BROOKLYN, N.Y. — When Rebecca Allen reported for training camp in Uncasville as a new member of the Connecticut Sun in April, she was ready to move forward. Or according to assistant coach and former WNBA player Briann January, Allen was “ready to battle.” It wasn’t noticeable to the staff what she had been through in the past 10-12 months.
“She’s been a warrior and a competitor from the beginning,” January told the Courant. “She’s a tough one. Those Aussies are always tough.”
Prior to beginning her 8th WNBA season, the 30 year-old- Australian guard battled through a constant string of injuries. It began with multiple concussions during the 2022 WNBA season to then getting smooshed in the ribs by two Serbian players during the 2022 World Cup in September. As a result, she broke two ribs and suffered a partially collapsed lung.
“With this I had to completely stop for three months,” she said. “I wasn’t even running, all I could do was really walk around just because of all the complications with the lung.”
The constant whiplash that was thrown at Allen didn’t end there. Over two months after she got surgery on the collapsed lung and then weeks after she decided not to go over to Valencia, Spain for an overseas season, she got a call that she had been traded from the New York Liberty, her only team throughout her WNBA career.
She was one-third of the compensation that the Sun received in the Jonquel Jones trade to New York which included point guard Ty Harris and the No. 6 overall pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft, which was then traded for former UConn slashing guard Tiffany Hayes.
Allen’s life became a series of significant changes with not a lot of time to process all that was coming at her. Nothing that had happened to her over the past 10 months was in her control. Her past plight and diverse set of experiences in the sport are a recipe for common ground between her and her new team in the Connecticut Sun. The Sun are a team that also endured what felt like a period of perpetual changes. New players. New General Manager. New coaching staff.
Ever since her breakout season in 2019 for the Liberty when she shot over 42 percent from three in over 17 minutes per game, Allen has been on a path to prove herself as a player well above replacement in the WNBA. She hasn’t always gotten the recognition for her talent level and skill, which includes her quick and high release on her shot, her ability to slash, move the ball as a tertiary playmaker, and use her 6’5 wingspan—why she’s called “Spida”— to rim protect and deflect balls that come her way. Her new coach Stephanie White has called her an “underrated defender.”
That sounds familiar doesn’t it? To be called underrated.
The Sun are also a team that has been rising, always with something to prove and are still struggling to be recognized on the national women’s basketball stage. The Sun have been moments from a WNBA championship and Allen has been on the cusp of being the player talent evaluators have envisioned her to be. “I really want to help her become a lockdown defender and I think she can do that for us, and really change the game on both ends of the court and impact both ends of the court for us,” January said of Allen.
But, the journey of the Sun and of Allen are similar but are not one in the same. A team battles back in response to adversity in ways that differ from what individuals go through personally . What was this journey like for Allen who couldn’t play basketball for months and then was thrown a curveball by perhaps the most active and shocking WNBA free agency period in league history?
First, Allen took a step back. While living in Australia for the first time since the pandemic began in 2020, she took stock of her life and turned her focus inward. She focused on herself and her feelings. She had to remember why she’s a professional basketball player who globe-trots year-round to begin with. Training at one the many Hoop City facilities in Victoria, Australia and working with former player and now coach Luke Kendall allowed her to gain clarity and remember why playing this game is what she ought to be doing, and why it’s something that she loves.
“I was putting myself in situations that allowed me to become myself again, and find that enjoyment and be happy,” she said about how she dealt with so much change all at once. “So I think that was a real moment that I’m really, honestly quite proud of. And I’m proud of the decisions and choices I made. But also I had to go through that moment too. So I think that it was tough, but it was really good for me.”
Another decision she made was starting to go to therapy, something that she realized early on in her recovery would help her on her journey to get back to the person and player she wanted to be. In therapy she learned how to give herself grace and patience especially when preparing to make her return to the court. This is something she thinks about even now early in the season, especially when her shots aren’t falling immediately.
Her mental health toolbox is full of what leads her to gratitude and joy. She is quick to remind herself not to take life too seriously. What she does for a living is play a game. For Allen, taking care also meant realizing that she isn’t at the center of everything. Thinking about and caring for others around is some of the best medicine. Back in March she spent time training with some teenage girls who were also training at Hoop City. The teens got to work out with a pro. Acts of service heal the mind.
In her career playing basketball, Allen has built her legacy on those acts of service. She prides herself on being the player who others want to play with. That’s Allen’s standard. It’s important to her to impact those around her positively. “I think that how you make others feel in life is important,” she said. “It’s not just about basketball. It’s just who you are.”
And that’s who Allen is, being the person someone could always come to, have a meal and a chat with. Back in 2021 when Sabrina Ionescu was playing in her first full season in the WNBA, it was Allen that made her feel comfortable and was just there when Ionescu was still battling back from the third-degree ankle sprain that she sustained a year prior, and dealing with all the pressure that came with being the franchise’s No. 1 overall draft pick.
“[We] just kind of helped one another through the ebbs and flows of the season,” Ionescu told the Courant. “So I’m super thankful for her as kind of just being that veteran player that took me under her wing and helped me out through my first couple years.”
And while Allen is the new player in town in Uncasville, she is the type of player who is destined to become the fan favorite wherever she goes. White has observed in just over a month that it’s Allen’s personality and buy-in to working and playing hard that makes her so appreciated.
“I don’t think there’s a time that goes by where you don’t see her high-five and somebody or lifting someone up whether it’s verbal or nonverbal communication and, and I think in general fans just enjoy that and they appreciate that,” White said.
Allen’s legacy is not only in being the best teammate she can be, but it’s in making teams she plays on much better than they are without her on the floor. That was a point of emphasis when another Liberty center and UConn alumna Stefanie Dolson explained what it was like to be her teammate last season. Allen’s knowledge of the game and ability to play-make while off the ball is something that not all wing players have mastered. Allen is always cutting. “She can always find her action within a play even if it’s not for her,” Dolson said.
Stef on @becallen8 🥹 pic.twitter.com/0Hms0N6qd6
— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) May 27, 2023
A prime example of this came with under two minutes left in the first quarter against the Liberty on Saturday. Allen received the ball on the right wing, drove and saw Natisha Hiedman running into position on the opposite corner pocket. Allen passed it right to Hiedman with no seafoam jerseys even near her on the perimeter. Swish.
While the 2023 WNBA season is still young, Allen’s impact on the floor has already stood out. On Thursday night, the Sun took on the winless Minnesota Lynx and only defeated Minnesota by 5 points in a 89-84 win. When Allen checked in the third quarter with 3:18 minutes left, she was able to score five quick points in a bit over 30 seconds.
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“I thought Bec was huge,” White said following the win. “I mean she hit some big shots at key moments for us and we know that’s what Bec can do. She’s a floor spacer.” That was the type of impact the Sun missed on the perimeter last year.
While Allen is clearly needed in Connecticut, she was filled with a lot of emotions when she returned to New York for a game on Saturday afternoon. While sitting at the press conference podium prior to tipoff, she reflected about how her emotions conflicted. There are so many people within the Liberty organization and within New York City that she’s gotten to know and made memories with. And while Connecticut is a fresh start that gives her a real role to shine in, there’s a sadness baked into not playing in the largest media market and largest cultural hub in the United States.
But as Allen has often done during her entire professional career, the former undrafted player has found another opportunity to latch onto. ESPN Australia films in Bristol and last month Allen appeared on SportsCenter Australia. Could she be on a similar path that now Sparks forward and former Sun No.1 overall draft pick Chiney Ogwumike pursued back when she was in Connecticut? We’ll have to wait and see.
Bec Allen jumped on SC Aus today to discuss the hot start for Connecticut, the rise of Ezi Magbegor and of course, this weekend’s matchup against the New York Liberty. pic.twitter.com/orPhHLd7wr
— Kane Pitman (@KanePitman) May 26, 2023
Moments into Allen’s first regular season game in New York on the visiting team, the Liberty’s PA announcer directed everyone in the arena’s attention to the jumbotron. During the first time out of the game, clips of Allen’s most clutch treys and blocks cascaded on top of the instrumentals of Austrailian raper Iggy Azalea’s biggest hit “Fancy.”
Following a round of applause inside the arena, Allen was formally welcomed back but didn’t realize it at first. She was shown on the jumbotron talking to other Sun guard Dijonai Carrington. But then, she heard her name bellowed by the announcer and she picked her head up to look at the screen and realized why she heard her name. She smiled widely and graciously while being sent off by “Proud Mary,” sung by the late and equally great Tina Turner. What Allen brought to Barclays Center won’t be forgotten.
“These life experiences that I just kind of don’t get anywhere else, and that’s why I think I’ve embraced it too,” Allen said about what the past year has taught her. “I think it’s made me a more well rounded person.”
