Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Kelsey Plum and More

On April 25, women’s basketball legend Lisa Leslie surprised three inspiring small businesses with $20,000 checks as part of Intuit’s Small Business Hero Day, during a presentation at the Intuit Dome Arena in Inglewood, California.

The three small businesses (Perry’s Joint in Pasadena, California, BJ’s Nevada Barbeque in Sparks, Nevada, and the Homeless Garden Project in Santa Cruz, California) were chosen for this recognition for their demonstration of courage, perseverance, and integrity while making an impact in their local communities. This is part of an ongoing effort to spotlight and celebrate even more small businesses that are making significant, positive impacts.

Women’s Fastbreak on SI spoke with Leslie about this presentation, along with other aspects pertaining to the women’s basketball world.

Hi Lisa, thank you so much for your time. Diving into Friday’s Intuit Small Business Hero Day event, I’m just curious what it felt like to give $20,000 to these three businesses, which is such a massive boost for them?

LL: Yeah, I think for me, I’m just really happy to team up with QuickBooks. Giving back to the community is really big for me, and so I’m just happy to partner with a brand who really gets it and understands the importance of investing in the community. 

When you think about just the amount of money for $20,000 for those small businesses with Intuit and QuickBooks, as well as MailChimp, has been able to do, it’s really a huge impact on small businesses. I’m an owner of two small businesses myself, and so when you think about not just your business, but being able to really be a voice and have a face in a community, I think that really speaks volumes. 

So I think by having this message out there, hopefully we get a chance to inspire more people, and for other people to really sign up for the opportunity, because the Small Business Hero Day was something that they were doing annually that will now move to quarterly, which was also amazing.

That’s great that it’s becoming a quarterly event instead of annually, so that even more small businesses can be impacted. I know that only one of these three small businesses was in the Los Angeles area, but could you speak on why celebrating and highlighting small businesses in Los Angeles is particularly meaningful to you?

LL: I think we are all familiar with our own small communities, but sometimes those are not the things that get highlighted, right? We highlight, and sometimes we hear on the news every day, all the things that go wrong in cities and the crimes and things like that and so again I think it’s amazing to support businesses that really support our communities. And that’s what Intuit has been able to do.

For me personally, knowing that I’m from the inner city. I grew up in Compton, California. I went to Morningside High in Inglewood, California, where the Intuit Dome is. I’m literally five minutes around the corners where I went to high school. And then I went to USC in Southern California. So, you know, being a part of the community, I’ve lived in all the different neighborhoods from Compton to Calabasas. And so I just think it’s important to recognize that we have a lot of, we’re a big community, but we also have a lot of small
communities that can make an impact.

As you said, you’re very connected to Los Angeles. Obviously, the Sparks have been a topic of conversation this offseason, specifically their getting Kelsey Plum via trade this offseason. How do you think Kelsey will fit
in with the Sparks this year?

LL: I think Kelsey is a leader. She’s a champion, and an Olympian. So when you have a person with that type of pedigree, I don’t think it’s about her fitting into the Sparks. I think how the Sparks fit around Kelsey Plum.

I think she really becomes the focal point of the team and a facilitator, whether she plays the one or the two. Her ability to score the ball, but make people around her better. She knows what it looks like to win. And there are a lot of young players [on Los Angeles], so I think when you think about the experience that those players have, and then you add Kelsey who, she’s fiery, she’s a winner, she’s a fighter, all of those things, are really pieces that you need to get to a championship caliber team.

And so I don’t know if they have all the pieces necessary in terms of like winning a championship this year,
but I think they’re building in the right direction when it comes to players.

You mentioned players that are winners and that have a fire, and that brings to mind Dawn Staley, who I know you have a great relationship with and were teammates with in the past. Her South Carolina Gamecocks have been busy in the portal this offseason. I’m just curious about your thoughts on them getting both Ta’Niya Latson and Madina Okot in the transfer portal, and also Milaysia Fulwiley going to LSU from South Carolina?

LL: Having one of the best scorers in the country transfer to your school, that doesn’t hurt, right? Latson’s ability to score, put the ball in the basket, you need that. Having bigs is really important. I think they were kind of missing a little bit of that inside, on the paint. So I think having those key transfers in will only help strengthen South Carolina’s goal to win a
championship.

Then losing MiLaysia Fulwiley, that one I think is a little bit difficult. That hurts. I mean, I’m saying that as a fan on the outside, just because you can really see the potential of where her game was going. But sometimes players don’t really have the patience to sit and stay in line. Everybody wants to play now, and they want to play the whole time. And I get it. It’s not that any kid shouldn’t want to, but we’ll see if the grass is greener on the other side. I’m sure playing for LSU, MiLaysia will have more of a green light.

My biggest suggestion [to college transfers] is remember that you’re the same player. Your work ethic has to continually improve,
and you have to look at yourself in the mirror and figure out what’s the good and the bad, and how you can fix that? Because a lot of times we want to escape difficult times, and we want to be protected in those spaces. But life is not always easy. Sometimes it’s hard.
And you have to figure out ways to get through the hard parts, too.

Speaking of advising players and LSU, I know that you spent a lot of time working with Angel Reese at Unrivaled this past offseason. You were also on her podcast earlier this year, giving her advice. If she implements the advice that you gave her about working on her inside shooting, what do you think her ceiling is as she continues her career?

LL: Angel has the motor, she has the energy that you need to be an amazing player. She has a nose for a ball that’s really uncanny and really tough to stop. She’s a physical player who plays, she enjoys the contact so you really can’t rattle her. And I think we have all of those pieces that makes for a really great player.

I think Angel’s ability to score is gonna continue to get better, scoring on the inside and finishing on the left side and right side. She’s a lefty who shoots very well on the right side. She has an excellent work ethic and she’s gonna continue to get better.

These young women have this spotlight on them that never turns off. And it’s tough. But I am very confident that Angel will continue to get better and have an even better sophomore season than she did as a rookie, which is
going to be hard to beat because she led the WNBA in rebounding as a rookie. But she’s outstanding. I enjoyed working with her.

So yes, I’m very supportive of Angel, and I hope that she continues to excel and just listen, not worry about the naysayers. Yes, is she gonna miss shots? Absolutely, we all did, you know what I mean? But at the end of the day, the goal is to try to get to a championship and to be better and be consistent every single year. And Angel Reese has put in the work and is working towards that.

Speaking of Unrivaled, you made waves when A’ja Wilson was sitting courtside during one of the games, and you were speaking about her wanting to join the league next year. A’ja and Caitlin Clark were the two big omissions that Unrivaled had, so I’m wondering how you think they can impact Unrivaled, aside from the obvious attention they’ll bring, in terms of the overall product, if they play in 2026?

LL: The opportunity for A’ja Wilson to be in Unrivaled would be amazing because she’s such an outstanding player, one of the best in the world. Caitlin Clark is another player who would be amazing to watch. So I think Unrivaled will continue to get better and better. Don’t forget, we also have Paige Bueckers possibly playing in Unrivaled. There are a lot of players that, as they continuously flow into Unrivaled out of the WNBA and for their off-season, Unrivaled is gonna just continue to hit the plateau and exceed that with hopefully more attendance, with more sponsorships.

Unrivaled is totally unrivaled. It was an epic year one, and I can’t wait for year two. And of course, the more the merrier.

Regarding Caitlin, I wrote about her having the highest odds to win the 2025 WNBA MVP. I’m curious about your take on the MVP race specifically, then also how you think the Fever will fare this season?

LL: Let me just say, Caitlin Clark has had an amazing impact on the WNBA. Her ability to come out and play, especially after her college season. And then to come into the WNBA and just really have the effect that she did, it was really outstanding. I was so proud of Caitlin.

So when you talk about Caitlin in her sophomore year, she’s more seasoned, she has had time to rest. She’s had time to really regroup and see exactly where she wants to go. Obviously, [the Fever] have a ton of new players, a new coach. And that also builds a lot of pressure. It is so hard to win. It’s not easy to win the first year that you get a new coach, new teammates, and you’re trying to build this chemistry. I don’t want to put too much pressure. I think the Indiana Fever, as far as on paper, looks amazing. Now they’ve got to put it all together.

And they can possibly. I’m not saying they can’t. The All-Star Game is there in Indiana. Everything is laid out. Caitlin has had time to really process what the WNBA looks like, what it feels like. And it’s going to be exciting, so I’m sure fans will tune in. Everything’s already sold out. And some teams, when Caitlin comes to town, they’ve already had to get into larger arenas. So all of those things about the Caitlin Clark effect are true.

It’s amazing, I’ve missed watching her play. I wish, like I said, she was at Unrivaled. It’ll be great to see her back out on the floor and what this new team looks like. Don’t sleep on Kelsey Mitchell, because she’s also an amazing baller. I mean, [Caitlin] has some really good teammates around her. She has veterans there now. So it’ll be really interesting to see what Indiana Fever looks like and the excitement.

Couldn’t agree more. To end things, I was actually introduced to you and became a fan of you through Backyard Basketball, which I think came out in 2007. As I’m sure you probably know, they’ve done a reboot right now.

You were the only female included in the original Backyard Basketball game, which I don’t think is spoken about enough when discussing your legacy. So if you could reflect on that at all, and how, if a new Backyard Basketball game came out today, there would be more female basketball players included, which just speaks to the growth of women’s basketball that you helped facilitate.

LL: Yeah, thanks Grant. You know, what’s so cool about Backyard Basketball is that so many people who are probably your age now talk to me about them playing it, which I didn’t think about back then. I think I was probably like 23 or 24 when it came out. But so many kids got introduced to basketball through that game, which is really cool. So, I think the nostalgia of us being able to impact you guys, and now you get older and I kind of get a chance to see what that meant.

And you know the key to winning in Backyard Basketball, you had to have me on your team, right?

Absolutely!

LL: But I think it’s cool, they contacted me again about the reboot, and I love it! And then hopefully they can add more athletes there to play, which is great because you get a chance to reintroduce old school players and then some new school to some younger fans. So I appreciate the support, and I’m glad you got introduced to me when you were probably seven or something.