When Seimone Augustus was 14, she traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee, to star in a photo shoot for the cover of Sports Illustrated.
While there, Augustus, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, had the opportunity to visit the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, which was just months away from opening.
Augustus remembers being wowed by the historical hoop timepieces before her. She ingested each of the different highlighted eras celebrating the history of the game – her jaw dropping when she saw that skirts were once worn as standard uniforms. She marveled at the jerseys of the sport’s changemakers. At the time, Augustus didn’t quite believe that her jersey could one day join them, but the idea had been planted.
“Once you have the visual, what’s the saying – once you see it, you can be it,” Augustus said. “Subconsciously, I believe I just started to work toward it.”
Lauded then as a teen phenom, as a high schooler Augustus was saddled with Michael Jordan-level expectations. Nicknamed “Money Mone,” Augustus went on to become one of the game’s greatest talents while playing for one of the WNBA’s few dynasties. She ended her 15-year WNBA career as a four-time champion with the Lynx, eight-time All-Star and a Finals MVP in 2011. She won three Olympic gold medals with USA Basketball.
On Saturday, 25 years after her first visit, Augustus will return to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, this time as one of the inductees in the Class of 2024. In August, Augustus will head to Springfield, Massachusetts, where she’ll also be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
“Now that I look back, you know maybe the universe was trying to tell me a long time ago that you might be here one day,” Augustus said.
Andscape caught up with the basketball great to discuss her Hall of Fame moment, how she views her impact on the game, which current player she sees herself in and her ambitious goal as a player-turned-coach.
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‘Seimone Augustus, Hall of Famer’ — has that sunk in yet?
It hasn’t. I don’t think it will for a while. For everyone here at home, and the people who are celebrating me, it has. They’re so proud. When I share those moments with them, the people in my community, my family, then it kind of hits you with the, ‘oh my God,’ kind of feeling. But it hasn’t sunk in yet.
Has there been anything that has surprised you about post-playing life that you didn’t anticipate?
It’s very slow post-playing days. Obviously, we aren’t like the men where we can go chill on the beach or something like that. If you haven’t planned for your post-playing career, now you’re trying to figure out what that is, who you are, what the things are that you’re interested in outside of basketball. For myself, I’ve been playing ball for so long, I’m just like, well, what do I like to do? It’s been great kind of rediscovering myself and finding new passions outside of the game.
To go into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame alongside Taj [McWilliams-Franklin] and Maya [Moore], with whom you won a championship with in 2011 and have known for years, how special is that for you?
It’s crazy to even think that. Obviously we knew Maya, but we didn’t expect people to go in at the same time. I expected to kind of be, like, in the crowd, cheering them on like I did [Lindsay] Whalen just a year ago at her Hall of Fame ceremony. For us to all be going in at one time, experiencing that and knowing what we meant to the game, what we meant to each other, it really means a lot to be able to share this moment with them. … I can’t even wrap my mind around it. I’m like, wow, four of the five starters are in the Hall of Fame. It’s crazy.
The three of you were honored at the Final Four earlier this month. How was it to be reunited? What did you connect about or reflect on?
We were catching up on life. Once Maya left, we hadn’t seen her in so long. It’s just like, all right, let’s see your baby, let’s see your husband, let’s meet everybody. When it comes to memories and basketball, I don’t think that’s going to hit us until the [week of the ceremony] where we really have to talk about it, think about it, be in it – how great of a team we were, how great of a family and bond that we built and what we meant to the game of basketball. Even hearing Caitlin Clark talk about, ‘oh, I was a Minnesota Lynx fan.’ To think about the impact she is having on the game is directly related to the impact we had on her as a young basketball player. It’s crazy to think of the inspiration and things that we did.
You mentioned Caitlin Clark. You saw a great Final Four in Cleveland — what are your impressions of the current state of the game today and the amount of change that’s taken place even in the short period since your retirement?
It happened so quickly. I feel like I saw it happening in 2018, 2019. One minute we were the superteam, then you look around and it’s like oh, wow, where did these people come from? What’s happening? Players that were rookies and babies when we were in the league are now like the faces of the league. A’ja Wilson is now the face of the league. It was different.
To see the game and how quickly it changed, it’s how everybody’s been saying on the internet, we told you so. We told you we had a great product, we just needed more visibility. It’s great that Caitlin Clark is Caitlin Clark and her movement has helped bring that visibility to us. Now what we said was going to happen: Everybody has found a player, a team, or something that they can connect to. This is what we deserved, this is what we’ve been waiting for and it’s finally here. Hopefully we respect it, take advantage of it, but also be grateful for what we have.
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Who in today’s game do you see yourself and your game in?
Everybody is like JuJu [Watkins]. Everyone is like JuJu is a bucket, you used to be out there getting buckets. When I got to watch JuJu and USC play in the tourney, I was like, ‘oh, shoot, that’s me.’ She is fearless. Her game is controlled. Though she has to put up a lot of shots for her team, every shot that she takes, in my opinion, is a good shot because it’s a shot she would normally take. It’s within her range she gets to her spots, gets to them well. She knows how to find her teammates or at least set them up for success when she’s in it. I was like, ‘wow, I’m literally looking at a mini me in JuJu.’ I love her game, it’s very smooth. That’s what you hope to see. Some people play wild ball. I don’t like the wild ball people. She’s very methodical and she’s very strategic with the way that she attacks. She’s a precision player.
If you played in the NIL era at LSU, what’s the first deal you’d want as a student-athlete?
The first deal –– ooh, I’m a fat a–, so it would have been like Cane’s (Laughs.) It would have been some food spot. Raising Cane’s was one of the things during my time. What other food spot? Jack in the Box was right there on campus. Anything outside of that, when I was in college I was into fashion. I probably would have found some fashion brand or a sneaker company. They used to have a Foot Locker on campus that I would sneak to and get Jordan’s and stuff that people didn’t know about. I think Flau’jae [Johnson] has a deal with Athlete’s Foot that’s on campus now. So definitely would have been sneakers, clothes and food.
What do you hope your contribution was to the game and has your view of that contribution changed from the time you retired to now?
It definitely changed. I don’t think I thought about legacy as much. I said it in my speech in Minnesota when I was getting my jersey retired, it wasn’t until Cheryl Reeve brought it up. I remember we had had one of the worst seasons in our tenure and she was like ‘what do you want your legacy to be?’ We were all like, ‘well, we don’t know.’ She said that’s something that you need to think about because that’s going to fuel you moving forward. From that point on, I think all of us – myself, Whalen, all of us that were on the team currently – were just like, well, we want to be able to inspire, we want to be able to pave a path or a way, use our voices, do all of these amazing things. From that point on, we did.
We had the situation with Philando Castille where everybody spoke up. Wore Black, did their thing. LGBTQ. This, that and the other. More than just on the court, off the court, we started to establish ourselves and use our voices. On the court, our legacy was basically, like, we’d seen what great talent looks like, that doesn’t fulfill the desire, or destination or whatever people believe that they should do. We wanted to be something different. We wanted to be a great group of talented people that fulfilled that goal, that vision, that plan. From that point on, the mindset was to win. Win a lot. For the most part, we locked in. Everybody was able to sacrifice for the greater good of the team and make some amazing things happen.
I previously spoke to Candice Dupree for a story and we discussed all-time players who didn’t get the farewell they deserved. Dupree brought you up as an example as someone who deserved more at the end of your career. Do you feel like you were adequately celebrated at the end of your career for what you gave to the league and the impact that you made?
Aww, Candice. I think between me and her we’re probably [two] of the most underrated people. When you look at Candice’s game – she’s top 10 in scoring, she’s all over the record books and yet her game was so quiet. That was the same way with me.
During my time, everybody was like, ‘yeah, Money was doing her thing out there, but Maya’s impact on the game and her visibility was so massive that people were just like Maya, Maya, Maya, and you gotta take that. Our saying was always we never cared who gets the light. So Maya had the majority of the light, and we kind of just basked in whatever light that we had and made it work.
Coming toward the end – with the way it ended, had I been in Minnesota and finished – it probably would have been different. That didn’t happen. Going to Los Angeles, they did as best they could with trying to send me out, give me flowers, stuff like that. The celebratory thing across the league, I don’t know if I even wanted that, to be honest. If I had been in Minny and it happened, I probably would have pulled a Becky Hammon and announced I was retiring halfway through and did it halfway. I was never the type of player that wanted that type of pressure on me for a final season anyway.
To be honest, not saying I wasn’t deserving of it, but it’s just like, eh, don’t put me up there. That’s for Candace [Parker], Maya, Diana [Taurasi] – let them have that. I get more out of hearing my peers. To get those DMs on social media, like nah, you was a dog – that matters more to me than anything.
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In 2022, you had your jersey retired in Minnesota. In 2023, you had your own statue unveiled at your alma mater, LSU. In 2024, you’ll be inducted to both basketball Hall of Fames. What’s it been like to have these markers of your impact on the sport happen in succession?
It’s crazy. That’s why I don’t need a celebration. I’m getting my celebration. My work spoke for itself that all of this is happening for me. I’m just like, ‘wow, it’s a lot.’ For me, I’m thinking about having to give all these speeches and I’m not a talker. I wish you could go up, get the award, smile, wave and walk off the stage. No, I’m truly thankful, and the fact that it’s happening in one full year? Naismith, that’s the hardest one to get into. To be a first-ballot [Hall of Famer] and go in that first time, that’s amazing. I got to see Whalen go in last year and I wasn’t even thinking about myself. I was just so proud, like, that’s my teammate! Now I’m going to be switching positions with her. I can’t even put it into words.
When you get the itch to watch some old game tape, is there a game or play that you go to first?
Somebody sent me some old high school stuff and a little bit of college. So I was like, all right I’ll watch this snippet or whatever – and I really felt like I’m owed some money. (Laughs.) I need some back pay. I was like, ‘oh, I was putting on a show.’ When you’re out there doing it, you don’t know. You feel the energy and the vibe of people and people expressing how they feel and admiration, but to see it, I don’t know if I really sat down and fully, as a fan, watched myself play. Every time I watch the game, I’m analyzing it strategically for how we’re going to attack a team or whatever. First time I got to sit down and see it I was like, ‘Oh, no, NCAA owes me some money. WNBA owes me a few dollars.’ (Laughs.) That was amazing.
You’re a part of the USA Basketball selection committee that will pick a team for Paris, what’s that been like and how hard will that decision be?
Extremely hard. It was hard when I was playing. Seeing the talent and the emerging talent, it will be very hard to pick. Basically, looking at the rest of the world and trying to assemble a team that can compete because the rest of the world is getting better and catching up with our talent, so strategically we have to be very smart with what we need when we get ready to get over to Paris. It’s going to be a very tough job but I don’t think we can go wrong with any player that we select to be a part of the team.
In this current chapter, where have you found joy? How would you define that?
Reintroducing myself to my family. For so long, it’s been kind of like in and out, in and out with going overseas, playing in the W, heading back overseas. I would see my parents maybe six weeks out of the year with the way that our schedule was. Actually getting to know my parents and where they are right now in life and just experiencing them – and them experiencing me. Now, I’m 40 years old, a grown woman. When I went off I was 21, 22 years old. A lot has changed. That’s been a great journey.
Then I dipped my toe into coaching, not really knowing what’s going on or what’s in store. I think I found my new passion. I’m starting that journey and just kind of like gaining knowledge and figuring out where to lay roots.
What goals do you want to accomplish in the sport in this next chapter?
I’m trying to do it all over again. I didn’t know that you could go in [to the Hall of Fame] multiple times – player, coach, whatever. I think it wasn’t until Bill Russell went in there as a player (1975) and coach (2021) where I was like oh, you could do that? I was like, ‘yeah, I’m going back in there.’ That’s my goal, to try and do this all over again. We’ll be sitting here again like, hey, you’re going into the Women’s Hall of Fame and Naismith as a coach,’ hopefully. That’s the goal.
