The Basics
Position: Guard (Retired)
Current Team: Las Vegas Aces | Assistant Coach
Draft: 2013 | Georgetown | 2nd round (14th overall)
Key Accolades: Sixth Woman of the Year (2017), All-WNBA (2017), WNBA Champion (2013)
WNBA Profile | Stats | Instagram | Twitter
The Down Low
Sugar wears jersey number 14 in honor of her mother, who passed away due to lupus on July 14, 2005, when she was only 14. Sugar has consistently spoken in an open and nuanced way about dealing with her passing, growing up in poverty, and defying the odds. This is why it's so exciting that she has now put her life story in a book: They Better Call Me Sugar: My Journey from the Hood to the Hardwood. Here's what her former teammate and WNBA champion Swin Cash had to say:
Having had the privilege of playing and working with Sugar Rodgers, I’ve been blessed with a front row seat to watch her grow into the woman she is today. My hope and prayer is that everyone, both young and old, gets an opportunity to read this book and let Sugar—the athlete, the woman, the survivor—have as much of an impact on their lives as she has had on mine.
In addition to being a published author, Sugar is known as a shooter and for bringing her sneaker game every time she hits the court. She also let the fans into her life last season with her Sweet Life series.
Notable Quotables
I grew up in chaos. There’s no other word for it. But sports was always my way of coping with the day-to-day struggle. Now, up until this point, my story is playing out like you might expect. You might be saying to yourself, See? All you have to do to escape poverty is to keep your head up and work hard. That’s how feel-good movies work. But that’s not how real life poverty works.
[Source]
Highlight Reel
More on Sugar
- Making it Out (The Players' Tribune)
- Liberty’s Sugar Rodgers has had lifetime of perseverance (Barbara Barker, Newsday)