Motivation Quote by Lisa Leslie

Leslie is putting her finger on a truth women’s basketball has had to wrestle with for decades: not just the physics of the dunk, but the way the sport gets marketed, taught, and fantasized. She frames dunking as a “desire” boys carry “way more,” which sounds innocent until you hear the cultural machinery humming underneath. Boys are encouraged to treat the rim like a dare. From playgrounds to highlight reels, dunking is sold as the purest proof of dominance and athletic legitimacy. If you can’t touch the rim, you still practice the swagger.

When Leslie says it “never seemed like something we could truly fathom and do,” she’s not confessing a lack of ambition so much as describing an inheritance: girls are often coached into precision and restraint, rewarded for fundamentals, and less frequently given permission to fail loudly in pursuit of spectacle. Dunking requires years of playful experimentation, open gym time, and a sense that attempting the impossible is part of the job. Those are resources and attitudes that have historically flowed more freely to boys.

The subtext is also about the double bind. When women dunk, it’s treated as an event - a novelty that can overshadow the rest of their skill - rather than a routine tool. Leslie, who helped normalize the very idea of a WNBA dunk, is explaining how “can” becomes “should,” and how “should” gets rationed by expectations. She’s talking about a sport shaped as much by imagination as by muscle.