Mirin Fader: I wish I wasn't the only woman in the locker room still

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Mirin Fader, the best-selling author behind Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA Champion and now a Senior Writer at The Athletic, sat down with HoopsHype to chat about some of her favorite long-form NBA stories, her upcoming Larry Bird biography, and her deep passion for the game of basketball.

Who were your basketball heroes growing up?​

Mirin Fader: Well, I grew up in Los Angeles, so I was definitely a big Lakers fan, and I loved Kobe Bryant, but also just loved the Sparks. Lisa Leslie, Tamecka Dixon were on that team. My favorites were Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird. But, yeah, I was a very big WNBA fan also back then. But Kobe has a very special place in my heart from that era.

What are your thoughts on the current WNBA negotiations regarding the new CBA?​

MF: I think what they're fighting for is incredibly valuable, and we have to realize that they are the product, nothing else, and we should listen to them when they tell us what they want and how they want to go about it. It's inspiring. Ever since I've been a WNBA fan, I've never seen such organized leadership in terms of players and how they're getting together, so I absolutely think that what they're fighting for is worthwhile.

As a journalist, and especially as a man in the sports world, I cannot begin to understand how difficult it is for women to enter this field and succeed.​

MF: It has been challenging. When I was coming out, it was very clear to me that the majority of women were not going towards sports writing. They were going into sports broadcasting. And there's nothing wrong with that. It just wasn't something that I wanted to do, and I noticed how quickly I was sort of pushed to that, and having to say, 'No, I don't want to do that. I want to do this.' It's hard in terms of people who don't know my story or don't know me. They don't know that. As I played, I knew the game. They just see this short woman, I'm five feet tall, and they're like, 'what does she know?' So I've dealt with the casual sexism in that regard, it's definitely been hard, but also I've tried to look at it in such a positive way, and that it makes me different. It makes me stand out. I wish I wasn't the only woman in the locker room still, but it does make you stand out. So I always say women are not better than men. It's just it's a different energy, and I'm just at a space in my life where I'm embracing that different energy.

You recently joined The Athletic family.​

MF: I'm so excited to be there. I just really am attracted to being in such a large newsroom. It's such a classic experience. I started my career at a newspaper in the Orange County Register, and this feels similar to that, in a way, where there are so many writers and so many editors, and The Athletic has the best NBA coverage. Yeah, the staff is insane. I'm just like, in awe of my colleagues and what they do. And so to join them is really cool. I hope to fill in the gaps of feature coverage, and just trying to do some of the same human interest stories that I've been doing. And it's so exciting for me, because up to this point, I have pretty much been writing about all sports, and I've leaned towards basketball, because it's my passion, like we talked about, and I have that background, but this is the first time in my career where I'm pretty much exclusively focusing on basketball.

I'm going to do a sprinkle of football and random stories like that from time to time, but focusing just on the NBA is going to allow my work to grow, maybe in ways that it hadn't before, because it hasn't been exclusively dedicated to this sport. So it's just really cool. And then knowing that the New York Times owns us, it was so cool. I saw my first article in print the other day. I just can't believe it. Like the New York Times, to me, has always been sort of that goal to reach as a journalist, and so it's really cool to be a part of that company now.

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You started with an article on Evan Mobley, and you did another one with Evan back in 2021 when he was at USC. How do you reflect on the journey - both his and yours - between those two pieces?​

MF: Yeah, it's so interesting. I try to profile somebody again if there's been a change in their journey, some sort of evolution has had to have happened. When I profiled him in college, he was just beginning to sort of see what was happening in the NBA, and he hadn't yet really proved himself. And it was so interesting catching him now, because, in an ironic way, he's still proving himself, and he is not the finished product that people want from him. I like profiling people when they're in their journeys, like they're in the middle of it. And I know Cavs fans want him to be a finished product, but to see somebody and sort of get into the psyche of 'what is it like being in the middle of that evolution?' 'How do you deal with all these expectations?'

As a writer, in my own little world, in my own little, tiny space, I understand expectations. It can be hard when you put pressure on yourself and your heart on yourself. And so I was curious if he was hard on himself, and how he dealt with that in his world, which is so much bigger and more magnified than mine, and the pressures are incomparable for us. And so it was just really cool to see that he is. He was trying to figure it out and what that looks like in real time. And the best part was getting to talk with teammates around him. Donovan Mitchell is somebody that I've been wanting to profile for a really long time, and hopefully that happens later this season. But it was really, really cool to get a one-on-one with Donovan, talking about Evan and about his growth, and it's just so different from the green college kid that was like, 'What's it gonna be like?' And there's nothing to prepare you for what the NBA is like until you're finally in there yourself.

Could you share one or two stories that had a significant impact on you?​

MF: The Cade Cunningham profile that I did earlier this year really impacted me, because I was so amazed at how open he was and how vulnerable he was with me and talking about things like Imposter Syndrome, like that wasn't a term that I asked him about. He brought that up, and he was forthcoming about that. Asking him what it felt like to be called a bust. And I know everyone sees him this year, and he's amazing, but it was so gratifying to be able to have such a deep conversation with him. Because maybe it goes back to your question earlier about what it's like being a woman. It is really a big deal for me to talk to men about such deep topics, topics that maybe are taboo, and you don't want to bring up in this hyper-masculine world. It's so gratifying to have somebody open up like that, because there are a lot of people who do go through similar things where, like Cade, they were up all night with insomnia, worrying about if they were good enough and doing enough. And God knows, I've certainly had a lot of sleepless nights myself in my own career. So that one has really stuck with me.

The other one, I would say, is probably Greg Oden. I feel so fortunate to write about players that are no longer in the NBA, and they probably are among the most interesting to me, because there's a perspective that you can have when you're out of the league that you just can't have when you're in the league. First of all, a lot of these interviews take place near the arena, and whether players want to admit it or not, when you're in that building, there is some sort of pressure to not say the wrong thing, or you just feel under surveillance, maybe a little bit. And so Greg was out of the league. He had done the work on himself as far as mental health and therapy, and he was able to say, 'Hey, this is what I dealt with'. I went in there thinking what had happened. Why was he out of the league, besides injuries? Obviously, I know he had injuries, but what was it like to deal with that? And he opened up about alcoholism and shame and even being afraid to leave his house, which, again, I'm so grateful to athletes who trust me with their deepest, darkest feelings and hopefully dignify them in a way for readers to be able to see themselves in these struggles and see their own lives and learn something. The way that Greg was able to make a life for himself and leave basketball behind is pretty inspiring. It's hard for people whose whole identity is wrapped up in basketball to be able to then switch and say, 'Okay, I'm going to do something else with my life.' Those two stories kind of exemplify maybe the pieces that I really strive to write and the human connections I hope to make with my writing, if that makes sense.

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Another great story was when you followed LaMelo Ball during his journey in Lithuania and then, a year later, in Australia.​

MF: Hopefully, we'll see another LaMelo Ball story for me at some point soon, but he's a lot deeper than people realize. He's a lot more serious than people realize. The same comments about 'not a winning player', 'selfish player', 'arrogant', they've really followed him his entire life, since he was a kid. And the beauty of the stories that I was able to participate in, in going to Lithuania in Australia, really showed different sides to him, of much more serious, hard-working. So, although I haven't been around him in a couple of years, obviously, I do hope this next story works out. There's more to him than people realize, and it is really something to be said about Charlotte as an organization, and it's tough. It's tough for anyone to be there. They are going through a lot as a team. So I don't know. LaMelo has more to give, and he will give more, and I don't think this is the final version of him.

After your Giannis Antetokounmpo and Hakeem Olajuwon books, you're now working on a book about Larry Bird. What motivated you to choose him this time around? ​

MF: The first two books had such a clear connection. There was such a focus on the international growth of the game. And I felt like I really completed that circle, right? Hakeem, to me, was almost the precursor to the Giannis book, even though it came second. I really wanted people to understand how this current world of international superstars came together. Hakeem really was the source of inspiration for so many. I felt like, and I'm not ruling this out, because I do want to write a book on Victor Wembanyama at some point, but in this moment, I was very much like, 'Okay, I feel like I've told that story, I want to do something completely different.'

Larry Bird is totally different, but what's interesting is that race is a part of this book, just in a completely different way. And once people read it, they will see why I chose it and why I relate to it. I like to choose people who have really strong discipline and really strong passion for the game, and Larry had that in droves. One of the fun things about biographies and sports biographies is you're almost myth-busting the entire time, because in sports media, we love our heroes, and over time, these stories get built up into legends and lore. And we don't really know what's true, right? We have all these amazing anecdotes, and we're like, 'Wait, did that really happen?' And so with Larry, I was like, his literal name is Larry Legend. What can I unpack that is true and that is not, and it's been such a fascinating journey on unpacking the man behind the legend, right? I love these human stories. So how can I tell a human story about somebody that's been so mythologized all of these years? It has reminded me how much I love earlier eras of basketball. Don't get me wrong, it was incredible to do the Giannis book and to have the timing of writing about a current player. There's been something really nostalgic and awesome and heartwarming for me to go back in time and read about and watch tapes of eras where I wasn't born yet. I feel like I'm getting a PhD in 80s basketball. It's been really fun.

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When will we be able to get our hands on Bird's book?​

MF: It's coming out in 2027, which feels like forever from now, but it is due midway through next year. So that's the thing about books, they take a long time. Giannis was a special case where it was just fast-tracked in one year. But yes, 2027. There's so much more to look for. When I was writing the two books on international superstars, I found people who played with them in high school. But, for example, with Giannis, there was no college. With Larry, that's like a four-year period to explore. There's just so much more information this time around.

Are there any NBA journalists or writers who have maybe inspired you throughout your career so far?​

MF: Yeah, I love Chris Herring. He's so smart and writes about the NBA in ways that people just really don't. He finds the angle that others miss. His Knicks book, Blood in the Garden, was awesome. Marcus Thompson, I always said, 'I want to be like him when I grow up,' because he's like a poet, right? He's a writer, but he's really a poet, and everything he drops is just like a must-read. So I love his work. As far as other writers that are not necessarily like just NBA, I love Jeff Pearlman, Jonathan Abrams, David Aldridge... The thing is, I'm just a big nerd, and I'm just a fan of everyone. That's the thing with being at The Athletic: I log into the app, and I'm like, 'Oh my God, look at all the stuff my teammates are doing.'

Is podcasting something you'd like to step into?​

MF: Well, maybe, maybe. What's cool is that, like with my first two stories for The Athletic, I got to do, like, an accompanying video to it, and it's really cool, like, yes, the video is to entice readers to want to read the story. But it's just a cool form of storytelling. It's like it's a summary, yes, but it also allows readers to get to know me a bit more and put a face to the byline, and that has been really cool doing those videos.

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Mirin Fader Q&A: LaMelo Ball, Cade Cunningham, Larry Bird and more

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