Wearing a stunning black and white Balmain gown, Brink looks runway ready on the orange carpet. But inside, she's hella nervous. The type of nervous where it feels like her heart is beating out of her chest, in a good type of way, though. Her feet are starting to hurt, too (in three-inch heels, she stands at 6-7), but on the biggest night of her life, Brink powers through as the cameras snap away. Elsewhere, reactions are already flooding the timeline of #WNBATwitter about her look, and the New York Times and Vogue are declaring her one of the best dressed stars of the night.
As much as she exudes effortless cool girl confidence and charisma, there was a time when Brink didn't embrace her height, especially back in middle school.
It's a feeling that's all too relatable, especially for women, but the Brink that's posing for the cameras has learned to embrace her genetic gift. Her height has made her one of the best forwards in the country, an NCAA champion, and now, a future pro with an undeniable skill set. She towers over opponents in the paint, swatting their shots with ease, and has earned national recognition, including Pac-12 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year this past season, as well as Naismith DPOY, which made her the first Cardinal ever to win the award.
So, whenever she finds herself slouching or struggling with self-confidence, Brink reminds herself to stand up straight, chin up and embrace what makes her unique and different. “I feel like no matter how tall you are, you should wear heels,” she says at her SLAM cover shoot. “And it doesn't matter if you're dating a guy shorter than you, you should always wear heels.” Period.
Still, she's human, and as the draft prospects make their way into the Gothic-style ballroom for the ceremony, the nerves start coming back. This is the biggest night of not just her career, but her life, and at one point in the evening, her dad pulls up his phone and starts showing her pictures of their dogs, two Australian Labradoodles—Jovi, who was named after the rock icon Bon Jovi (“My parents listened to Bon Jovi on their first date,” she tells us), and Hokie (both of Brink's parents played at Virginia Tech). It helps. Brink tells herself, Whatever is meant for me is meant for me, and repeats it over and over again. It doesn't matter what number you go, it's if you stick on a roster and if you're able to contribute.
The live audience—2024 marked the first time in years that the W allowed fans to attend the draft—is roaringly loud, that is until Commissioner Cathy Engelbert walks up to the podium to announce the Sparks' pick. Suddenly, the pressure begins to melt away as Brink hears the words: With the second pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, the Los Angeles Sparks select…Cameron Brink.
It's a moment that's so surreal, Brink is still processing the draft when we're with her 24 hours later to shoot this cover. She's always dreamt of posting her photo with her draft day hat and reveals to us on set that her Instagram caption is going to say, “California Love.”
“That's how I feel,” she says. “I'm from Oregon, but I've fallen in love with California and I claim it now. I'm just so happy to stay on the West Coast, be close to my boyfriend, my parents. It just means the world to me.”
For Brink, the decision to declare for the draft wasn't an easy one. After four standout years at Stanford, where she broke the program record for blocks and won four straight Pac-12 championships and a national championship, she's leaving behind a legacy.
“I didn't know if I wanted to stay or leave,” she admits. “I wanted to stay [for my fifth year], potentially, to get stronger and work on my game, but I just finally decided what was meant for me was to leave and to continue to grow as a person and a player.”
Now, Brink is set to join a Sparks team on the rebuild after 2016 WNBA champion and MVP Nneka Ogwumike announced she signed a one-year deal with the Seattle Storm and two-time champ Jordin Canada was traded to the Atlanta Dream. Still, the Sparks have a roster stacked with talent, as well as an incoming rookie class of Brink, Rickea Jackson and McKenzie Forbes that will be hella fun to watch.
Ahead of training camp, Brink says she's focused on continuing to lock in on defense, while also expanding her offensive game, too. “I have a lot of goals for my game. I think what I appreciate about myself is I feel like my ceiling is still so high. I will always value defense, and I feel like teams can always use my defense—rebounding, shot blocking—but I think I have so much [room] to grow on the offensive side of the floor. I'm willing to put in the work to make my perimeter shot better, my ball handling, all that good stuff.”
She knows that the transition to the WNBA will be an adjustment and has connected with stars like Kelsey Plum through her trainer, Susan Borchardt. The mentors in her life, she says, have been a “sounding board” for what she can expect at the next level. “They've set my standards very high that it's going to be really hard and that I'm going to get beat up,” Brink says. “I'm really going to give myself grace and know that there's a learning curve, but also be hungry and know I deserve to be here.”
While many have credited this year's rookies with being the ones to elevate women's hoops, Brink has made a point to acknowledge those who have paved the way before her. “I honestly get sentimental about it because my mom was the first [in the family] to attend and graduate from college because of Title IX,” she says. “And, you know, I wouldn't be here today if she didn't play because she wouldn't have met my dad…She's a huge role model of mine. And then you just look at all the other amazing women. I really wouldn't be here today without them.”
Always a student of the game, Brink, who was a five-star recruit at Mountainside High School in Beaverton, OR, would curl up in bed and watch highlights of stars like Dawn Staley, Lisa Leslie and Cynthia Cooper with her father. “I think lately it's been really important to reflect on who I've modeled my game after, who I've looked up to, and I think, you know, this draft class is historic, but I feel like we just have to keep giving props to the women before us, because if I wasn't watching Dawn Staley, Lisa Leslie highlights, Cynthia Cooper, all those amazing people, I wouldn't be here today,” she says. “We just need to keep giving the women who [blazed a trail] for us their flowers. It's not just us.”
Her words are a testament to not just who she is as a person, but why the future of women's basketball is so bright. As new fans tune in and social media makes the game more accessible than ever, Brink is paying homage to the past while acknowledging that her generation benefits from things like NIL, too.
“NIL has been life changing, and I feel like it's amazing that we get to benefit off of our name and image,” she says. “It makes me sad for the women before us. I think about Sabrina [Ionescu] and how much money Sabrina would have made. And it's not all about the money, but, you know, people like her deserve that. We're just thankful again for the women who have [blazed a] trail for us. I think that's why this draft class is so historic, because we have really had to learn how to manage ourselves, our brands and kind of be adults and early pros, I guess.”
That's also why suiting up for an organization like the Sparks is so exciting for her: there's so much history in L.A., from all the legends who have rocked the purple and gold to the franchise's back-to-back titles won in the early 2000s (they won another one in 2016) and the fact that the Sparks played in the W's inaugural game against the New York Liberty back in '97.
“I would say to Sparks fans that I'm ready to be a part of a historic organization,” Brink says, “[and] to [play] where Candace Parker has played, where Lisa Leslie has played, so many other greats, [and] to be coached by Curt [Miller] and just to play with all the other amazing women. I'm just going to work my butt off and have fun while doing it.”
Then there are the tunnel fits. L.A. is the epicenter of celebrities, status and fashion, and Brink is ready to bring her own sense of style to the W.
“I need to start thinking about that,” she says excitedly. “Oh my gosh. I think the tunnel this year is gonna be really fun. Right now I'm kind of in a more athletic fit,”—she points out the New Balance jacket she's wearing on set—“and I'm just as comfortable in that as, you know, being girly, wearing a dress, a pair of heels, carrying a cute little bag…I definitely feel like it's an opportunity to show who I am. I feel like life is about expressing who we are. I think that's what makes us human.”
Just like that, Brink reminds you that—even with all of her success, the WNBA Draft, her first solo SLAM cover and stardom—she, like all of us, is just a woman finding herself. And in times of self doubt, or when the future can seem so new and uncertain, all of us have to remember: chin up and embrace what makes you unique and different.
“Especially as a woman, I think it's really easy to be hard on yourself, especially in basketball,” Brink says. “I know for a fact girls are always like, What did I do wrong? I know, I'm like, I wish I had the confidence of a dude sometimes [laughs]. I'm working on it. But I feel like in the real world, as we move throughout the world as women, you always feel like you have to be held to the standard of beauty and perfection, and I think, honestly, every day it's getting better. We're allowed to be more authentically ourselves, and that's so refreshing. I remember going up to Holly [Rowe] right after I was drafted for my interview, and I was crying, but I remember not feeling embarrassed about it. I feel like that was a step in the right direction.”
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