Indiana Fever's NaLyssa Smith ready to be WNBA's next big thing, doubters be damned

When NaLyssa Smith was in second grade, her mom got a phone call from NaLyssa's school. She needed to bring her daughter some new clothes. A boy had challenged her to a game of basketball on the playground. So she cut her dress to make shorts and a T-shirt.

“She killed him — outscored him, outplayed him,” her mom, Nikki Smith, said. “The teacher told me how NaLyssa was just around the corner snickering, because the boy had thought he was going to beat her. She just totally dominated him.”

She was a sophomore in 2016, dunking during an AAU practice. The video got posted to Twitter. The responses started pouring in — most were wowed responses of admiration. Some were skeptical. How high were those rims, anyway? Some said they were only 9 feet, as opposed to the high school regulation of 10 feet.

“I was dunking 9ft in 8th grade,” Smith tweeted. “Why would I post it now?”

Before the first game of her sophomore season at East Central in San Antonio, Smith went up for a dunk in the layup line. The crowd swooned. Ian Ward, her high school coach, didn’t think much of it. He’d seen it before. But the referees started walking toward him.

“I'm thinking they’re coming over to shake my hand and say hello,” he said. “They told me, ‘Coach, we hate to do this, but we're gonna have to give you a (technical foul). Your girl was dunking while we were out here.’”

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She’d touched the rim. The opposing team got two free throws before East Central touched the ball.

“But with those kids seeing her dunk the ball, that probably gained us like 15 points,” Ward said. “They were shell-shocked.”

People have always tried to put Smith in a box, limiting her to what their idea of her potential should be. She can’t play with the boys. Surely she can’t dunk. If she can, well, she shouldn’t.

She keeps breaking those boundaries.

When Smith was taken by the Indiana Fever as the No. 2 pick, ESPN's Holly Rowe asked if Smith could be the next Tamika Catchings.

“I'm gonna be NaLyssa Smith,” she answered.

Indiana needs a star. NaLyssa Smith is confident she can be just that — by being exactly who she's always been.

"People should always make a name for themselves. Embrace being yourself," she said. "Coming into Indiana, I just want to make a name for myself and do what I do best."

A kid from Converse turned into a national icon

Smith is often hailed as a star from San Antonio. She wants to clear something up — she’s a kid from Converse.

It’s a small thing — Converse is a city of 29,000, 15 miles northeast of downtown San Antonio — but it matters to Smith. Because to her, nothing matters more than family. And her family hails from Converse.

“She grew up hooping with guys on random basketball courts, and that has so much of an impact on the player that she is now," her brother, Rodney Smith II, said. "That's something that you don't forget as you are at the big stage. She still goes back to Gold's Gym in Converse when she's in town, and everybody knows her there. That's where she put most of her time in.”

The Smiths are an athletic family. Her brother played soccer. Her dad, Rodney Smith, played college basketball for two seasons at UTSA, leading the team in rebounds in 1993, then scoring and rebounds in 1994. He played overseas before returning home and playing in the San Antonio City League. (And he can still shoot it — he hit a half-court shot to win $6,600 during the Big 12 women's basketball tournament semifinal game earlier this year).

NaLyssa, who was in elementary school at the time, would find her way onto the court and put on a show.

“Some referees would try to run her off the floor, but some would just let her be out there,” said Ward, who was also on the team. “She was in her own world, like a fish in a fish bowl. She was holding everybody's attention, because she was just out there doing amazing things.”

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NaLyssa would sit on the bench during her dad’s practices, asking questions and offering feedback.

“I took pride in that, for my daughter to tell me, ‘You need to hustle more,’ or ‘You need to rebound more,’” her dad said. “I’d say, ‘Hopefully, I'm instilling that in your work ethic as well. When you get out there and you're slacking, I'm gonna tell you the same thing.’”

As she got older, she got taller — quickly. Every time Nikki took NaLyssa to the pediatrician, “it was like, ‘You know she’s gonna grow another inch.’” By the time she was a freshman at East Central, she was listed at 6-2.

That height came with preconceived notions of what NaLyssa would — and wouldn’t — be. In elementary and middle school, coaches played her solely on the block. But when she joined Ray Caldwell’s SA Finest AAU program, her game expanded. She played on a team with 2021 No. 5 WNBA draft pick Chelsea Dungee, 2021 second-round pick Kiana Williams and Amber Ramirez, a five-star recruit and McDonald’s All American.

“We didn't know how much more she was going to grow,” Caldwell said. “She was a real thin kid at that time. We didn't know if she was going to be big enough to play with her back to the basket, so we didn't ask her to do much with our back to the basket. She was already on the track of facing the basket, shooting the mid-range, playing on a perimeter, working on her ball handling, guarding the perimeter. Those are the things that we knew she needed to work on.”

During her freshman season at East Central, she averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds — including a game with 36 points, 19 rebounds, four steals and four blocks. By the time she was a junior, she averaged 23.2 points, 17.5 rebounds and five blocks. As a senior, she put together a campaign worthy of McDonald’s All American, Naismith All-American and Jordan Brand All-American recognition (23.4 points, 13.7 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game).

She was a star in the making.

“Being around guys that end up being professional athletes, you get to see them do something every day that would make you feel like, ‘Wow, I can't believe that they do that,’” Ward said. “That's what she brought to practice each and every day. She did something every day where me and my assistant coaches would look at each other and shake our heads like, ‘Did she just do that?’”

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But the impact she made off the court was just as big. She’d go to local elementary and middle schools, talking with kids who dreamed of following in her footsteps. The conversations would start with basketball — kids would ask how big her hands were and if she could shoot 3-pointers — and turn into conversations about life. Smith would tell the kids it was important to listen to their parents, and to focus on homework just as much as they focused on basketball.

“She knows how to grab a crowd,” Ward said. “When you put her in front of people, she lights right up. She is not afraid of the big moments on the court, and off the court she knows how to pull people in. She could change the energy of the room just by walking into it. She has that ‘it’ factor, and that was something that we saw when she was 15 years old.”

What does she remember telling the kids?

"Always be yourself," she said. "Always have fun."

Smith arrived at Baylor as a five-star recruit, but joined a roster that already had 6-7 senior Kalani Brown and 6-4 junior Lauren Cox. She played for most of the season as a relative unknown, but was thrust into the spotlight when Cox, an All-American the Fever drafted No. 3 overall in 2020, went down with an injury in the third quarter of the national championship game.

“The whole time, my wife was almost having a heart attack,” her dad said. “‘Oh, my goodness, oh my God, she's gonna go in.’ I was like, ‘She's been waiting for this moment.’ As a father, I'm like, ‘She’s got it. But inside, I was like, ‘I think she's ready. But please do well.’”

Smith scored four straight buckets, grabbed four rebounds and had a block to help Baylor secure a national title.

“As soon as she went in, the cameras were pinned on our family,” her brother recalled. “Everybody was just so shocked. There was a smirk on our faces. We were just like, ‘Welcome to NaLyssa Smith.’ That's the moment in her career that just completely shifted who she was going to be.”

As a sophomore, she started 27 of 28 games and led the Big 12 in field goal percentage, with a team-high 11 double-doubles. She was named an AP honorable-mention All-American. The accolades kept coming during her junior season, when she was named an All-American by five different publications. She was the WBCA’s National Player of the Year and was named the Katrina McClain Award winner, honoring the nation’s top power forward.

Kim Mulkey had been Baylor’s coach for two decades, winning a trio of national titles. Before Smith’s senior season, Mulkey left for LSU. She was replaced by Nikki Collen, who had coached the Atlanta Dream for three seasons.

Under Collen, Smith thrived. In her first three seasons, her game had been relatively one-dimensional as a post player. Collen knew what Smith would need to do at the next level, and set out to make that happen.

“A lot of what we did with her was give her a platform to showcase some of the things that she hadn't showcased in the past — have her handle it off the glass and bring it down and attack, or bring it down and get us into an action,” Collen said. “She had a lot more freedom to show different parts of her game. Besides her finishing ability around the rim, I think what makes her most pro ready is that ability to finish from eight feet in. She's one of those people that has the ability to score off either foot, has the ability to score with either hand, can Eurostep, can spin, has really, really good balance. She just rarely blows easy baskets.”

Under Collen’s tutelage, Smith was named the unanimous Big 12 Player of the Year and an All-American by seven publications. She set a Baylor record with 26 double-doubles and scored 30 or more points six times. But more important than the accolades was Smith’s growth that Collen thinks will prepare her for the next level.

“When all of a sudden you're getting double-doubles night in and night out, I think you take pride in it,” Collen said. “There were games that they just couldn't keep her off the boards. There were games when she would struggle early from the perimeter. NaLyssa Smith is not someone who likes to struggle. I always knew that if she's missed a couple perimeter shots, she's gonna start playing in the paint. When she gets herself going in the paint, then she'll come back to the perimeter and make plays. She understood the dynamics of her own game.”

Smith made nine 3-pointers as a senior, three times as many as any previous season with Baylor. One person who wasn’t surprised? Her AAU coach. He remembers her hitting five or six 3-pointers during a game as a senior.

“She was just doing things that young women weren't doing,” Caldwell said. “The grace, the ability to move, change directions for her size, the touch.”

When NaLyssa speaks, everyone listens

Jordan Pete first met NaLyssa Smith when she was in second grade and the future WNBA draft pick was in high school. Smith’s AAU team would practice after Pete's. What Pete saw Smith doing was impressive. What she heard Smith say was impactful.

“My first impression was how she was a leader on the court,” Pete said. “She was talking to everyone and giving energy, whether she was doing good or bad. She always tried her best. She was going for every rebound. She was hyping her team up when they scored. That's what really stood out to me.”

Giving back has always been important to Smith. The week after starring in the national championship game as a freshman, she was in Caldwell’s gym working clocks for an AAU tournament and high-fiving young players. This year, she was at an SA Finest event during the Final Four taking pictures with kids. One of the team’s in Caldwell’s program — the one Pete plays for — is named “Team Lyssa”.

Whenever Smith shows up at a game, sometimes driving hours from one Texas city to the next, she’s met with a rock star’s welcome. She’ll frequently show up with her Slept On gear, promoting her personal mantra — that she's always been overlooked. Odds are, the kids have already ordered it online.

“We have to pour everything into the next generation,” Smith said. “That’s why helping kids out is so important to me. Helping people out has always been my main goal. I feel like that's why we were put on this earth, is to help people. If people reach out to me, I’m always there to help.”

Was she really 'Slept On'?

A glance at her resume begs the question: Is Smith really "slept on"?

She was a five-star recruit in high school and a McDonald’s All American. She was a member of the 2018 USA U18 National Team and the 2019 USA U19 World Cup Team. She was a finalist for the 2021 USA Women's AmeriCup Team. She’s a national champion.

She maintains that she was — and is — slept on. Her family agrees. Some others close to her aren’t so sure.

“To be honest with you, I don't think she was slept on,” Caldwell said. “I think that's something that she intrinsically feels to motivate herself. She was in the top 10 of the country. I thought she should have been no lower than No. 3, but at the end of the day, that stuff doesn't matter to me. It obviously matters to her. She turned it into a battle cry for a lot of young women out there that felt the same way. We all find ways to motivate ourselves, especially as athletes or competitors. It’s neat that she gave it a brand, gave it a mission, and can help others with it. I think a lot of people know what she has been, which has always been one of the best players in her class. And I think she’s a future WNBA All-Star.”

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Collen isn’t sure either. But she’s not going to argue with the results.

“I always question whether she was really slept on,” the Baylor coach said. “She's someone that plays with that chip, that sense of the underdog mentality. ‘I've always got to prove myself. No one's gonna hand me anything, so I just gotta keep proving it.’ That workman-like approach gives her a shot, and everybody needs whatever that edge is. That gets them to take it to the next level, to work a little bit harder, to stay a little bit longer.’”

But the motto has become a rallying cry for those who look up to her, like Jordan Pete.

“‘Slept on’ means to work hard, never taking no for an answer and working through adversity,” she said. “Every time I think of what it takes, I have to push myself harder and harder like she does. She's in the gym constantly. I’d call her a trailblazer, because she has paved the path for me.”

Smith brings a burning fire to the Fever

Smith comes to Indiana with the pressures of being the No. 2 pick, but with the knowledge she doesn’t have to do everything. The Fever, with an exceptionally young roster, aren’t expected to be playoff contenders this season. General manager Lin Dunn and coach Marianne Stanley are preaching improvement.

When Smith was asked about her goals for her rookie season, she said: “Just help this team win more games than they did last year. And of course, Rookie of the Year. Big goals.”

Smith’s brother is her best friend. He remembers her telling him how thankful she was for the opportunity to play WNBA basketball — and how eager she is to “dominate” Atlanta and Washington. Washington originally had the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, before trading it to Atlanta. The Dream picked Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard at No. 1.

In Smith’s book, that’s two teams that didn’t believe in her ability.

“She’s coming into Indiana with a drive like no other,” he said. “Baylor was one drive, but this one is going to be an even bigger one. Those two little instances have sparked something in her. ‘I'm here to make a statement.’”

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Two preseason games are hardly enough to show what type of player Smith will be, but 28 points and 12 rebounds is a good place to start. Her versatility figures to be on full display in a league that values her position.

“When you look at some of the most premier players in the world, that's their position,” Collen said. The Breanna Stewarts and Elena Delle Donnes. It comes down to having to defend those guys, having to consistently score against length. That's the biggest challenge for all rookies is that everyone's big. Everyone's strong.”

In due time, Smith hopes to have her name mentioned among the league’s greats. Until she achieves that goal, she knows the doubters will keep coming at her. It’ll just fuel a fire that won’t stop burning.

Follow IndyStar trending sports reporter Matthew VanTryon on Twitter @MVanTryon and email him story ideas at matthew.vantryon@indystar.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Fever rookie NaLyssa Smith ready to be WNBA's next big thing