Who Is Swin Cash? Rivaling Lakers’ Jeanie Buss, Meet the Pelicans’ New VP Who is an Ex-WNBA Star

“I want people that want to be here to win,” was all Detroit Shock HC, Bill Laimbeer heard during a face-to-face meeting with a strong-headed woman in 2002. Now, 22 years later, that same woman has 3 WNBA titles, 4 WNBA All-Star selections, and a Hall of Fame induction under her belt. But today she achieved another feat of monumental proportion as the Pelicans announced Swin Cash, the same person you were reading about, as their new Vice President.

When Jeanie Buss assumed control of the Lakers ownership in 2013, Cash was on her way out of Chicago Sky. But now she is one of the top-ranked women in the NBA. This is the result of her winning mentality from all those years ago.

Just before the day of the NBA Draft, the Pelicans shuffled their front office. Bryan Graham will now assume the role of the team’s GM. Along with him, the Pelicans have also promoted Swin Cash from her previous position. The former WNBA star will now lead the front office as the Senior Vice President of the NOP. Born on September 22, 1979, in Mckeesport, Pennsylvania, Cash started her basketball career with Uconn in 1998. In the four years spent on the college basketball circuit, she racked up two NCAA titles. Her ball-handling skills, sharpshooting, and rebounding made her an all-round threat.

The Detroit Shock took notice of it and drafted her 2nd during the 2002 WNBA Draft. “I about had an attack in the locker room because people were talking about what their plans were going to be for after the season, and culturally I didn’t understand that — I wasn’t built like that,” said Cash after suffering 13 straight losses with her new team. Success came soon and plenty after that. In 2003 and 2006, she lifted the WNBA championship in Motor City. A third one came with the Seattle Storm in 2010. With her hooping exploits, Swin Cash bagged 3 gold medals with the USAB women’s team. Two of them came in the 2004 and 2012 Olympics and the other one in the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

In 2016, she announced her retirement from NY Liberty and transitioned into the role of director of franchise development. In 2019, she was welcomed by the Pelicans into the role of vice president of basketball operations and team development. However, if you believe her influence was limited to the basketball court, you may want to reconsider.

Swin Cash: Influence on Her Community, Social Activist Role

For any generational talent, the one aspect that connects them to the masses is the aura to inspire the masses. Cash exactly did that throughout her career. She declared war against Gilbert Arenas for his sexist comments on social media in 2015. In a series of posts on X, she ripped the former Wizard guard. She keeps raising her voice even from the seat of the NOP front office and the most recent example came during the recent controversy surrounding Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.

In 2016, the WNBA fined Cash $500 for a show of protest. Cash and her teammates wore t-shirts with the print #Blacklivesmattter and #Dallas5 in protest of gun violence and racism. She became a Freedom Award recipient in 2016 for her activist role. Along with it, she also has her “Cash For Kids” foundation, which strives towards bringing kids to the game by providing essential resources. Even today she leaves traces of her activist mentality on her social media accounts as she keeps empowering both her team and the community.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what brand maker, Leonard Armato, had to say about the deadly duo, Shaq and Kobe, check out this video