Skylar was the third overall draft pick and packed her bags for Oklahoma to join the Tulsa Shock. She gained national acclaim even in her first season by being named to the 2013 All-Rookie Team. But she went on to prove herself the year after by being named as the league’s Most Improved Player and a 2014 All-WNBA First Team honoree.
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES But as the 2015 season was winding down, Skylar’s momentum waned. In a game against the Seattle Storm with 44 seconds left on the clock, Skylar fell to the ground with what she believed to be a knee injury. Soon after, she was told she tore her right ACL and would be out for the rest of the season. This painful injury has crippled the careers of athletes from all sports, but Skylar would not let it keep her down. She knew it would take hard work and determination to continue playing on that level, so she stepped up and started fighting to get back on the court. “Nobody could go to physical therapy for me. I had to do it,” Skylar explains. “It gave me resilience and helped me be self-motivated.” And when she felt like it was too much, Skylar depended on her community to keep her going. “I had a community of women who had been through it, so I had that to lean on,” Skylar says. “And, I had a community of young women who were going through it, so they were looking to me for questions and for advice.” Through it all, Skylar had her college sweetheart by her side. Daniel Smith, a wide receiver for the Fighting Irish, and Skylar started dating back in school. The Notre Dame sports power couple got engaged in 2016 and have been supporting each other’s careers ever since. While she was working to get back at it, Skylar gained a new appreciation for the game. She watched her team on the sidelines, which helped her gain a new perspective and come back stronger than ever. It wasn’t enough for her to come back and focus on her own game. She acted as a voice for the gender pay inequality in professional basketball. As one of the biggest names of the league, Skylar knew it was her responsibility to bring the issue into the limelight. “Basketball is just basketball. There are so many talented women who put in as much, if not more, time and effort into the game with half the platform,” Skylar says. “We have a long way to go in our sport and in our gender disparity. So, I’m just trying to be a voice of that as one of the faces of the league and talk about how important it is and just try to help out our sport.”
SETTING THE EXAMPLE Because of the time Skylar spends dedicated to others, both in speaking out and her expansive philanthropic work, she’s often referred to as a role model for young women. She’s even used her own experiences to write “The Middle School Rules of Skylar Diggins,” to show other young women they are not alone in their daily trials and struggles. In it, she shares stories about growing up in a diverse, middle-class family, dealing with bullying, struggling to fit in and overcoming obstacles through it all. “For me, I just want to empower young women and young girls and people whether that be about self confidence, body image or just leading a healthy lifestyle,” Skylar says. Skylar uses the book to share tales featuring some of her “favorite people.” And she hopes to use it to share her childhood with her future children. With her husband illustrating SOUTHLAKESTYLE.COM
the book, it really became a family project the young couple was proud to produce together. Both book and basketball fans alike know Skylar tells it like it is, and she proves you don’t have to be anyone other than yourself to succeed. “I always let my passion, my emotion, for the game speak for itself,” Skylar says. “I think that’s part of it: being yourself, being okay with who you are in this league and in life period.”
DOING DALLAS Since the Tulsa Shock moved down south and became the Dallas Wings in 2015 - and became the first Dallas WNBA team to play in town since the Dallas Diamonds in the early ’80s, Skylar has continued to act as a leader. The Wings captain finished 2016 averaging 13.1 points per game and expanded on that in 2017 to pace the team at 18.5 points a game. She also led in assists, blocks, free throw percentage and minutes played in each game. Skylar spent last season breaking career records in defensive rebounds, total rebounds and blocks and made her 2,000th career point last August. She finished the 2017 season by being named to her third All-Star Game as a reserve in July and was named to the All-WNBA First team. In 2018, she hopes to take her team to postseason success and continue to build hype and awareness around the program. “She’s like another coach on the floor. She’s a great quarterback… She thinks well and really presents herself well on and off the basketball court,” Dallas Wings head coach Fred Williams says. “Her skills show when she plays in games. The number one thing for her is that she has a lot of respect within herself and fears no one.” Off the court, Skylar and her husband have made this city their home. Skylar always knew the DFW area was big on sports, being a top five TV market, but she has come to see just how much locals love their teams, both professional and amateur. “We love the area. It’s obviously a huge sports town. By the time kids can walk, [Dallas parents] have them playing football, track, you know, everything,” Skylar says. “It really is our home.” If you want to catch the Diggins-Smith power couple around town, they are often out at the area’s local restaurants. By dining at different spots around town, from Uptown to Toyota Music Factory, Skylar has found there are “different strokes for different folks.” “My misconception of Dallas was that you have to be downtown, like the downtown, all the time like you do in other big cities. But there are like 10 downtowns here,” Skylar says. “It’s really more spread out than I thought it was. The idea of everything being bigger in Texas is true.” There’s one place you can for sure see Skylar when she’s in town: College Park Center in Arlington. So next time you’re itching to catch a game, find some friends or take your kids out to watch the Dallas Wings. It’s the perfect opportunity to see an all-star in action while she still calls Dallas her home. “Her name brand goes a long way: Skylar DigginsSmith. People recognize her in the community,” Fred says. “She brings joy and happiness.” AUG 18 • 83