Kelsey Plum will talk her trash to anyone, anywhere, anytime.
She doesn’t care who it is, where she is, or when it is, the Los Angeles Sparks star is going to get it off.
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And because of that, Plum may have found her perfect foil in New York superfan, Spike Lee.
Last season, Plum and her former team, the Las Vegas Aces, dropped Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals to the New York Liberty, 87-77.
It was a highly anticipated rematch of the 2023 finals, and that loss didn’t stop Plum from talking her junk to one of Hollywood’s biggest directors.
Lee was sitting courtside at the Barclays Center for Game 1.
No stranger to talking trash himself, he can usually be found courtside in Madison Square Garden cheering on his beloved New York Knicks.
But last October, he traded in his Jalen Brunson jersey to rep Sabrina Ionescu and the Liberty, while chirping Plum throughout the game.
The WNBA star said after that it was all in good fun.
“I can’t say exactly what was said, but I told him that he should talk louder,” Plum said with a cheerful smile.
“But, it was all well and fun, and it’s really cool that he’s here. Even last round, it was really cool that he was here.
“I know he’s a big sports fan, so it says a lot that he’s in the building and that he respects the game. So, I was just having fun.”
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Plum played well, but it wasn’t enough.
The three-time All-Star finished the game with 24 points, four assists and two rebounds on 9-17 shooting, including 4-8 from behind the arc.
Plum’s running mate, A’ja Wilson, fresh off being named the second ever unanimous MVP in WNBA history (her third overall), also delivered a strong performance.
But the Aces were outplayed by the Liberty’s star duo of their own, in Ionescu and Breanna Stewart.
Ionescu, who comes face to face with Caitlin Clark this weekend, spoke after the game just how much it meant to have Lee at those big games, showing his full support.
“To be able to see him here, cheering on us, cheering us loud — he was over there chirping at the refs, talking to the players, which was really fun,” she said.
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“But, obviously it’s exciting to see the support that we’re getting from New York fans. We’re trying to bring a championship this year, and it takes a village.”
Ionescu and the Liberty, of course, did eventually bring that title home.
New York won their WNBA semifinals series against Las Vegas 3-1, and they went on to secure a 3-2 victory in the finals against the Minnesota Lynx.
Plum, who suffered semifinal heartbreak last year, has since been traded to the Sparks.
Los Angeles have a 1-3 record to start the season, while ‘Plum Dog’ is averaging 24 points, two rebounds and five assists so far.
Rival Lee’s favorite team, the Knicks, also find themselves in a hole, and are down 0-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals against ‘clutch king’ Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers.
