sort of prove that. And now everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon. And people may take that as a negative, but I’m going to welcome all bandwagoners, because it’s only going to benefit everyone that’s involved, mainly the players.”

Tune in to hear more from Beard about being inducted into the Hall of Fame and her legacy in the WNBA. Make sure to subscribe to the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast to keep learning about women’s college basketball, the WNBA, basketball history and much more!