W hen I was growing up in Jefferson City, Missouri, after school, my younger brother and I played basketball in the driveway until the sun went down and all that was lighting our game was the light above the garage. You couldn’t see much but the hoop and the driveway. 

My brother and I are only 15 months apart, so we grew up like twins, and our games were brutal. We were fighting for our lives when we were playing against each other. And you know how it gets with siblings, you’ll get any advantage you can — it doesn’t matter if it’s a broken nose or what — to make sure you win that game. 

Sports are foundational to who I am. Growing up, I played soccer, volleyball, everything. Always juggling games and practices after school. But there was something ­special about that hoop in the driveway. I don’t remember it ever not being there. It was anchored in concrete, a permanent fixture for our house. The hoop brought together my family and all of the other kids in the neighborhood. 

Being able to go outside and play felt like you were building your community through sports, bringing together all kinds of people. And so, to me, that’s why backyard hoops and street ball feel intrinsically American. It doesn’t matter how well-off your family is, like it might with some other sports. All you need is a hoop and a ball. You can play by yourself, you can get other people involved. And there are no excuses, because you don’t need other people to practice your game. You can get better on your own.

I never could have imagined my career today when I was a kid playing on that old hoop in the driveway. There are some things you don’t even know to dream of, and this would be one of them. I’ve just been so blessed — the opportunities, the people I’ve gotten to meet through basketball. The girl shooting driveway hoops would be in awe of that game turning into what it has. 

With Unrivaled, the three-on-three women’s basketball league I started in 2023 with New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart, we’re trying to shift the culture. When you see street ball, it’s not usually girls out there doing that. It’s usually boys. We want girls to feel comfortable creating their own pickup games or ­joining the boys’ game. I hope that becomes the norm because there are so many studies about how important sports are for girls. Playing a game of pickup builds confidence in your body, confidence in your voice, confidence in your overall skills. That mindset transcends sports, and those become grounding life principles. 

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That’s why we created the three-on-three format and the one-on-one tournament, so that the world can see women out there being aggressive and unapologetic and competitive, all of the things that for a long time you weren’t supposed to be as a girl. And for younger girls to see us doing that and being successful in it, making it our career, I hope it gives them the confidence to say, and really believe, “I can do that.”

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There’s a park with a hoop down the street from where I live now in Minnesota. I get such a nostalgic feeling when I pass by it. It just makes your heart warm, because there’s something so joyful about street ball. 

I’m not saying there’s not joy in professional sports — of course there is — but when you’re just playing pickup in the park, you’re with your friends, your family. It’s not high-stakes. It’s just about community and a true love for the game.

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NAPHEESA COLLIER is a vice president of the WNBA Players Association and a forward for the WNBA Minnesota Lynx and the Lunar Owls of Unrivaled, the league she co-founded.