There is virtually nothing Swin Cash hasn’t accomplished on the basketball court. She is a two-time NCAA Champion, MOP of the Final Four, three-time WNBA Champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. It was recently announced that Cash is being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2022.
“To see the outpouring of love, support and congratulations lets you know that throughout your career you did something right besides put the ball in the basket,” said Cash, who has been vice president of Basketball Operations/Team Development for the New Orleans Pelicans since 2019. “You think of coming into the [WNBA] as a rookie, the middle part of your career and the latter part of your career, and you start having all these wonderful memories.”
She has also been a warrior for social justice. During her time as a player with the New York Liberty (2014–16) she was at the forefront of the players’ stand on issues of racism. This included wearing #BlackLivesMatter t-shirts for which the team and players were originally fined by the league. Cash was a leader in using social media to propel dialogue and also foster her personal brand. She is proud that the hits she took led to greater opportunities for today’s players.
“It’s at a whole other level that I saw in my head and I dreamed, envisioned and felt we should have,” said Cash. “To see the progression of the game, the innovations, the ways things are moving forward, that’s what makes me my proudest when I look at today’s game.”
After her retirement, Cash became the Liberty’s director of franchise development and played a huge role in the team launching its annual Unity Day. She is happy to see the WNBA’s current commitment to social justice, gender equality and women’s voices.
Bringing women’s voices to different spaces within the NBA is among her goals. Today, Cash’s life includes her role with the Pelicans as well as being a wife and mother of two. She appeared in the highly successful ad campaign for Secret deodorant in which she was depicted on the court and in the boardroom.
“We were working for almost a year with Secret, building behind the scenes different thought tanks for how we create opportunities for equality and how Secret can be a brand that can partner and show they care about these topics,” Cash said. “I wanted it to thoroughly represent who I am as a Black woman, as an executive but also as a baller. … That commercial was really powerful.”
The enshrinement festivities will be held Sept. 9-10 at the Hall in Springfield, Mass. The other female inductees this year are coach Marianne Stanley and former player Lindsay Whalen.