The town of Barrow, Alaska, where Lynx rookie power forward Alissa Pili spent the first seven or so years of her life, is definitely not for the weak-willed.
The northernmost municipality in the United States, Barrow was settled roughly 1,500 years ago by the Iñupiat (pronounced in-NEW-pee-at), a group of Indigenous Alaskans. Many of their descendants still live there. It hugs the shore of the Arctic Ocean, hundreds of miles north of the Arctic Circle.
If that sounds really cold and barren to you, well, you’re right. The town, now known by its Iñupiat name of Utqiagvik (OOT-kee-AAG-vik), was built on treeless tundra over a layer of permafrost. A 66-day “polar night” plunges the town of about 4,900 people into almost total darkness from mid-November to mid-January. And from early May until early August, the so-called “midnight sun” never sets. The daily mean temperature stays consistently below zero from December through March, rising above freezing only from early June to mid-September.
“I don’t know how we did it, but we played outside a lot,” said Pili, a first-round draft choice from the University of Utah.
“When you live there, you adapt. You don’t know anything else, so it’s kind of normal to you. Summer, when it would be light out all the time, people would have blackout curtains and foil over their windows to keep the sun out sometimes. But it wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t something we struggled with or anything like that. It’s something we became used to.”
Pili’s mother Heather, an Iñupiaq, was born and raised in Barrow. Pili said her father Billy, a Samoan originally from Hawaii, moved with his family to Anchorage as a teenager before eventually relocating to Barrow, where he met Heather.
The couple began raising the first three of their nine children in a small apartment in Barrow; Alissa, the second-oldest, remembers Billy driving her school bus. After a few years the family relocated south to Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, where most of her father’s extended family still lived.
So Pili grew up immersed in both cultures. That made the surprise ceremony the Lynx threw for her at the Target Center shortly after her arrival in Minneapolis, featuring members of the local Indigenous and Polynesian communities, especially meaningful.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, the highest ranking Native American woman in U.S. elected office (she’s a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe), and former Vikings player Esera Tuaolo, a Samoan, greeted her warmly. Tuaolo invited Pili to take part in Taualuga, a traditional Samoan dance where a woman is generally the lead, performed on special occasions to show respect and honor someone. Pili, who has Polynesian images tattooed on her right leg, easily slipped into the steps and hand motions.
“I’ve done it lot of times before,” she said. “Me and my little sisters have had to dance for a lot of our events. I kind of knew what I was doing. I was a little rusty. I really appreciated it. It was a little overwhelming at first, but super special, and something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life. There’s something about the people around you appreciating and acknowledging the importance of your culture to you. It was really cool to experience.”
Besides her unique background, Pili brings a badly-needed skillset to the Lynx, who open the regular season tonight in Seattle. (The Lynx fly right back for Friday’s home opener, also against the Storm.)
In two seasons at Utah after transferring from the University of Southern California, Pili made 41.1% of her three-point attempts – spectacular for anyone, let alone a post player. Her ability to score inside and out (she averaged 21.1 points per game with the Utes) attracted the Lynx, who last season finished 11th in the WNBA in three-point shooting and eighth in offensive rating.
Though listed as 6-2, Pili might be closer to 6’0” or even 5’11”; Lynx Head Coach and President of Basketball Operations Cheryl Reeve said she’s shorter than Lynx star Napheesa Collier, who’s 6-1. That makes Pili undersized for her position. But years of playing against her father and brothers in the cul-de-sac near their Anchorage home – none took it easy on her, she said –helped Pili learn how to score inside against taller, more physical opponents.
She demonstrated that last Dec. 10, putting up a career-high 37 points with three 3-pointers against eventual NCAA champion South Carolina and its 6’7” center, Kamilla Cardoso, in a 78-69 loss. Pili equaled that point total a month later against her old team, Southern Cal.
“We really wanted to expand on our three-point shooting,” Reeve said. “To have that in the post position is really, really valuable. But that’s not all Alissa is. She’s difficult to match up with in the post.
“We saw the national TV game (vs. South Carolina) where if they want to put a 6’8” center on her, she’s going to take you to the 3-point line and drop 37 on you if you go out there and try to guard her. And then if you say, OK, we need a mobile player on her, Alissa’s going to take you into the post.”
The Pac-12 Freshman of the Year at USC in 2019-20, Pili’s development slowed after spraining an ankle her sophomore year. She went to USC in part to be near her oldest brother Brandon, a Trojan football standout and now a defensive lineman with the Miami Dolphins.
But after the 2021-22 season, Pili reconsidered her options. Utah’s free-flowing, pro-style offense, with lots of movement off pick-and-rolls, suited her skills. Named Pac-12 Player of the Year as a junior, Pili led the Utes to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
“She wasn’t playing to her potential, and I think she would tell you that,” Utah Coach Lynne Roberts said in a telephone interview. “That’s not a criticism of S.C. It was her. She just wasn’t performing to the level she was capable of, and she had big dreams. She felt they were getting farther and farther away from her.
“When we got her, I think we had to breathe some life back into her; some belief and confidence. Not that she was distraught, but I think she was discouraged by where she was at. So I kind of put my arms around her and told her, let’s go, let’s work your ass off. It’s not going to happen for you. Now you’ve got to make it happen. Then we put her in a position where she could be successful and thrive.”
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Roberts said the Lynx and several other WNBA teams scouted Pili extensively, coming to Salt Lake City to watch practices and games. But most early mock drafts linked the Lynx, with the No. 7 overall pick, to Louisiana State power forward Angel Reese, the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year.
Reeve said the Lynx were still considering Reese, Pili and others when a Chicago Sky representative she declined to identify approached her at the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Cleveland, asking if the club might consider swapping first round choices. The Sky picked eighth, right after the Lynx.
Reeve said most WNBA front offices handicapped the draft this way: Caitlin Clark of Iowa as the obvious No. 1 pick; Stanford’s Cameron Brink as the consensus No. 2; then five players in no particular order – Cardoso, Rickea Jackson of Tennessee, Jacy Sheldon of Ohio State, Aaliyah Edwards of UConn and Reese.
Chicago clearly coveted Reese, an outstanding defender whose perimeter game needs work.
“We had a very motivated team that wanted the seventh spot,” Reeve said.
Looking to the future, the Lynx saw an opportunity to acquire “draft capital,” i.e. future picks that might allow them to trade up in the 2025 or 2026 drafts, both of which figure to be more loaded than this one. (Paige Bueckers, anyone?)
Reeve hesitated making the deal before the draft began, in case projections were wrong and someone like Edwards fell to No. 7. In the end, the Lynx went ahead with it, acquiring overseas prospect Sika Koné, a 2025 second-round pick and the right to exchange first-rounders with the Sky in 2026.
“Angel certainly had a lot to offer,” Reeve said. “She’s going to defend, she’s going to rebound, she’s going to (get offensive rebounds). I think she’s a great passer. She has some very strong qualities as a pro. We just kind of looked at our situation. No one is a sure thing other than Caitlin Clark, like a sure thing sure thing? Time will tell. We all get really smart when we have the hindsight.”
Pili figures to come off the bench and spread defenses with her outside shooting. Even if her shot isn’t falling – she made only one of 10 three-point attempts in preseason – Reeve wants her to keep putting them up, figuring they’ll go in sooner or later. The threat forces defenders to step out to guard her, opening lanes for teammates to drive to the basket.
Plus, Pili is eager to work on her conditioning and defense, the latter a Reeve absolute.
“The competitor in me just wants to prove people wrong and become a better overall player,” Pili said. “And that starts with becoming a better player on the defensive end.”
But Pili’s new teammates also may need to get used to something the Lynx have never had – a drawing card for Indigenous and Polynesian fans.
Everywhere the Utes went, Roberts said, hundreds of fans of both cultures drove from several states away (yes, even Alaska) to see Pili play. And afterward, Pili stuck around for photos and autographs.
“It was like going with the Beatles,” said Roberts.
The Utes sometimes waited on their bus up to an hour for Pili to finish, without complaint.
“To me, that was just incredibly powerful and why representation matters,” Roberts said. “Alissa takes that very seriously. She understands the weight of it. For a young person, that’s a lot of pressure. But she handles it with grace and responsibility, and she understands the impact.”
Without question.
“A lot of people know there’s a reputation for Indigenous people and Polynesians in sports,” Pili said. “We’re maybe big in football. Women’s basketball, it’s pretty unheard of. It’s just special for me to be able to represent all people on this stage.”
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