High Post Hoops
Fansided

An unlikely MVP: The path to Nikki Teasley’s 2003 All Star moment

By Kurtis Zimmerman

NEW YORK - JULY 12: All-Star MVP Nikki Teasley #42 of the Los Angeles Sparks poses for a portrait after the 2003 WNBA East/West All-Star game at Madison Square Garden on July 12, 2003 in New York City, New York. The West won 84-75. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement Copyright 2003 WNBAE (Photo by M. David Leeds/WNBAE via Getty Images)
NEW YORK - JULY 12: All-Star MVP Nikki Teasley #42 of the Los Angeles Sparks poses for a portrait after the 2003 WNBA East/West All-Star game at Madison Square Garden on July 12, 2003 in New York City, New York. The West won 84-75. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement Copyright 2003 WNBAE (Photo by M. David Leeds/WNBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Remembering an unlikely All Star hero.

She wasn’t supposed to be in the 2003 WNBA All Star Game.

She wasn’t expected to hit that clutch Finals-winning shot.

She wasn’t drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks.

She wasn’t supposed to be a rookie in 2002.

Really, Nikki isn’t even her given name.

Yet here we are, a little over 16 years later, due to a very particular series of events, recounting the story of how WNBA champion and second-year Sparks guard Nikki Teasley put up an eye-popping stat line and flew back to California as the All Star Game MVP.

The Name

Forty years ago, Ernestine Teasley gave birth to a daughter, who she and father Nathaniel Johnson named Michelle Nicole Teasley. Raised in a family of boys in southeast Washington, D.C., early on she was brought along by her brother Ernie to play basketball in a recreational league.

More from History

It wasn’t long before ‘Cole — that’s what her brothers called her — was dominating teams of both boys and girls, many older than her. Since there was an older team member named Nicole, she became “Little Nikki,” earning the moniker that would stick with her for decades.

The Delay

The way up was far from simple for Nikki. She was arrested at 14 for stealing a car, and while still in high school, she recalled to The Washington Post hearing gunshots outside her apartment and seeing a gun fall out of a man’s pants at the park while playing against him.

After relocating to Frederick, Maryland, Teasley matured personally and climbed the recruiting ranks, ultimately signing with North Carolina. The Tar Heels were frequently atop the ACC and had won a national championship just a few years prior under head coach Sylvia Hatchell.

Though she was a flashy All-ACC selection at North Carolina and became the first women’s basketball player there with 1,500 points and 600 assists, the path wasn’t linear for Teasley.

In early 2000, she went to Coach Hatchell wanting to skip a trip to Virginia to play. She detailed her mental struggle to her coach in an office session that led to her consultation with a clinical psychologist, which Teasley told Sports Illustrated was “a breakthrough.”

After a hiatus to address “symptoms of depression and anxiety,” she returned to the Tar Heels for her fifth and final year in the 2001-2002 season, when she helped North Carolina back to the Sweet Sixteen and rose on WNBA Draft boards.

The Trade

Coming off their first WNBA championship in 2001, the Los Angeles Sparks’ earliest pick in the 2002 Draft was at the end of the first round, sixteenth overall. The Portland Fire scooped up Teasley with the fifth overall pick, but she never made it out to Oregon.

19 Apr 2002: Nikki Teasley, left, the #5 pick of the WNBA Draft 2002, is selected by the Portland Fire and poses with WNBA President Val Ackerman during the WNBA Draft 2002 in Secaucus, New Jersey. DIGITAL IMAGE. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory copyright notice: Copyright 2002 WNBAE Mandatory credit: Jesse D. Garrabrant/WNBAE/Getty Images
19 Apr 2002: Nikki Teasley, left, the #5 pick of the WNBA Draft 2002, is selected by the Portland Fire and poses with WNBA President Val Ackerman during the WNBA Draft 2002 in Secaucus, New Jersey. DIGITAL IMAGE. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory copyright notice: Copyright 2002 WNBAE Mandatory credit: Jesse D. Garrabrant/WNBAE/Getty Images /

The Fire traded her and Sophia Witherspoon to the Sparks for starter Ukari Figgs and a second round pick in a move that many Sparks fans were vocally weary about.

Figgs was popular in Los Angeles and a key three-point shooter in the Sparks’ 2001 title run, but GM Penny Toler and Coach Michael Cooper had high hopes for Teasley from the beginning.

“Teasley is a phenomenal player,” Toler told the LA Times at the time. “She sees the floor very well and will be a huge addition to our team.”

Both Toler and Cooper acknowledged how difficult it was to part ways with Figgs, but Cooper praised Teasley’s style of play, saying she reminded him of Magic Johnson (who Cooper won five championships with in Los Angeles). The rare top-5 draft pick on a championship team, Teasley immediately had the weight of high expectations on her.

The Shot

Amid a starting lineup of All Stars, Teasley did exactly what was asked of her, averaging 6.4 points and dishing out 4.4 assists per game to the likes of Lisa Leslie, DeLisha Milton-Jones, Mwadi Mabika, and Tamecka Dixon on the way to a 25-7 finish. The defending champion Sparks were atop the WNBA again, taking the top seed in to the Playoffs.

The Sparks made quick work of the Seattle Storm and Utah Jazz to get back to the Finals. Teasley, AKA “Lady Magic,” as dubbed by her coach, kept up her production with 7.5 points and 6.25 assists through the first two rounds, and her 8 points and 11 assists were a key part of stealing Game 1 of the Finals from the New York Liberty in Madison Square Garden.

Game 2 of the Finals was back at the Staples Center, where the Liberty battled back in front of 13,000+ rooting for the hometown Sparks, coming back from a nine-point deficit to tie the game at 66-all with just over 18 seconds remaining.

The Sparks took a timeout with 13 seconds on the clock, and everyone watching knew the ideal play would get the ball in to superstar Leslie inside. But with the defense sagging in on Leslie, Teasley found herself with the ball just outside the three-point line with 2.4 seconds left and staunch defender Teresa Weatherspoon far off her. She was 4-for-17 from deep in the Playoffs up to that point, so the game looked destined for overtime, but Teasley was unfazed. She drained it.

Nikki Teasley etched her name in WNBA Finals history as a rookie and made herself a WNBA champion.

The Game

That brings us to 2003, Teasley’s second year in the WNBA with a Sparks squad looking to three-peat. The Sparks started out hot, winning their first nine games and entering the All Star break 15-3. Teasley picked up where she left off the previous season, averaging 10.1 points and 6.3 assists and shooting over 46% from beyond the arc in the first half of the season.

She was among the top vote-getters at the guard position, but Teasley was not initially named an All Star in 2003. Teammates Lisa Leslie and Tamecka Dixon were selected for the Western Conference All Star team to be coached by Sparks coach Michael Cooper, but Teasley fell just short of making her first All Star appearance.

However, with Cynthia Cooper injured and unable to play, WNBA President Val Ackerman had to fill her spot with a Western Conference guard, and Teasley’s name was called.

In 2003 the All Star Game was at Madison Square Garden, where Teasley, Leslie, and Dixon had won a crucial Finals game on the way to their championship the year prior.

All eyes were on Leslie to be named All Star MVP for the fourth time as she led all scorers with 17 points at the half, but an unfortunate knee injury sidelined her early after halftime. With her teammate’s status uncertain, Teasley had the opportunity for more minutes, and she took full advantage.

With two points and a pair of assists, Teasley played just nine minutes in the first half, but after Cooper put her in with 15:27 left in the game, he never replaced her before the final buzzer sounded.

10 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds, 5 steals, and 0 turnovers.

Sure, All Star Games aren’t known for defenses, but that line Teasley put up is mind-boggling still. Only three times has a player had five steals in a WNBA All Star game alone, and no one has had five each of points, assists, rebounds, and steals. Well, except Nikki Teasley.

She led the West to their fifth-straight All Star win, earning the honor of All Star Game MVP. To this day, she is still the only replacement player to be named MVP in a WNBA All Star Game.

NEW YORK – JULY 12: Nikki Teasley #42 of the Western Conference All-Stars holds up the MVP Trophy of the 2003 WNBA All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden on July 12, 2003 in New York, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/WNBAE via Getty Images)
NEW YORK – JULY 12: Nikki Teasley #42 of the Western Conference All-Stars holds up the MVP Trophy of the 2003 WNBA All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden on July 12, 2003 in New York, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/WNBAE via Getty Images) /

“Lady Magic” continued to be one of the league’s best passers, leading the WNBA in 2004 (6.1 per game) and 2006 (5.4 per game). Her 4.7 assists per game is still 10th all-time, and her career assist percentage of 28.6 is 12th-best. Some of those assists were just, as SLAM so affectionately put it, filthy.

Teasley played in Los Angeles through the 2005 season before finishing out her career with stints with the Washington Mystics, Atlanta Dream, and Detroit Shock. She earned All-WNBA nods in 2003 and 2004 but wouldn’t get another All Star nod.

That’s why her MVP performance, brought about via a confluence of events and decisions — or as Teasley put it in a post-All Star Game chat, a “blessing from God” — is still such a special and celebrated moment in WNBA history.

Love our 24/7 women’s basketball coverage? Join our Patreon now and support this work, while getting extra goodies and subscriber-only content for yourself.

Home/History