Politics & Power Quote by Sue Wicks

Wicks is diagnosing a cultural shift in women’s basketball that’s both a victory lap and a mild indictment. The surface is generational comparison: today’s rookies arrive as “big stars,” while her cohort entered wide-eyed, grateful for basics that now sound almost quaint - a “big gym,” TV exposure, the sheer fact of playing professionally in America. Underneath, she’s marking how recently the floor was lower. Gratitude wasn’t a personality trait; it was an economic and institutional reality.

The quote works because it uses understatement as critique. “Happy to be there” isn’t nostalgia so much as a reminder of how little leverage early pioneers had. Wicks came of age when women’s pro opportunities were patchwork, often overseas, with limited media infrastructure at home. So when she says “playing in America,” it lands as both pride and a quiet rebuke: imagine having to treat your own country as a privilege rather than a default.

There’s also an edge aimed at the modern sports-industrial pipeline. College programs now function as celebrity factories, complete with national branding, social media amplification, and NIL-era money that validates players before they ever go pro. Wicks isn’t scolding confidence; she’s pointing at what changes when athletes arrive expecting visibility instead of begging for it. The subtext is legacy: if today’s rookies feel entitled to the spotlight, it’s because people like her helped build the lights.