COURTNEY VANDERSLOOT SCOOCHES into a chair at one of the round tables in a drab meeting room in a downtown Los Angeles hotel. If she weren’t sporting New York Liberty gear, you would never peg her as a professional basketball player, let alone the WNBA’s premier point guard who is second all-time in assists.
That’s the way she likes it.
With her blonde hair pulled up in a messy bun, she sits quietly, if not patiently, as she waits for me to figure out my laptop issues. I almost feel the weight of her green eyes peering over my shoulder. This must be how referees feel when Vandersloot stares them down after a call she finds, shall we say, objectionable.
It’s not personal. Vandersloot just doesn’t like people. Or social media. Or attention.
“She’s a simple broad,” Liberty center Stefanie Dolson says through a grin. “She likes three things: her wife; her dog, Gem; and beer.”
Add basketball to Dolson’s list. My laptop is running at last, and we watch video of the Liberty blowing a fourth-quarter lead in an early-season loss to Chicago. The spiral includes a couple of turnovers from Vandersloot, who is suddenly talkative, animated. She damn near winces as she watches herself overthrow Kayla Thornton in transition. “It was a dumb pass,” she says.
When she finishes a double-clutch reverse…
