On the day before this summer’s WNBA All-Star Game, Jackie Young found a seat at a dais and for four minutes didn’t say anything. Positioned to her left were guards Skylar Diggins-Smith and Arike Ogunbowale, the trio grouped together for a joint press conference with reporters across the street from Chicago’s Wintrust Arena. As journalists started to ask questions, Young didn’t speak up.
“You gotta say a word, Jackie, up here,” Mercury guard Diggins-Smith said to Young, who had let the first three queries pass her by. “You gotta say something.”
Young, 24, admits she is shy by nature. Even ahead of what was one of the biggest moments of her four-year professional career so far, the Aces guard didn’t publicly savor being named an All-Star starter. Rather, those who know Young best cite a quiet confidence. “She very much carries herself like the star that she is and will continue to be,” Las Vegas assistant coach Tyler Marsh says.
