In 2024, Sheryl Swoopes has mostly made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Her harsh criticism of rookie Caitlin Clark and alleged bias toward Angel Reese in the Rookie of the Year debate drew massive backlash. Just because of this ongoing row, however, one cannot simply disregard her legendary status in the WNBA world. After all, she was the first player to be signed in the WNBA for the inaugural 1997 season (by the Houston Comets). But have you ever wondered how this fairytale came about?

Swoopes has many firsts to her name. First WNBA player ever, the first 3x WNBA MVP, the first WNBA player to record a triple-double in both the regular season and the playoffs, and the first player to have a signature shoe – The Nike ‘Air Swoopes’. But before all of this, it was the NBA’s late commissioner, David Stern, who helped realize her basketball dream and that of many other female players.

Sheryl Swoopes recently sat down with Las Vegas Aces President Nikki Fargas for a candid interview. Here’s what she had to say when questioned about the experience of being the WNBA’s first contracted player. “I mean, it was the NBA, right? It was the WNBA, but I always felt like, anything that the NBA was gonna be behind, it was gonna be successful,” she said.

The 4x WNBA champ then gave Fargas the backstory. “It was right after the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta. I do have to say this. I feel like what we were able to do in ’96 (win gold for the USA) is the reason why we have a WNBA today,” Swoopes added on the podcast. “Every single player on that team understood the significance of that moment, understood what we were doing, and we also felt the pressure. We knew we had a lot of eyes on us.”

Swoopes then dived deeper into how David Stern approached her for the landmark deal. “I had a conversation with the late, great David Stern about what was gonna happen, and what they were gonna do. They ask me if I would come and play in the WNBA,” she disclosed. “For me, it was never… I didn’t look at the ABL as competition because I never really thought about playing in the ABL (American Basketball League). The WNBA just seemed right. It sounded right even though I had no idea of what was gonna happen. It was a no-brainer for me.”

The foundation for the successful league that you see today has been built by each athlete since the inaugural year. Though Swoopes and the Houston Comets’ 4-peat brought fame to the WNBA, the Hall of Famer wasn’t very sure of the league’s potential.

How Sheryl Swoopes swallowed her excitement in anticipation of the WNBA’s failure

Before David Stern created the WNBA and saw it through to success, women’s basketball was in turmoil. Half a dozen attempts by different people at creating a league for women had gone down the drain. Though the ABL, which started in 1996, showed promise, it was tough to predict its future. As a result, Swoopes had to contain her emotions even after getting the WNBA contract.

“Honestly, my first initial thoughts were, please don’t let this be one of those leagues that will fail,” she said in 2019. “Because there were other leagues prior to that, that tried to make it and didn’t, I didn’t want to get too excited initially. But I knew there was a lot of talk about it and it was something that, given the opportunity, I wanted to be a part of.”

Eventually, it took off, and the rest is history. Swoopes turned into one of the WNBA’s greatest players and a 6x All-Star. Once the momentum was on her side, she also led the USA national team to two more gold medals in 2000 and 2004. Today, the likes of A’ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark, Diana Taurasi, & many more legends have elevated the game further. But isn’t it so fascinating to know the humble backstory of the creation of something historic?