Although it was Kevin Garnett, the Minnesota Timberwolves' basketball player, who was featured on the front page of Nba 2k22 Mt Backyard Basketball original, Leslie was also featured and you can play as Garnett as well as her.
Sheryl Swoopes as well as Cynthia Cooper, Houston Comets' stars, were both absent from the 2001 WNBA season. Cooper was a retired player after the 2000 season with a record of two MVPs and four-time champion, before returning in 2003. Swoopes was an integral part of those four championships and was also the league's MVP for the year, was not able to play in 2001 because of a torn ACL.
After helping the Sparks to win their first title in September 2001, Leslie won not only the MVP award in 2001, but also the Finals MVP. Within a month, Backyard Basketball was released with her chosen as the only female real-life player (Garnett was the sole men's player) instead of Cooper and Swoopes.
Cooper and Swoopes were among the first to be recognized as the WNBA's authentic faces But it was Leslie was the first to be known as the WNBA's official face to Backyard Basketball's intended audience including me. Leslie was the very first WNBA athlete I encountered and helped me to get into women's basketball.
My interest into the sport increased slowly. I recall Diana Taurasi being featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated alongside Emeka Okafor after their UConn Huskies won the national championships in both men's as well as women's basketball in 2004. Then I became an avid Sacramento Monarchs fan and watched them in the 2006 WNBA Finals against the Detroit Shock. Since watching Parker in the 2007 national championship game won by the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, I have been pretty on the ball with 2k22 mt buy women's basketball. I began following the WNBA in the year 2012.