Dallas Wings' Alysha Clark and Azzi Fudd Bond Over Food

Alysha Clark has spent 13 seasons proving she belongs on a WNBA court. Three championship rings, more than 400 games played, and a reputation as one of the most reliable defensive forwards in the league's history. But ask the people closest to her what they love most about Clark, and the conversation has a way of moving from the hardwood to the kitchen.

Long before she became a Dallas Wing, Clark was quietly building a second identity — one forged not in film sessions and practice gyms, but in grocery stores, restaurant kitchens, and apartments filled with teammates waiting on a home-cooked meal. It's a passion that began at home, survived a move overseas, and has grown into something that looks a lot like a calling.

From Her Parents' Kitchen to Tennessee State

Clark's love affair with food started long before any professional contract. In a 2019 interview with the New York Times, the three-time WNBA champion revealed that she developed her passion for cooking by watching her parents prepare meals from scratch throughout her childhood. When it came time to leave for Tennessee State University in 2007, her parents weren't coming with her — but the skills they'd passed down were.

Armed with the right ingredients, utensils, and a foundation built at the family dinner table, Clark was able to cook meals that tasted like home even in a college dorm. Those abilities, however, were about to face their biggest test yet.

A Grocery Store in Israel and a Recipe That Changed Everything

When Clark began her professional career overseas in Israel in 2010, the comforts of American grocery stores — pre-made cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, and the other shortcuts that make home cooking convenient — simply didn't exist. One night, standing in a foreign grocery store trying to track down ingredients for a chicken pot pie, Clark hit a wall.

"Everything in the U.S. is already pre-made — cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, things like that. So I ended up at a grocery store one night trying to translate chicken pot pie from Hebrew to English, and they didn't have it. But I thought to myself, 'Why don't you just Google a recipe to see if you can make it from scratch?' It really wasn't that hard. And it's literally how all this started. From then on, I wanted to make everything from scratch."

That moment of creative necessity became the foundation of everything that followed. What started as a workaround became a philosophy — and a reputation that has followed Clark across every locker room she's called home.

The Teammate Everyone Wants an Invite From

It didn't take long for word to spread. Former Connecticut Sun forward Shekinna Stricklen became one of Clark's regular dinner guests, and the experience left an impression.

"Whenever we're together, you know she's going to cook. Even when Alysha is in Connecticut, she'll come over to my apartment, and we'll go to the grocery store. Natalie Achonwa was there the other night. People know she's good — it's definitely widespread information." — Shekinna Stricklen

Former Seattle Storm teammate Jewell Loyd put it even more plainly.

"She loves to cook, and we love to eat. Alysha wants to be a chef. That's going to be her second career. There's always a waitlist to go eat at her apartment during the playoffs. She already has a fanbase — the whole league would show up." — Jewell Loyd

The demand is real, and Clark has learned to manage it with the same discipline she brings to the court. She told LandonBuford.com that her new Dallas Wings teammates are already making their requests known.

"Probably a lot. They're already on my head about it because I've been cooking. I'm like, 'Dang, I got to eat.' But I just told them like I do every year, 'Listen, if you guys want to eat dinner, let me know ahead of time so I can make sure I have enough.' Because I make enough for two for dinner that night and leftovers the next day. So yeah, they're already on my head about it. I'm sure you all will see a lot of videos." — Alysha Clark

Mentorship, James Beard, and a Dream of Her Own Bistro

Clark's culinary journey took a significant turn in 2012 when Seattle Storm CEO Alisha Valavanis introduced her to chef Tamara Murphy at Terra Plata, a Capitol Hill bistro that Murphy owns. Murphy — a James Beard Award nominee — became Clark's first real mentor in a professional kitchen, and her story gave Clark a new way to think about her own future.

"If I wanted to work in a restaurant setting, I would need to go to culinary school. But Tamara didn't go to culinary school, and she's a James Beard nominee. I'd love to have my own, intimate, personal place — something bistro-sized where I could cook things from scratch every day, cook fresh, and build that bond with my clientele that come in." — Alysha Clark

Since then, Clark has cultivated relationships with several chef mentors in Seattle, spending time in their restaurants to understand not just the cooking, but the business side of running a kitchen. It's an education she's been building in parallel with her WNBA career for over a decade.

A New Chapter in Dallas — With a Fellow Foodie in Tow

This offseason, Clark signed with the Dallas Wings, bringing 13 seasons of WNBA experience to a franchise hungry for veteran leadership. Wings EVP and General Manager Curt Miller called her "a respected veteran" who brings "versatility" and the "intangibles" the organization was seeking. But Clark arrived in Dallas and discovered something that had nothing to do with basketball: Wings first overall pick Azzi Fudd is a fellow foodie.

"Off the court, learning that she's a foodie, you know. So, we have already started making plans like, 'Okay, when you're doing this, I want to come. Let's go find these types of restaurants.' And I told her when we travel on the road, I have a list of restaurants in every city that I like to go to. And she was like, 'Okay, bring me along.' So having a fellow foodie on the team is definitely exciting." — Alysha Clark

It's the kind of connection that extends well beyond the court — and for Alysha Clark, that has always been the point. Food, she'll tell you, is about more than flavor. It's about people.

"I would love to be a professional chef. It's something I might consider doing one day. Food brings family and friends together for joyous times. So, I'd love to share that joy and flavor with other people. Also, I just really like good food." — Alysha Clark

Three championship rings. Thirteen seasons. More than 400 games. And when it's all said and done, Alysha Clark may well be remembered as much for what she created in the kitchen as what she accomplished on the court. The waitlist, as Jewell Loyd will tell you, is already long.