overtime | clark & martin

sixty-six.

"Bittersweet news coming after the Olympics, Jessica Williams has announced that she will be retiring after this season. This news follows the retirement announcement of Paige Bueckers. The two were drafted second and first respectively in the 2025 WNBA draft. In a joint announcement, Bueckers and Williams announced that they would be taking their talents to television with their show they've titled Double Team."

"It kind of feels like they're announcing my death," Jessica says as she looks at the TV.

"In a weird way, they are," Mina responds, "Your relevance is going to be down a million."

"I will always be relevant," Jessica states, "I'm Jessica Williams. And I'm working with Paige, her face card alone is enough to keep me relevant."

"True," Mina says with a smile, "Paige is like hot for a 33-year-old."

Jessica's nose scrunches in disgust, "You did not just say that."

"What? She's like my old person crush," Mina says, and Jessica shakes her head at the comment as she grabs the remote and switches off the TV.

"Okay so it's the second half of the season," Jessica begins, "How do we climb from the eighth seed?"

"Well, you and Caitlin are playing well together. Honestly, you have a championship-caliber team. Gabby is great at attacking the basket, and Georgia's gotten better at playing off the ball. I just think that you need to stay locked in. This is your last season. Ignore the noise."

Jessica nods her head and smiles at Mina, "You're a smart kid."

"No, I just know real basketball," Mina responds with a smile.

Jessica laughs, "Yeah I guess."

"Hey, if you don't win a championship this year, you're still one of the greatest," Mina says, "Maybe even the greatest since you came from overseas after not playing for five years. You're the epitome of chasing your dream."

Jessica shrugs, "I guess."

"No guessing," Mina says as she stands before her aunt, "I'm only going to say it once, so you have to listen because I'll never say it again. You are my favorite basketball player of all time. Not Caitlin or Kate, not even Paige. It's you."

Jessica pouts as she pulls Mina in for a hug.

"You're suffocating me," Mina says, her words muffled.

"You'll live," Jessica says as she closes her eyes, "I love you so much, Mina."

Mina wraps her arms around Jessica, "I love you too."

This marked the beginning of the farewell tour. Jessica honestly thought about retiring quietly, just waiting until the end of the season and pulling a Candace Parker and saying that she was never playing again. But then Paige made a big deal about more people missing her than they would Jessica and so Jessica took that personally and so the competition began.

The first game after the break was against the Phoenix Mercury, honestly, Jessica didn't really care much for Phoenix. The team wasn't a threat and saw the end of the era once Kahleah Copper retired. In her youth, she'd always gotten a tech playing the team because she and Sophie Cunningham had always gotten into it.

The game is an easy win, which begins the Fever's return to the top.

The next game is against the Seattle Storm. The win doesn't come easy because Azzi Fudd never makes anything easy, especially not for Jessica.

The streak begins and suddenly everyone isn't talking about the trainwreck that was the Indiana Fever.

"This is the Fever team I was expecting at the beginning of the season. There was too much talent for them to not blow other teams away."