Women's Fastbreak On SI

Chelsea Gray Speaks on Unrivaled Asset that WNBA Needs, Proving ESPN Wrong, and More

WNBA icon Chelsea Gray caught up with Women's Fastbreak on SI to discuss where she has been and where she's going in her basketball career.

Grant Young

Mar 17, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Rose BC guard Chelsea Gray (12) looks on after scoring against the Vinyl BC during the fourth quarter of the Unrivaled Championship game at Wayfair Arena. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Mar 17, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Rose BC guard Chelsea Gray (12) looks on after scoring against the Vinyl BC during the fourth quarter of the Unrivaled Championship game at Wayfair Arena. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Chelsea Gray — three-time WNBA champion, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, 2022 WNBA Finals MVP, six-time WNBA All-Star, inaugural Unrivaled Champion, and Unrivaled Finals MVP — has been up to a lot over the past few months.

Ahead of what will be her 11th WNBA season (and 5th with the Las Vegas Aces), Women's Fastbreak on SI caught up with the "Point Gawd" to discuss her Unrivaled experience, the new-look Aces roster, her beloved Duke Blue Devils' NCAA Tournament hopes, and many other aspects of what the Heyward, California product currently has cooking.

Let's begin with our Northern California connection. I saw that you're calling two Sacramento Kings games as an NBC Analyst on March 29th and 31st. I'm wondering how that came about?

CG: I worked with the Kings last season, doing their pregame, halftime, and postgame stuff, watching games, and being in the studio. And so I wanted to expand and do some stuff in the NBA. The Kings made sense, being a California kid as well. I didn't grow up a Kings fan. I actually grew up a Warriors fan, fan, but I went to Kings games and Sacramento Monarchs games all the time. So it has been nice to be able to travel back to California and see some familiar faces.

Congratulations on that. A lot of congratulations are in order for you right now, winning the Unrivaled season with Rose BC, and then, specifically, you winning Finals MVP. Now that the first Unrivaled season is behind you, do you have any takeaways about the season as a whole, how the League went, and if there's anything you would want to change about it moving forward?

CG: I had a great time. First of all, it was awesome to still be able to compete and compete at a high level. I think I knew that the competition was going to be really, really good. I think it just went to an all-time high, and people got competitive, man. Like, talking trash. It was just super nice and refreshing to be here in the States this offseason. It was an opportunity to get into game shape as well, going up and down a little bit.

One thing that I appreciated was the care that Unrivaled provided for moms and the nanny care that they provided. Once I got to the gym, I dropped my kid off with the nannies in the playroom. He spent time there with other children. After the game, I'd pick him back up, and we would go home. And so it kind of eliminated any of that stress.

I'm an advocate for implementing into the WNBA that every franchise should have access to that daycare, especially during games and even during the season or during practice time.

That definitely feels like something the WNBA should be doing by now.

CG: Yeah. And one thing that I would change about Unrivaled would be the one-on-one tournament format. Maybe make it more position-player based in the preliminary rounds, or height-based, and then watching it on TV, you would love to see the fan interaction, a little bit more. Just the camera angles, I would say. So that's another thing that I would change.

What you said about the position-specific or height-specific format for the tournament is really interesting. Could you expand on that some more?

CG: I mean, in 5-on-5, you get into a screen and there's a mismatch, and you have a 5'8" guard playing against a 6'5" big. That's essentially what you're creating with a 1 one-on-one tournament, a mismatch from the beginning. I think there are just ways to fine-tune it a little bit, so it makes it a little bit more, I don't even want to say competitive,, because everything was competitive, but maybe more realistic.

It's just that there are maybe nuances that they can change. If they don't change it, I mean, I guess we just got to eat our Wheaties a little bit more if we're playing against a 6'5" post player. But that's probably something that I would change.

That makes a lot of sense. In terms of your Rose BC team, I know that during your post-game speech after winning the championship, you talked about people keeping that same energy and keeping the receipts. I know a big part of that was ESPN's ranking Rose BC in last place at the beginning of the season. Were there any other receipts that you wanted to disclose? Or are you going to keep those to yourself?

CG: Everybody wants the receipts! I mean, you know, last [WNBA] season, I wasn't the healthiest, and it wasn't the best season. I wanted to play and help compete for a championship. But individually, it wasn't the best season for me because of my health and the way we were playing.

And so it's just crazy, the type of career that I've had, and one season when I'm not the healthiest, people try to tag that onto how I play and what the future looks like for me. So I'm gonna keep the receipts, hopefully for me to share later. But I mean, people see these things, right? These athletes are not numb to all this stuff.

I can't blame you for feeling that way.

CG: I didn't answer your question about the ESPN ranking of [Rose BC] being 6th. I thought that was crazy, and they had us at 6, like not even in the playoffs! Not to mention, we got second going into playoffs and then won the whole damn thing.

I know rankings happen, and they happen in every league, and I just love proving people wrong.

I love that. A big part of Rose's success was the connection you had with Angel [Reese]. So I'm wondering what you think about Angel's development this winter, especially with her being able to receive the passes you sent her way?

CG: I mean, I know a lot of my passes are crazy. And there's different ways to skin a cat, and I do oftentimes make the complicated play just because I feel like that's the best way for me to get it to them. And a lot of that comes with chemistry. It's not even like the ability to be able to go and finish, but rather 'Do I take a chance on this player versus another?'

But a lot of it has to do with chemistry and getting to know who you're playing with, and that took a little bit of time, and I think that's what you saw early on in the season. But our chemistry was at an all-time high going into the playoffs, and that's what you want. You always want to play your best basketball going into the postseason.

For [Angel], she was just spending extra time in the gym, getting extra reps. I know a lot of people saw the workout she did with Lisa [Leslie], and so that all attributed to her success down low.

Looking forward for you, there have been a lot of roster changes for the Aces, obviously the biggest one being Jewell Loyd coming over. What are you most looking forward to about playing with Jewell this season?

CG: She's a winner. She has won before, and you can't take for granted having someone in the locker room who's hoisted a trophy, that has won a championship, because it's hard to do to even get to the finals and win it, so I'm excited for that presence to be in our locker room. Not to mention, just like her skillset, me just being able to throw her the rock and hopefully increase my assists per game.

Another part of getting Jewell meant that Kelsey Plum was going to the Los Angeles Sparks. Another player who moved on was Sydney Colson, going to the Fever. We know Sydney has a great personality, and she's really funny. So I'm just curious how you think she'll fit into the Fever's locker room, along with how you think Kelsey will fare in Los Angeles this year?

CG: I mean, I don't know LA's locker room, and they have a whole new staff, so the way they're going to play is totally different. KP can score at all three levels as well, and she's a knock-down shooter. I know she's gonna put her best foot forward. She has won, and she's gonna probably bring that into the Sparks' locker room.

Then for Syd, I mean, we're gonna miss her presence. Not only can she be a presence in the locker room, and her personality makes people laugh, and she holds people accountable, but she's a hooper. She's not only on rosters because of how she is in the locker room, but also because of her ability on the court. So we'll miss her in Vegas as well.

For sure. The last thing I wanted to discuss is the NCAA Tournament. Your Duke Blue Devils are playing UNC on March 28, so I'm curious how you see Duke matching up against UNC, and then obviously, if both Duke wins and South Carolina wins, they'll be playing each other. So I'm wondering if you might have any wagers with A'ja [Wilson] about a potential game between those two teams?

CG: I mean, we gotta get past UNC in the Sweet Sixteen first, but you know the Devils all day! Carolina, that Tar Heel blue is not allowed in the household, so it runs deep. I'm excited to see them play.

I'm hoping [Duke] makes it to the Final Four. It would be a huge accomplishment for the program. But step by step, we can't look too far ahead. I'm happy to see them in the Sweet Sixteen.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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