Q. What does it mean to have made it in the draft and also to represent Spain, along with Iyana Martin and Awa Fam?
MARTA SUAREZ: It's an honor to be here as a basketball player, as a basketball fan, phenomenal time. Well, like you said, three Spanish players in the draft night. Incredibly exciting for our country but also just for the global game. It just speaks to how the WNBA is growing and the opportunities that we get offered today to just attracting all the talent from everywhere in the world, which means the competition is going to rise. So that's even more exciting for everybody.
Q. Not a lot of players, I guess, have the privilege to be in this WNBA. And every draft experience is very unique. You got traded. So can you walk us through what was kind of going through your mind initially going to the Seattle Storm then getting trade to the Valkyries?
MARTA SUAREZ: I was already riding a high, just to hear your name, to share that moment with your loved ones. Seattle, obviously historically tremendous team. I like what they're building. I have a lot of friends up there. But the moment they tell me that I'm going back to the Bay and I know my support group there. My favorite Chinese spot ever is in San Francisco. I'm going back to that, extremely excited, extremely humbled, extremely grateful. So thankful for the effort put in to give me that opportunity.
Q. Obviously seeing the news so quickly of the trade, can you talk more about your emotion. You said you were riding the high but did you talk to anybody where were you when that all happened and played out with the trade?
MARTA SUAREZ: Well, I was still kind of right there, I was doing an interview like right in the back of the chairs. And then we were just talking and then everything paused and somebody was like ah, and we turned around and I see that and I was like, wait, I was like that's me, right? And then I saw the purple. I didn't even read the Valkyries, didn't see nothing. I saw the purple. Just got very excited.
I had talked to the GM and to a couple people from the team just in the process of getting to know each other and they had touched my heart. So to know that somehow I made an impact to them as well, just very, very exciting.
Q. Going into this draft, TCU had only three players total selected in their history. Now there's three tonight because Taylor Bigby was selected by Portland?
MARTA SUAREZ: Really, what pick?
Q. 37th to Portland.
MARTA SUAREZ: Yes, she's a bucket.
Q. So that's great. But on that note, what did the Horned Frogs program mean to you? And how did playing with two fellow draftees, how did that prepare you for that moment right now?
MARTA SUAREZ: That's a great question. It was huge. Obviously, this last season, it was a very special season. This last season gave me the opportunity to be here in New York and bring my family here to New York City.
I'm from a very small place in Northern Spain. New York City sounds far and big and bougie. So extremely grateful to be here. TCU, it's a very special place. The numbers don't lie. Mark [Campbell], he knows how to win and he knows how to develop people and he did a very good job figuring out people hired and people that worked hard and then wanted it and then helping them channel it the right way and developing pros. He was very adamant about that, about getting us ready for the next steps, investing in us as players.
Of course, being able to play with such teammates. I played with Olivia Miles, what can I say? She's a triple-double queen. I got a few of those assists, I'm not going lie. But, yeah, it also helped me not only basketball-wise to be able to be here and to showcase my talent and my basketball, because again also a culture that extremely encouraging of me as a player. But it gave me a hand to hold this weekend because it was a little bit overwhelming at times. New York City's big, and to be here with her, great memory.
Q. Less of a serious question but I want to understand the ambiance. Can you tell me where the purple bow came from, how you got it? Was it Violet who gave it to you? Did you interact with Violet the Raven tonight?
MARTA SUAREZ: Violet and us are like this. We're best friends. We go way back. She knows she wanted to get me ready. Sometimes hard to understand her because she doesn't talk but she has great moves. So we were just hanging out there. So she made sure I was Valkyries ready.
Q. How do you think she's different from Ellie the Elephant? She's obviously a new mascot on the scene and the league chose to have her here tonight instead of Ellie.
MARTA SUAREZ: I mean, Ellie is great. And Ellie has done that. Ellie's up there and a trailblazer. The league is growing. So it's a great opportunity to give space to the next few girls to come up.
And I think Violet, Violet will turn everybody up. Violet has a huge crowd. Violet works at the Chase Center. That's a very big stage for one of my girlies to perform at.
Q. You said Taylor's a bucket. What can Sun fans look forward to, kind of elaborate on that?
MARTA SUAREZ: Taylor Bigby, yeah, she's a bucket. Very versatile. I don't think people realize that she's long-winged. She's strong. She's very talented and she works very hard. But she's very versatile. I think this year, she did a job holding us on the backcourt very, very often and defensively. She stood up and she guarded some of the best players in the league. And she did that graciously. She can rebound, which I don't think was showcased as much this year, but she has that capability is, and she has the maturity and the experience of different teams. She's won. So that speaks to it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports