30 seasons in, the WNBA has never been more popular, successful, and influential.
Expansion is occurring at a fast rate, with Golden State joining the Association in 2025 and two new cities, Toronto and Portland, beginning play this spring. The new squads have only been granted due to the steadily improving finances, skyrocketing interest, and the continued talent infusion from the collegiate ranks. The WNBA was created with significant financial assistance from the long-established National Basketball Association. Many of the original franchises in 1997 had similar color schemes and names to foster a connection between the two and to provide a natural through line for people to discover women’s basketball. Examples include the NBA’s Houston Rockets vs WNBA’s Comets, the Charlotte Hornets vs Sting, the Phoenix Suns vs Mercury, and the Sacramento Kings vs Monarchs. But, the similar names and themes also created a lack of distinct identity for many clubs, almost as if they were simply the female version of the NBA squads. It didn’t help matters that the WNBA struggled in its early years, similar to the floundering NBA in the 1940s and ‘50s. The “W” was used as a punchline in pop culture — unpopular, financially unsuccessful, and irrelevant. The first dynastic team in the WNBA, Houston, folded a few years after their last championship. There was fantastic basketball being played, great moments, and fun rivalries present, but the money wasn’t coming in as much as the league had hoped and fan interest was okay at best. But, as the cultural landscape of the late 2010s and early 2020s brought attention to women’s rights and progress, more attention was slowly being given to the WNBA too. Then, a renaissance occurred.
2023 NCAA Women’s National Championship.
The 2023 NCAA Women’s National Championship pitted rebounding and paint phenom Angel Reese of the LSU Tigers vs sharpshooting point guard Caitlin Clark of the Iowa Hawkeyes. In a highly anticipated battle, Louisiana State came out on top for their first National Championship. In the final minutes, Angel Reese made a taunting gesture in Clark’s direction, whilst pointing at her ring figure. This gesture was widely interpreted to reference the imminent LSU championship and that Clark was going to come up empty along with the rest of her Iowa teammates. This rivalry, though mostly propped up through media attention, has contributed to the explosion of popularity that women’s sports, especially women’s basketball, has received since. Caitlin Clark broke the all-time NCAA Division I scoring record (men’s and women’s) in her senior season of 2024, before falling again in the national title, this time to undefeated South Carolina. In 2024, upon the graduation of LSU’s Angel Reese and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, the league received more publicity and attention than ever before. Ratings spiked in the professional and collegiate ranks, NBA arenas sold out consistently, and chatter about the sport continued to grow. Paige Bueckers of UConn, who won a ring in her final season in 2025, is another young star in the WNBA and Juju Watkins of Southern California has garnered positive attention for her elite offense. For a league that was floundering at points in their history, they have experienced a pop culture moment that hasn’t been often seen in women’s sports. Players like A’ja Wilson, Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, Aliyah Boston, and Napheesa Collier are also established stars with distinct play styles and competitive flairs that have contributed to the league’s growth. That’s what made this offseason’s labor dispute so scary to see.
wnba and the cba.
After a contentious public battle between WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and the WNBA Players’ Association, notably Napheesa Collier of Minnesota, the league came to an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in the past week. With all the momentum, increased interest, and financial upturn regarding women’s basketball and women’s sports in general, there was tangible fear of a lockout for the 2026 WNBA campaign, the 30th anniversary year. But, calmer heads prevailed and significant aspects of the CBA were big player wins. Protections for pregnant players, increased benefits, and revenue sharing are all included in the new deal, giving players more rights and agency than ever. Sure, there are still plenty of issues to solve with the letter “W” and women’s sports at large, but there has been tangible evidence of a better league. A lockout, especially a prolonged one, could have stalled all the momentum and progress of the last half-decade.
the future.
So, here we are in the year 2026, thirty years in. The WNBA has had its financial and social difficulties, especially in the league’s infancy. Misogyny and inequality still persist in WNBA discourse. Disparateattention is given to scuffles between WNBA players, showing that physicality in sports is less accepted for women. Disrespectful actions like tossing phallic sexual objects onto WNBA courts shows the disrespect that is shown in some corners of the sports world. But, the discriminatory attitudes and sexist behavior is less pronounced than in the past. More and more genuine praise has been heaped from across the country, political spectrum, and range of interests has given hope that women’s sports is being respected more and more. And we are all better off for it. I cannot wait to see what’s in store this season in the WNBA.