Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.

How many times have your parents told you not to do things, and the next thing you know, you go do it? And you realized you shouldn't have done it.

It's a heavy duty to try to do everything and please everybody. My job was to go out there and play the game of basketball as best I can and provide entertainment for everyone who wanted to watch basketball. Obviously, people may not agree with that; again, I can't live with what everyone's impression of what I should or what I shouldn't do.

The game has its ups and downs, but you can never lose focus of your individual goals and you can't let yourself be beat because of lack of effort.

When you are born rich, you have all these options. You can pursue a career path that you find interesting; there's no need or pressure to start working to get funds just for survival, which is something a lot of people have to struggle with.

As an actor, you have to maximize your time, because you don't know what's going to happen in your 50s and 60s and 70s. It's like the career of an athlete: For many people, it ends at a certain point.

Women are capable of doing so many things these days, physically, emotionally, within relationships and career. There are so many things that women have evolved into and I feel really proud about where women are right now.

My career only took off because of one football game. I thought it was funny. 'Playboy' called and offered me a cover just like that. I turned them down initially, because I was nervous about it and my boyfriend at the time didn't want me to do it, but they kept coming back, so I eventually said yes.