Former GA great Lucas working for next opportunity
Wants one more shot at WNBA
Maggie Lucas is ready to go. With everything the Narberth native has gone through the past four years, it pays to always be prepared and to be prepared for anything. Talent alone didn’t turn Lucas into an All-America at Germantown Academy or a two-time Big Ten Player of the Year at Penn State and even with the sports world on pause, Lucas’ relentless work ethic hasn’t waned.
When things do start moving again, Lucas is ready and waiting for a call to come her way.
“I want another chance at the WNBA and I’m ready for it,” Lucas said. “The success of that league and how good the basketball is this year will make it pretty obvious who did their work during this time. I know I’ve continued to do my work and if I get a call, I’d be ready to go.
“I don’t expect to be given a spot; all I want is a chance to try again.”
The outbreak and spread of the COVID-19 virus impacted Lucas much earlier than many of her contemporaries playing professional basketball. Playing for Tianjin Guanlan of the WCBA, Lucas was poised to begin the second half of her first regular season in China when the league suspended play and she returned home on January 28, just a few days before the United States enacted travel restrictions.
Lucas felt like she was having her best professional season yet, averaging close to 30 points per game but as the virus outbreak began, her focus turned to her safety first.
“I want another chance at the WNBA and I’m ready for it.”
– Maggie Lucas
“It was scary because I was over there but I was getting my information from back home,” Lucas said. “I started to ask ‘what’s the plan’ because it did look like travel was going to get shut down and we needed a plan to get me out of there. I was basically stuck in a hotel for six days, not allowed to leave or go anywhere.”
Eventually, the team arrranged for Lucas and her coach, who hails from Serbia, to go home. The trip to Beijing required some creative maneuvers off main roads being barricaded but they eventually got to the airport.
“I’ve been in and out of there a bunch of times and I’d never seen it so dead,” Lucas said. “It was basically all foreigners getting out. There’s times where you’re overseas and you have to advocate for yourself and not put yourself in a situation that was going to get scary.”
Since then, Lucas has been working out daily and sharing her progress on her social media accounts, something the sharpshooting guard has taken advantage of heavily since her college days. While there’s no indication if or when the WNBA will begin preparations for the 2020 season, Lucas hopes to be a part of it.
Earlier this month, Lucas posted on Twitter all she wants is another shot to compete for a spot in the world’s top women’s basketball league and added she’s not afraid to be cut or fall short as long as the opportunity is there. It’s a request she shares with hundreds of other players but considering where Lucas was just a few years ago, it’s also a testament to her fortitude.
“I learned I have a lot more patience in me than I ever knew,” Lucas said. “Once thing I struggled with when I first got to the WNBA was it being the first time I wasn’t the go-to player right away. I didn’t have a lot of patience at that time and as I’ve gone through injuries, I’ve learned patience and fallen back in love with the process and improving.”
The 21st pick of the 2014 WNBA Draft by the Phoenix Mercury, Lucas was dealt to the Indiana Fever and spent two seasons in the league, along with one in France before injury struck. A torn ACL in May of 2016 ended her season and started a long and difficult road back.
After putting 10 months of hard work to get back, Lucas tore the same ligament in the same knee in June of 2017, robbing another season but in the eyes of one doctor, potentially her career. One person’s doubt is another person’s fuel and Lucas was even more determined to make her way back to the court.
“What’s different on the women’s side, when you’re not a franchise player, I’ve footed most of the bill for my rehab and all the little details I’ve attacked to get back to where I was,” Lucas said. “I was on my own for a long time pushing to get back and investing in myself to get back and it feels really good, whether an opportunity in that league comes, to see the work I’ve put in and know where I stand.”
GA’s gym, where her framed McDonald’s AllAmerican game jersey hangs on wall, served as the stage as Lucas started to rebuild, refine and reinforce while plotting a healthy and stronger comeback.
The Atlanta Dream signed Lucas during the 2018 season, but she admits to not being completely basketball-ready at the time and was cut after playing in just seven games. However, on the eve of the postseason, the Dallas Wings signed Lucas to an injury exemption spot ahead of their one-game playoff.
While Dallas lost, Lucas was able to get minutes and contributed, leading to talks about possibly coming back for training camp the next season. That call never came and Lucas had to find other options.
“When I look at that experience and coming back, what’s frustrating is hoping my opportunities in the WNBA aren’t done because that’s what people think of me,” Lucas said. “I was still coming back from a double ACL and I’ve come a lot further since then. You want to play at the end of the day.”
She went back to France in the spring of 2018 and in July of that summer, teamed with a trio of local Villanova grads in Laura Kurz (GA), Mimi Riley (Archbishop Carroll) and Alex Louin (Mount Sant Joseph) to win a Red Bull 3X tournament in Philadelphia. Another opportunity came her way in the form of an exhibition series against the Chinese national team.
“It wasn’t paid or anything but it was a chance to play,” Lucas said. “I was coming off a frustrating French season and I was at a point where I worked so hard to get back and it felt like it wasn’t coming into place. I decided I was going to go into this exhibition and play free and that’s where I felt like my game came back to me.
“I felt like myself again and it was a blessing in disguise. I hadn’t been picked up by the WNBA that summer and playing in China is a very good gig so it worked out.”
Since returning to the United States, Lucas has continued her drive and hasn’t shied away from putting it out in plain view. Having been in a somewhat similar situation during her recovery, Lucas hasn’t been fazed by working out in isolation and feels very confident in the work she’s done since coming back.
“I have no problem working in silence and it’s what I’ve done for a long time but I also want to go to bat for myself and put it out there,” Lucas said. “I like sharing with people; I get a lot of feedback from other atheltes. It’s let me start a side business of virtual training for fitness and basketball, so it serves that purpose and I’m putting it out there because I want people to see it.
“I want them to see I am game ready yesterday.”
Lucas did have to adapt as COVID-19 cases prompted reactions. When gyms had to close, she went to a sporting goods store and filled a cart with different things she could use to keep working in a smaller space at home. Shortly after, parks closing meant no basketball nets to shoot.
Luckily, she found an oasis close to where she’s been staying the past few weeks in Fort Collins, Colorado. A Colorado State fraternity had a high-end basketball court in its backyard and Lucas was able to work out an arraignment to use it until she comes back to the Philly area in July.
“I don’t lift heavy weights, it’s not part of my routine so it’s not a problem for me in that I don’t need a lot,” Lucas said. “I focus on movement, mobility, control, core and conditioning. When parks closed, I went and asked one of the guys if I could use their court and they basically told me it’s all mine.”
Adding to Lucas’ eagerness to get another crack at the WNBA is what she feels is a much stronger all-around game. Shooting is still her calling card, but during rehab, she focused heavily on ball-handling and even played some point guard during her time in China.
Carving out a career has taught Lucas the value of a strong support system as well. From the sometimes nomadic life of moving from team to team or moving overseas to having to be ready to drop everything at a moment’s notice if the right call comes in, it can be taxing.
“It’s a lot about feeling comfort in the support system around you,” Lucas said. “It’s hard leaving your family, it’s hard picking up at a moment’s notice. I’m lucky I have a family, a significant other, trainers and plenty of people who support me and no matter what will be there for me. The first thing you want to do when you get over to these places is touch base with home and the people you love because it can be scary when you’re on your own.”
If there’s an opportunity to return to China next season, Lucas said it’s one she would absolutely take up. While Lucas admitted she’s frustrated she didn’t get a call from the WNBA last season, all she can and will do is continue to put in the work, show the fruits of that effort and wait for an opportunity to put it all on the table.
“I’m completely ready,” Lucas said. “My body not only feels back, but in a better place than it ever has been and that’s a testament to attacking the details with my trainer back home and doing all those things. Since my season in China ended, I have attacked every day with the mentality I could get a call to start another season any day.”