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Monique Currie, Mistie Bass
Photo by: Nike
Bass, Currie Take Next Step in Post-Playing Career
9/21/2019 6:27:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Jim Sumner, GoDuke.com
DURHAM, N.C.-- Monique Currie and Mistie Bass were two of the best players in Duke women's basketball history. After leaving Duke the duo had distinguished pro careers, both in the WNBA and in assorted overseas leagues. Now, they are beginning their post-playing careers in Portland, Oregon, working for Nike.
Currie was 2005 ACC Player of the Year and was a four-time All-ACC selection. She played 140 games at Duke, 411 games in 13 WNBA seasons and countless games overseas in such ports of call as Korea, Spain, Romania, Turkey, Italy, Poland, Russia and Israel, fighting through travel, fatigue and injuries.
And she was pretty good at it. Currie averaged 15.2 points per game at Duke, 10.3 in the WNBA. Her 2,122 points ranks third in Duke history.
Her Washington Mystics team made the 2018 WNBA finals but lost to Seattle in the finals.
She thought about giving a title run one more shot. But she lost her grandmother and turned 36 earlier this year. Currie says she spent the last two seasons thinking about retiring. She finalized that decision in February.
"I really do not miss it," she says. "I still follow the game, keep up with my friends, lots of texting. But I was ready."
An opportunity at Nike helped nudge her along. Nike launched a pilot program to support former WNBA athletes as they transition from the court to a more corporate or entrepreneurial environment, and Currie is one of them. A Duke education doesn't hurt either. She graduated with a degree in public policy and African American studies.
And she loves shoes.
She got the job, technically an associate product line manager. She works in shoes, specifically all-conditioning shoes, as well as hiking and trail shoes.
"It's very team-oriented," Currie says of her job. "It's product design. My team is a go-between between Nike and its consumers, analyzing what the consumer wants and how to get it into stores."
Currie is a D.C. native but says she loves Portland, acknowledging that she hasn't yet lived through a gloomy Portland winter.
"It's beautiful. But my co-workers keep reminding me that winter here is a lot different than summer.
Then again, she jokes, she doesn't have to survive the infamously humid D.C. summer.
Currie says the values of time management, hard work and teamwork that she perfected at Duke have stood her in good stead.
"It's a two-year program. My long-term goal is to find a position here. I love the company and what we do. You can't get anything done without working with the team and I love working with people."
Mistie Bass came to Duke a year after Currie but finished at the same time, as Currie was forced into a medical hardship in 2003. A 6-4 post player, Bass averaged 10 points and six rebounds per game at Duke, shooting 64.3 percent from the field, the latter fifth-best in Duke history.
She was selected All-ACC three times.
Bass played 10 seasons in the WNBA and had a long career overseas, playing in seven countries. She played on the 2014 Phoenix Mercury team that captured the league title.
She retired following the 2016 season and decided to try her hand at coaching. Bass got into graduate school at Indiana University and became a graduate assistant for Teri Moren's IU women's program.
It didn't work. The academic side of things went well. But the grad-student position was an entry-level position designed for someone a decade younger than Bass and without her experience.
"I ended up not going back. It was not a good experience, not a good match."
She also was pregnant. Her son Braven just turned two.
Bass applied for an NBA internship last winter. She made the short list but didn't get offered. But they did advise her of a possibility on the other side of the country, again with Nike, not unlike Currie's position.
She got the job and also started April 1.
Currie works in shoes, Bass works in basketball apparel. She's also an associate product line manager, involved in product creation, with a global reach.
"I help to bring the consumer side of things into an idea and then go from there. The team takes an idea and turns it into a narrative. I don't design but I help to influence. It combines my passion for fashion and sports. I really enjoy my job."
Bass says her team's target audience is recreational players aged 12-to-25.
She says she might go back to school and get an MBA. But coaching again is not on her to-do list.
"I plan on being here," Bass says of both Nike and Portland. "Portland is a great place and I enjoy what I'm doing. I'm still part of the game. I do miss Duke, especially the fans."
#GoDuke
DURHAM, N.C.-- Monique Currie and Mistie Bass were two of the best players in Duke women's basketball history. After leaving Duke the duo had distinguished pro careers, both in the WNBA and in assorted overseas leagues. Now, they are beginning their post-playing careers in Portland, Oregon, working for Nike.
Currie was 2005 ACC Player of the Year and was a four-time All-ACC selection. She played 140 games at Duke, 411 games in 13 WNBA seasons and countless games overseas in such ports of call as Korea, Spain, Romania, Turkey, Italy, Poland, Russia and Israel, fighting through travel, fatigue and injuries.
And she was pretty good at it. Currie averaged 15.2 points per game at Duke, 10.3 in the WNBA. Her 2,122 points ranks third in Duke history.
Her Washington Mystics team made the 2018 WNBA finals but lost to Seattle in the finals.
She thought about giving a title run one more shot. But she lost her grandmother and turned 36 earlier this year. Currie says she spent the last two seasons thinking about retiring. She finalized that decision in February.
"I really do not miss it," she says. "I still follow the game, keep up with my friends, lots of texting. But I was ready."
An opportunity at Nike helped nudge her along. Nike launched a pilot program to support former WNBA athletes as they transition from the court to a more corporate or entrepreneurial environment, and Currie is one of them. A Duke education doesn't hurt either. She graduated with a degree in public policy and African American studies.
And she loves shoes.
She got the job, technically an associate product line manager. She works in shoes, specifically all-conditioning shoes, as well as hiking and trail shoes.
"It's very team-oriented," Currie says of her job. "It's product design. My team is a go-between between Nike and its consumers, analyzing what the consumer wants and how to get it into stores."
Currie is a D.C. native but says she loves Portland, acknowledging that she hasn't yet lived through a gloomy Portland winter.
"It's beautiful. But my co-workers keep reminding me that winter here is a lot different than summer.
Then again, she jokes, she doesn't have to survive the infamously humid D.C. summer.
Currie says the values of time management, hard work and teamwork that she perfected at Duke have stood her in good stead.
"It's a two-year program. My long-term goal is to find a position here. I love the company and what we do. You can't get anything done without working with the team and I love working with people."
Mistie Bass came to Duke a year after Currie but finished at the same time, as Currie was forced into a medical hardship in 2003. A 6-4 post player, Bass averaged 10 points and six rebounds per game at Duke, shooting 64.3 percent from the field, the latter fifth-best in Duke history.
She was selected All-ACC three times.
Bass played 10 seasons in the WNBA and had a long career overseas, playing in seven countries. She played on the 2014 Phoenix Mercury team that captured the league title.
She retired following the 2016 season and decided to try her hand at coaching. Bass got into graduate school at Indiana University and became a graduate assistant for Teri Moren's IU women's program.
It didn't work. The academic side of things went well. But the grad-student position was an entry-level position designed for someone a decade younger than Bass and without her experience.
"I ended up not going back. It was not a good experience, not a good match."
She also was pregnant. Her son Braven just turned two.
Bass applied for an NBA internship last winter. She made the short list but didn't get offered. But they did advise her of a possibility on the other side of the country, again with Nike, not unlike Currie's position.
She got the job and also started April 1.
Currie works in shoes, Bass works in basketball apparel. She's also an associate product line manager, involved in product creation, with a global reach.
"I help to bring the consumer side of things into an idea and then go from there. The team takes an idea and turns it into a narrative. I don't design but I help to influence. It combines my passion for fashion and sports. I really enjoy my job."
Bass says her team's target audience is recreational players aged 12-to-25.
She says she might go back to school and get an MBA. But coaching again is not on her to-do list.
"I plan on being here," Bass says of both Nike and Portland. "Portland is a great place and I enjoy what I'm doing. I'm still part of the game. I do miss Duke, especially the fans."
#GoDuke
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