Kia Nurse discusses upcoming WNBA Canada game and Olympic goals

On May 4, the second-ever WNBA pre-season game will be held in Canada. In 2023 it was held in Toronto, but this year, Edmonton will play host for when the Seattle Storm will take on the Los Angeles Sparks. 

Canada’s Kia Nurse plays for the Sparks and recently spoke to select Canadian media from her new home in LA about the upcoming milestone moment in her career.

(Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.)

Can you talk about the excitement of playing in your first WNBA game in front of Canadians?

Kia Nurse (KN): It’s insane in all honestly, when I think about it and I go back to when I first started playing basketball when I was four in Hamilton, I probably would have never been able to sit there and say, ‘I am going to play a WNBA game on home soil.’ So that is what I think is so amazing about it is the opportunity to do that and in front of your own family. 

The game was originally supposed to be held on May 5 but because of a potential Edmonton Oilers playoff game against the LA Kings (Kia’s brother Darnell plays for the Oilers), the WNBA pre-season game was pushed to a day earlier.

What have the conversations been like with your brother since his team got the game moved to Saturday night?

KN: Honestly, Saturdays are more fun than Sundays, in my opinion. What I am really excited about is that we have missed each other in the last couple of years when it comes to his playoff series because I always end up in training camp. I am proud of everything he is doing and continues to do and he inspires me to kind of be where I am today

How many tickets do you think people have asked you for leading up to this game?

KN: I think people know me and my family know me well enough that they know they are going to take most of the tickets. My whole immediate family will be there, some of my family from the States will be there, my trainer. I think we are up to about 20 which is ok, it’s not a bad number.  Everybody else is pretty adamant about supporting the league and the games and paying for their own tickets so I appreciate them as well!

Epiphany Price just announced her retirement from the WNBA after 14 seasons in the WNBA. She was your vet when you were with the New York Liberty in your rookie year, what kind of teammate was she?

KN: At the New York Liberty when I was first drafted there, I was the only rookie on the team so there was quite a gap between me and the next oldest player and ‘Pip’ was one of those vets who took me under her wing early and I love the fact that she was just always herself. She was such a bubbly, exciting person to be around.

She was an absolute baller and for me, as a rookie going in and having people believe in me and sit down and have conversations with me. We would go have dinners and vets typically take care of your rookies when you go for dinners and ‘Pip’ was no exception to that, she always took care of me. I am very appreciative of the time that I had with her and she has had an incredible career and I’m looking forward to that next chapter for her.

It’s also an Olympic year for you, what is the goal around the team when it comes to the upcoming games in Paris?

KN: I don’t think the mindset or goal hasn’t changed for us. If you look at this team, we are really talented and our goal is always to get on the podium and it’s still a goal we have today. 

I know that a lot of our team will be together in summer and will have training camp and exhibition games together. We need each and every one of us to play at the highest level possible for that 14-day window that is the Olympics and that will get us the opportunity to get out of our pool first, which is the first goal, and then get to that quarter-final that has kind of been our Achilles Heel. In all honesty, they have been hard for us. So getting past that point would then give us an opportunity to get on that podium.