The August 2023 issue of Sports Illustrated features The Power List, the definitive index of the 50 most influential figures and forces who drive the sports world, on and off the field and court. For more on The Power List’s Icons and Leaders, like Kobe Bryant, click here.
Skylar Diggins-Smith first met him, her mentor/inspiration/idol turned most improbable friend, at a commercial shoot. They filmed in 2013, after her star turn at Notre Dame, before she became a WNBA mainstay, because Nike sponsored her and him.
Diggins-Smith had grown up in Indiana, which hit her on that afternoon, eyes widening into frisbees. We’re not in Kansas anymore, she told a friend. Eventually, she mustered the courage to approach him, this basketball deity, beloved across the NBA, the world. She asked for a photo, starstruck, and uploaded it to Instagram; her favorite picture, even now. But while her hero appeared to understand what he meant to other people, he didn’t act like he knew his presence filled hearts and weakened knees. That combination, famous and authentic, separated him. Because it was him, a star as distinct and otherworldly as any to ever play professional sports. Where fame often changes souls or vice versa, for him, those notions intersected, each improving the other, making him unrelatable and relatable, touchable and not.
