What came was a career that helped define the first era of American professional women's basketball. She was the first player signed in WNBA history, won three MVP awards, and anchored four consecutive championships with the Houston Comets in the league's first four seasons — a dynasty built in real time, in a league that was still proving it could survive. She was a three-time Olympic gold medalist and one of the most complete players the game had produced: a scorer who could defend, a competitor who made everyone around her better, and a presence large enough to carry a franchise through the years when franchises in the WNBA needed carrying.

Swoopes retired in 2011, as one of the most decorated players in the history of the sport, but what she built extended beyond the trophy case. She defied conventions of the time by having a son the first year of her pro career and coming back stronger. She was present at the creation — the first player signed, the first dynasty, the first signature shoe — and she carried those years with a gravity that matched their weight. The WNBA survived its earliest seasons in part because players like her made it impossible to look away. Brownfield, Texas to the cover of Sports Illustrated. She made every inch of that distance look inevitable.