Aerial Powers on her new WNBA team and changing esports culture: 'You just want to be known as good, not as good for a girl'

WNBA champion Aerial Powers is on a mission to empower women and people of color, not just through basketball but through esports as well.

Powers, who won a title with the Washington Mystics in 2019, recently signed a new contract to join the Minnesota Lynx. The former Michigan State star caught up with For The Win to discuss the big move.

We also discussed her role in the gaming community, as Powers signed with professional esports organization Team Liquid last month.

Congratulations on signing with the Minnesota Lynx! What factors ultimately went into the decision?

Aerial Powers: I wasn’t sure if I was going to re-sign with the Washington Mystics or if I was going to sign with another team. This was my first year of unrestricted free agency. When I was talking with all of the teams, I had the best connection with Minnesota’s head coach Cheryl Reeve. Some of the players reached out to me and told me how much they wanted me on the team. I was thinking about my future and what I saw for the long haul and longevity of my game, I thought it was the best fit for me.

What are some of the biggest ways you will be able to help the organization for the Lynx?

AP: I’m very versatile. I’m not a girl that does just one thing. Not only do I bring a very high intensity when it comes to energy and just being there for my teammates, but defensively, I’m pretty good. I can shoot, I can pull up, I have midrange, I can drive to the rack and I can see the floor to find my teammates. When you have someone like that on your team, it really opens the floor for everyone.

As a former WNBA champion and gold medalist for Team USA, you also bring a championship pedigree. Minnesota is always a top team. Was that one of the aspects that drew you to the Lynx?

AP: I think that what Cheryl Reeve and her crew over there have built over there is a big legacy. They are known as good people. She is the winningest coach for a reason. She has four titles for a reason. Not only is she a good coach but she also makes sure that the culture remains what it needs to be so it can be the best organization.

For me, after winning a championship not too long ago, I also see what it takes to win a title. The culture is so important. Obviously, you have to have five good people on the floor. But you need everyone to step in and have a role. People don’t realize that if the second unit is performing well, too, that leads to more wins.

A lot of my new teammates have already won. Sylvia Fowles is an amazing center who has won two WNBA Finals MVPs. Reeve already has four but I want to win her more. I want to help her get to another level. I’m trying to bring another championship to the midwest because I am from Detroit.

(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Something that is unique about you is that you recently joined an esports championship team as well. How did that get started and what is your role?

AP: I signed with Team Liquid in January. I’m a streamer, a brand ambassador and now I also lead their diversity and inclusion task force. It started last year during the Team Liquid ProAM Valorant Showmatch and it was one of the first PC games I had played. I was on Team Rakin with pro-gamer Rafael Knittel. It was a blast. The relationship built from there.

As a streamer, I provide content from my Twitch page, which is called POWERZsurge. I help elevate events for Team Liquid. They just re-signed their partnership with Alienware so I did an event with them and the rapper Logic.

How important was it for you to have the diversity and inclusion task force as part of the commitment when you signed with Team Liquid and how does that manifest itself?

AP: That was huge. I spoke with their co-CEOs Victor Goossens and Steve Arhancet. Their values align with mine and that really gravitated me to join their team. As you and I both know, gaming appears to be male-dominated. But it is not. More than 40 percent of gamers are women. When I spoke with their executives, we had the same vision. They realized that I was the right person to lead this task force because of my passion for this. Esports come down to the skills that you bring to the controller. But women in gaming still face some serious cyberbullying. I wanted to do whatever I could to help stop that.

So now with Team Liquid, I counsel and collaborate with them on ways to create meaningful change. That means really helping the development and initiatives to help foster the space for female gamers. For example, last year, I hosted an All-Female 2K Tournament. This gave the participants a safe community not only to be visible in front of a large audience to show that they are gamers as well and was a great opportunity to include women, especially women of color.

We had a lot of partners help with the funding for that event. One of those was Starbursts, which was so crazy because they’re a non-endemic brand for esports. They’re not tied to the market at all. But they flourished, which was amazing. We were on the front page of Twitch the next day and we got more than 26,000 people to watch even after it was already done. There are a lot of eyes on the esports community. So because of that, I’m doing a lot of work with GEF, which is the Global Esports Federation. One of my biggest goals is to get esports into the Olympics.

That is absolutely amazing! I’d love to hear about your origin story with video games.

AP: It is actually crazy. I started as a young girl, playing Nintendo 64. One of the first people I saw playing was a woman. It was my mother. She played GoldenEye 007. That was obviously normal for me. As I grew up, my mom stopped, but I just kept gaming. I was playing a game with my brother. My dad came in and was like: “What the heck! You guys never get along and now you are quiet and cool with each other.” He realized we were playing Call of Duty. So then my brother taught him how to play. The next day, he came in with two more consoles and two more headsets. We were all playing in this small house, driving my mom crazy. It took off from there.

I brought my console with me everywhere, whether it was in the states or overseas. Even when I was in China, no one played the games that I was playing. I’d asked my translator how I could get the games that they played on my iPad as a way to connect. Sometimes, like if we were in the airport, I would just sit by them and watch them play. They loved that I was there with them.

Then, when I learned about Twitch, I learned how massive it was. I didn’t think people would watch me play video games. But I started and fell in love with it and it was a way to connect with my fans. I can’t sleep so I might as well stream. I first launched my channel to connect with my fans beyond my on-court performances. But then it just grew from there as people started to realize: “Yo, AP loves to stream. She loves to play.”

I’d love to hear more about your audience. How has the reception been to this chapter of your life?

AP: I put it on my social media accounts so everyone knows when I’m gaming. People used to look at gamers as nerds but I think people are realizing that it is for everyone. It has become its own community where people are looking forward to my streaming.

Last season, before the bubble, I was heavy into Apex Legends. I met someone who watched me on Twitch who made a customized shirt that was half me and half Apex. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. He had a front-row seat so I walked up to him and asked what made him want to do that. He said he loved my stuff on Twitch and he said he could see my passion on the court and off of it as well.

What is the breakdown of your gaming consumption? What is getting the most rotation?

AP: I had been playing a lot of Apex Legends but lately, I’m playing a lot more Call of Duty. It is because I kept getting into tournaments. I am extremely competitive and I didn’t like how I was doing in them so I’ve been grinding, trying to get better. I also play a lot of NBA 2K because I’m a basketball player. My fans love to see me play basketball on Twitch.

When you were younger, the WNBA was not included in video games. How surreal is it to not only see women in the game but to see yourself?

AP: It is crazy. I grew up wanting to be a WNBA player and I accomplished that dream. But I also played video games consistently. I played all of the time. All of a sudden, I’m in an actual game. I could tell my friends: “When you play in 2K, go ahead, pick me. Get buckets with me.” I’ve come home to my dad playing as me in 2K, scoring 60 points, not passing to anyone else.

I played as myself a good amount but my jump shot looks nothing like my actual shot. If my shooting form was a little better, I’d probably play a little more. Mostly, I play in the park. But I like ProAm the best because 5v5 is the most realistic.

What are some of the observations you’ve had about women in the NBA 2K community?

AP: I’ve talked to a lot of women who play 2K and they say that they mute their mic or that they will disguise their voice. They feel a lot of times, they’ll get flak during the game as a woman. Or if they are pretty good, it no longer becomes about their skill level. People just say: “Oh, you’re a girl that plays?” And it’s all about their gender. We don’t like that at all. If you’re good, sometimes you just want to be known as good, not as good for a girl. We have a voice. But we just have to speak and fight that fight.

What would you tell someone who is trying to get more involved in the gaming space?

AP: If you’re passionate about something or even if you like it but you are a little nervous about potential cyberbullying as a female on the sticks, who cares what other people think? If it makes you happy, do it. If you’re trying to be competitive and maybe you feel a little nervous about the pressure, it’s okay!

I always tell people, whether it’s basketball or esports, confidence comes from preparation. I really believe in that. If you prepare for that moment, you don’t have to be afraid. If you’re trying to get into it, try it. When you look at yourself in the mirror, you may be more upset if you don’t try.