When Seimone Augustus shocked everyone during last year’s free agency period by going from the Minnesota Lynx to its budding rival Los Angeles Sparks, it did provide a bit of familiarity for her as she is used to donning purple and gold colors.
Augustus, of course, played her collegiate ball at LSU, the same school that was also the alma mater of Sylvia Fowles (and Glen “Big Baby” Davis, who goes back with Augustus to their days playing middle school AAU travel ball). Money Mone and Sweet Syl eventually went to the Lynx and won four championships in the Twin Cities.
She was a guest recently on the “Knuckleheads” podcast on The Players’ Tribune with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles. While eventually she became a legend in Baton Rouge, Augustus also had her eyes on going north to New Jersey and playing for C. Vivian Stringer at Rutgers.
To be honest, I wanted to go to Rutgers. And I love Coach Stringer. And something happened with my visit and I wasn’t able to take my visit to Rutgers.
–Seimone Augustus, Los Angeles Sparks (Knuckleheads’ podcast, The Players’ Tribune)
She believes that would have been a “game changer” if she was able to make that trip to Piscataway.
Prior to her even beginning her preps career, she was on the front cover on Sports Illustrated and was also drawing comparisons to Michael Jordan.
Man, they put some pressure on me didn’t they? Like, I didn’t even know. I honestly didn’t even know.
–Seimone Augustus, Los Angeles Sparks (Knuckleheads’ podcast, The Players’ Tribune)
She said that she went to Tennessee to do a photoshoot with Chamique Holdsclaw and thought that she was only going to get a small feature. Little did she know the shoot was not exactly only for a feature story.
Eventually, she made into the WNBA and to the Lynx, but the Lynx were not always the Lynx of the 2010s. For a while, Minnesota was a struggling team on the court and a struggling team in terms of attendance.
…I went through four years of losing when we only won 10 games a season. So, that wasn’t no, oh, we plotted a plan. Like, nah, the stars aligned…
–Seimone Augustus, Los Angeles Sparks (Knuckleheads’ podcast, The Players’ Tribune)
Another of the things she chatted about was Maya Moore, another cornerstone of those four championship-winning Lynx teams. After the 2018 season, she took a break from the WNBA to emphasize a social justice issue – the case of Jonathan Irons who received a 50-year prison sentence for a crime he did not commit.
Moore’s efforts later got Irons freed and she announced on ABC’s Good Morning America that she and Irons had married. Augustus described it as “hard to swallow” at the time but understood why she took the detour she did away from ball.
Obviously she had conversations with all of us, and the starting five, to explain the journey she was about to go on. And at that point, all we can do is respect it and then support her on our way.
–Seimone Augustus, Los Angeles Sparks (Knuckleheads’ podcast, The Players’ Tribune)
Those championship-winning Lynx teams of the 2010s are often compared to the 1997-2000 Houston Comets teams that won four consecutive championships – the first four championships in the history of the WNBA establishing its first dynasty.
The Lynx-Comets debate is often one that starts plenty of conversation and debate among the WNBA family as to which team had the greater dynasty. Augustus believes that Houston has the upper end of the GOAT debate.
We ended up getting the four, but nothing will ever compare to what the Comets did reeling off four in a row … Like, I don’t even know if that’ll ever happen again. But … just to be in the same breath as a team like that, as players like that, it means a lot to all of us.
–Seimone Augustus, Los Angeles Sparks (Knuckleheads’ podcast, The Players’ Tribune)
She also recollected the transition she made to the Sparks and how tough it was given the rivalry that developed between the 2016 and 2017 seasons when Minnesota and Los Angeles were the top two teams in the WNBA competing for championships.
