NEW YORK — In the enlivened ballroom that served as the spot where WNBA dreams are coming true Thursday night at the 2018 WNBA Draft, players most assured of finding out their professional destinations congregated in the moments before it all went down.
For Diamond DeShields, it was a time to show off her shoes, and a pantsuit made with material she’d picked out just yesterday, she said.
For Victoria Vivians, the decision to go with a blue and black dress, as opposed to just black, came down to avoiding “being basic”.
Vivians also asserted that “I am always glam on the court”, an assertion backed up by her homecoming queen status at Mississippi State. Her coach, Vic Schaefer, and his wife Holly, looked on proudly.
As for that UCLA duo, Jordin Canada and Monique Billings, “summer-y colors” won the day for Billings, who also models, while Canada went with a white jumpsuit that our correspondent, Ari Chambers, described as “poppin”.
Monique Billings also talked up both the New York culture and pizza. The Liberty do, after all, pick tenth in the first round.
The finest players incorporating into the league continued to socialize—the trio of Connecticut stars, Kia Nurse, Gabby Williams and Azura Stevens, congregated near the bathroom, giggling like the college students they are, yet just moments away from their professional obligations taking them in three different directions.
Think of it, really, as a prom for the most accomplished basketball players in the country, people who have spent their days, nights, weekends, dreams, hopes and nearly every waking moment preparing for this moment.
Now, all dressed up, about to meet their new teams, they took a few minutes to drink it all in.