Kobe Bryant called this WNBA star the 'Gold Mamba.' She turned his advice to her into a tattoo.

Jewell Loyd just won her third WNBA championship — her first with her new team, the Las Vegas Aces. She was dubbed the “Gold Mamba” by the late basketball great Kobe Bryant. At 32, she’s an undeniable star — but boy, is she enjoying her time off the court.

For Loyd, the offseason means pickleball, cleaning the house, taking up a new hobby and hanging out with her girlfriend. In this conversation with Yahoo’s OT Diaries, she shares why those things help her reset — and why she’s embracing the WNBA’s newfound popularity as a veteran of the game.

“Every five years, there’s been some kind of shift, whether it's the style of play, the social media, the dress code, the fans, the gyms, the stadiums and so on. So it's definitely changed and I think that's good,” Loyd says. “I think the fans are starting to see it too. … People are learning that we're not just athletes. We have other interests; we do other things. They're starting to really lock in on who we are outside of basketball, which is really cool.”

And who is Loyd outside of basketball? Here’s what she loves (and hates) — and what’s she learned about herself along the way.

Your team, the Las Vegas Aces, took home the 2025 WNBA championship in late September. What happens after that?

The city wants to embrace you, so you're going to different events, and you're showing off the trophy. You're kind of just on a high [for a week]. But once you sit down, everything just shuts off.

When the season stops, my body knows, and I'm just exhausted. Things I didn't feel all season, aches and pains, I start to feel. Once I’m two weeks into being back home and settled in is when I start getting back to my routine.

It’s a ton of buildup both physically and mentally, I’m sure.

You have to be locked in at a different level to get your body in top-level shape and to perform at a high level. The finals are a different kind of focus, and it’s hard to do that every single day. You have to really train your mind to get up for practice every day, to be excellent every single day. That's why it's a short list of people being great, because it's not very easy. To get your body to do that, your mind has to be there first. … A lot of it's also just being present and understanding that you're not gonna have a perfect day [or] a perfect season, and understanding the ebbs and flows of that.

But being a part of the league isn’t just about your skill, necessarily. You’re a public figure too. How do you deal with that?

Regardless [of whether] you want to be a role model or not, because you have a platform and you're always in the light, you're gonna be some kind of role model to someone. Someone's always watching, whether it's your niece and nephew or someone on Instagram, Twitter. It is a burden to make sure that you're always on your p's and q's, but I try to be my best self every day. I really don't want to compare myself to anyone because I know that I'm made for me, right? There's no one in the world that has my DNA. I'm one of one. I'm special, I'm unique and I can walk around knowing that I'm meant to be here. I'm created for some kind of purpose, and it's a journey. So I kind of have that understanding.

Has that always been the case?

Early on, I was definitely more quiet, just trying to find myself, who I am in the league and what I want to do and be and grow into. As you get older, I think you just understand life a little bit better. …The more I grew up, the more I was able to really use my voice and speak on things.

Storytelling is something I'm super passionate about. I have a podcast that is really about community and sharing stories and sharing the mindset of how you get to somewhere great. … It's helped me to be more vulnerable in my storytelling. As an athlete, I go through the same stuff and struggles [as anyone else], and you guys don't always know it. So I have an opportunity to share that with you. I think that makes us a little bit more human.

You were mentored by the late Kobe Bryant and have been given the nickname “Gold Mamba.” How did that shape who you are both personally and professionally?

I definitely wasn't thinking about legacy going into playing sports at all. I just wanted to play because it was fun and my friends played. I didn't really even think about professional basketball and what that really meant. My mindset really shifted once Kobe passed because we used to talk all the time about things beyond basketball. … We could have talked about pick and roll [plays] all day. We could have talked about drop coverage and how to attack the pick and rolls, and all basketball terminology. But we talked about life.

He wrote me a letter. I actually have it tattooed on my hand, and I look at it every day. It says, “Be epic and create forever.” That's what he always told me to do. He didn't tell me how to do it, he didn't tell me what it looked like. … Once [he died], I started thinking about my life and how I can affect change in other people and having access to certain things that I do. How do I give that back? How do I serve others?

What does it take to get to a place where basketball isn’t on your mind 24/7 once the season ends?

My trainers pretty much lock me out of the gym for about a month and a half. I don't touch a basketball, which is great. I need that time anyway. Even though I'm not playing basketball, I will still be playing pickleball, I'm still walking my dogs, making sure I'm doing something. I'll do anything but basketball, basically, and it's really nice to have that alternative.

I just bought a guitar, so I'm trying to learn to play. I'm trying to find little things to kind of train my mind to think differently.

What parts of your routine shift most during that downtime?

I always try to add something to my regimen every offseason so that I have six to eight months to see if it actually works … whether that’s finding better water or adding things to my diet, not sleeping with my phone next to my bed and putting it somewhere else, things like that. I'm trying to add Pilates [into my routine]. I haven't fully committed to that yet, but slowly.

I'll start to lock in on specific goals [ahead of] training camp. But the biggest thing for me in the offseason is my conditioning and the sharpening of [my] tools. You want to reevaluate everything, but you also want to maintain what you've been doing for years. Obviously, it's been working, so I don't want to change too much, but I definitely want to sharpen up certain things, fine-tune some things. But you know, if it's not broke, don't fix it.

What does your ideal no-basketball day look like?

Honestly, a lot of housework. I like to be handy and crafty, whether it's working on garage stuff or raking my leaves, which I'm trying to do this week. I like to keep a very clean house, so I'm trying to make sure that I'm mopping and sweeping the floor. Also hanging out with my dogs. There's always music on. I'm a big music person. But I'm very much a homebody. I want to make sure that my home feels as relaxed as possible. I try to just disassociate myself with basketball. And as long as I'm doing something in the house or with family and friends, it's a good day for me.

Before I let you go, I have to ask about your fashion. I love the way that you show up to games. How do you view your style both within and outside of basketball?

I'm not saying I didn't always love fashion, but it was a bonus. If you look at my mom, she's always dolled up all the time, glitz and glam. For me, I'll just throw a hoodie on. But then I started to understand my creativity. The more I got creative with my shoe designs with Nike, I realized I actually do like certain things and that started to trickle down to my fashion and how I saw myself dressing and the looks I wanted to show off.

I hate shopping, so I had to find the right stylist to help me. … I wanted to buy things and wear things that I'm going to wear again. Also, [I like wearing] things that are good for the environment, as well. If you feel good wearing your clothes and you feel confident, you take on a new persona. I don't like to be too flashy. I don't like to do too much. At the end of the day, I want people to see me. I don't want them to see anything else and assume things of me, so I try to make it as simple as possible — but also make sure that I'm still the main focal point.