AU Pro Basketball: Alysha Clark, Kia Nurse anticipate Nashville season

Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball will kick off the league’s fourth season in Nashville, TN on Wednesday, February 5. The entire season will be hosted downtown at the Municipal Auditorium, which opened back in 1962 and has been the home of the Musicians Hall of Fame since 2013.

The 24-game season will run from Feb. 5 to Mar. 2, giving fans a lot to get excited about. The game sticks to the traditional 5×5 format, but allows individual athletes to earn points based on how their team performs and how they perform on their own. Teams change each week, and the highest-performing players serve as captains.

If it sounds both exciting and a little different, that’s because it definitely is—and it’s a lot of fun, especially coming off the heels of Tennessee’s bid for a WNBA expansion team.

Three-time WNBA champion Alysha Clark, who lives in Nashville during the WNBA off-season, is joining AU for the first time this year. She told Swish Appeal, “Bringing professional women’s basketball to Nashville—it’s a great place in the Middle Tennessee area. It’s always been supportive of women’s basketball. And so to be able to be a part of one of the first professional leagues here, it’s historic.”

“I’m hoping to bring more excitement and hopefully excite the fans about a potential future expansion team,” she added. “But yeah, just showing them what AU is about and showcasing all the best talent that’s in women’s basketball and on different teams—that’s what I’m really looking forward to.”

The Chicago Sky’s Kia Nurse also is a new addition to AU this year. She’s most excited about the league’s format and the opportunities it gives athletes in terms of who they play with and against. “I think it’s really unique that you get to understand and meet all these people that you’ve either played against in the WNBA for all these years, but now get to be on their team,” Nurse explained.

After she was asked by Swish Appeal whether or not any WNBA beefs carry over into AU, Nurse emphasized that she doesn’t have any problems with anyone, sharing, “I find it very interesting because when you’re against people, oftentimes you see them as a competitor and you know the top of the side, there might be some trash talking here and there and then you get to meet them off the board or they’re on your team and you’re like, ‘Oh, I would definitely like to play with you.’” So no rivalries.

Jordan Horston, who was a Tennessee Lady Vol before she was drafted No. 9 overall in the 2023 WNBA Draft by the Seattle Storm, is just excited about hooping in the state again. “I’m excited to see what Nashville has to offer,” she said. “I want to have a few food spots, and they’re 10 out of 10. Food’s great here so far. I’m just excited to get after playing against people, playing with people I used to play against.”

Horston also touched on the jump between her rookie season and her second with the Storm. The transition “was a huge jump for me,” she said. “I feel like [in] my rookie year…I was just thrown out there. You can’t really prepare for that moment. It’s like, once you get there, you just gotta get through it and figure it out for yourself.”

If there’s anyone who knows a thing or two about AU Pro Basketball, it’s 2022 WNBA champion Theresa Plaisance, who is also a member of the Basketball Player Executive Committee. Plaisance, who is one half of the almighty “The Syd + TP Show” team alongside Sydney Colson, praised this year’s WNBA offseason as one of the best due to the combination of AU Pro Basketball and Unrivaled.

“I think it’s really great that women’s basketball got the recognition that it has—we know that the product’s been there for so long and it’s finally getting the recognition it deserves,” Plaisance said. “The rookies coming in with the momentum that they brought from college, and now that we have multiple options for people to not have to go over season the offseason….You have two leagues now that are playing at a very high level, and I think it’s really great to have women’s basketball and have multiple options for the W players.”

Ultimately, she concluded, “I love when women’s basketball is on TV—so the more the merrier in my opinion.”