The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in North America composed of 15 teams (14 in the United States and 1 in Canada), scheduled to expand to 18 by 2030. The WNBA is one of the professional women's sports leagues in North America. The league is headquartered in New York City.
The WNBA was founded on April 24, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA); league play began in 1997. The regular season runs from May to September, with each team playing 44 games. The top eight teams (regardless of conference) qualify for the playoffs, culminating in the WNBA Finals, which is played in November.
The All-Star Game occurs in late-July. The league hosts an annual mid-season competition, the Commissioner's Cup. The WNBA is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB), which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) as the governing body for basketball in the U.S.
History League founded and play begins (1996–1997)
The creation of the WNBA was officially approved by the NBA Board of Governors on April 24, 1996, and announced at a press conference with players Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie, and Sheryl Swoopes in attendance. The new WNBA had to compete with the recently formed American Basketball League (ABL), another professional women's league that began play in the fall of 1996, but ceased operation during its 1998–99 season.
The WNBA began with eight teams: the Charlotte Sting, Cleveland Rockers, Houston Comets, and New York Liberty in the Eastern Conference; and the Los Angeles Sparks, Phoenix Mercury, Sacramento Monarchs, and Utah Starzz in the Western Conference.
While the first major women's professional basketball league in the U.S. was the defunct WBL, the WNBA is the only league to receive full backing of the NBA. The WNBA logo, "Logo Woman", paralleled the NBA logo and was selected out of 50 different designs.
After a much-publicized gold medal run by the USA women's national team at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, the WNBA began its first season on June 21, 1997. The first WNBA game featured the New York Liberty facing the Los Angeles Sparks in Los Angeles. The Liberty defeated the Sparks 67–57. A crowd of 14,284 attended the game at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California. The game was televised nationally in the U.S. on the NBC television network. At the start of the 1997 season, the WNBA had TV deals with NBC (NBA rights holder), ESPN, and Lifetime. Penny Toler scored the league's first point.
Houston domination and league expansion (1997–2000)
The WNBA centered its marketing campaign, dubbed "We Got Next", around stars Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie, and Sheryl Swoopes. In the league's first season, Leslie's Los Angeles Sparks underperformed, and Swoopes sat out much of the season due to her pregnancy. Perhaps the WNBA's first star was MVP Cynthia Cooper, Swoopes' teammate on the Houston Comets. The Comets defeated Lobo's New York Liberty in the first WNBA championship game. The initial "We Got Next" advertisement ran before each season until it was replaced with a "We Got Game" campaign.
Two teams were added in 1998 (the Detroit Shock and Washington Mystics), and two more in 1999 (the Orlando Miracle and Minnesota Lynx), bringing the total number of teams in the league to 12. The 1999 season began with a collective bargaining agreement between players and the league, marking the first collective bargaining agreement to be signed in the history of women's professional sports. That year, the WNBA also announced it would add four more teams for the 2000 season (the Indiana Fever, Seattle Storm, Miami Sol, and Portland Fire), bringing the league to 16 teams. WNBA president Val Ackerman discussed expansion, saying: "This won't be the end of it. We expect to keep growing the league."
In 1999, the league's chief competition, the American Basketball League (ABL), declared bankruptcy. Many of the ABL's star players, including several Olympic gold medalists (such as Nikki McCray and Dawn Staley) and a number of standout college performers (including Kate Starbird and Jennifer Rizzotti), joined the rosters of WNBA teams, enhancing the overall quality of play in the league.
On May 23, 2000, the Comets became the first women's professional team to be invited to the White House Rose Garden. At the end of the 2000 season, the Comets won their fourth championship, capturing every title since the league's inception. Led by the "Big Three" of Cooper (who won the Finals MVP for all four championships), Swoopes, and Tina Thompson, the Comets dominated every team in the league. Under head coach Van Chancellor, the team posted a 98–24 record their first four seasons (16–3 in the playoffs). After 2000, Cooper retired from the league, and the Comets' dynasty came to an end.
L.A. Sparks success; new league ownership and contraction (2001–2002)
The Los Angeles Sparks had the best record during the 2001 WNBA season. Led by Lisa Leslie, the Sparks posted a regular-season record of 28–4 and advanced to their first WNBA Finals, sweeping the Charlotte Sting.
Looking for a repeat in 2002, the Sparks again made a strong run toward the postseason, going 25–7 in the regular season under head coach Michael Cooper. Again, Leslie dominated throughout the Playoffs, leading the Sparks to a perfect 6–0 record, beating the New York Liberty in the 2002 Finals.
Teams and the league were collectively owned by the NBA until the end of 2002, when the NBA sold WNBA teams either to their NBA counterparts in the same city or to a third party as a result of the dot-com bubble. This led to two teams moving: Utah moved to San Antonio, and Orlando moved to Connecticut and became the first WNBA team to be owned by a third party instead of an NBA franchise. This sale of teams also led to two teams folding, the Miami Sol and Portland Fire, because new owners could not be found.
Bill Laimbeer leaves his mark (2003–2006)
The Women's National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) threatened to strike in 2003 if a new deal was not reached between players and the league. The result was a delay in the start of the 2003 preseason and the 2003 WNBA draft, along with negative publicity for the league.
Bill Laimbeer took over the Detroit Shock in 2002 as head coach and general manager. He had high hopes for the Shock, despite the team having gone 9–23 its previous season. Three Shock members made it to the 2003 All-Star Game (Swin Cash, Cheryl Ford, and Deanna Nolan), and Laimbeer orchestrated a worst-to-first turnaround with the Shock finishing the season 25–9 and in first place in the Eastern Conference. In the 2003 Finals, the Shock defeated the Los Angeles Sparks 2–1, winning game three in front of a league-record crowd of 22,076.
After the 2003 season, the Cleveland Rockers, one of the league's original eight teams, folded because its owners were unwilling to continue operating the franchise.
The Seattle Storm had consecutive first-overall draft picks in 2001 and 2002, selecting Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird. The Storm's young core broke through in 2004, finishing second in the Western Conference and advancing to the Finals. In a battle of two first-time finalists, the Storm defeated the Connecticut Sun 2–1 and won their first WNBA title. Anne Donovan became the first female coach to guide a team to a WNBA championship.
Val Ackerman, the first WNBA president, resigned effective February 1, 2005, citing the desire to spend more time with her family. Ackerman later became president of USA Basketball. On February 15, 2005, NBA commissioner David Stern announced that Donna Orender, who had been serving as the senior vice president of the PGA Tour and played for several teams in the now-defunct Women's Pro Basketball League, would be Ackerman's successor as of April 2005.
The WNBA awarded an expansion team to Chicago (later named the Chicago Sky) in February 2005. In the off-season, a set of rule changes was approved that made the WNBA more like the NBA.
The 2005 Finals was the first played in a best-of-five format. In another matchup between two teams seeking their first championship, the Sun came up short for the second consecutive year, falling in four games to the Sacramento Monarchs led by Yolanda Griffith.
In 2006, the league reached a milestone as the first team-oriented women's professional sports league to exist for ten consecutive seasons. On its tenth anniversary, the WNBA released its All-Decade Team, comprising the ten WNBA players who had contributed, through on-court play and off-court activities, the most to women's basketball during the league's existence.
The Shock bounced back in 2006 behind newly acquired Katie Smith, along with six remaining members from their 2003 championship run. The Shock finished second in the Eastern Conference and knocked out first-seeded Connecticut in the second round of the Playoffs. In the Finals, they faced reigning champion Sacramento, winning in Game Five on their home floor.
Bringing "Paul Ball" to the WNBA (2007–2009)
In December 2006, the Charlotte Bobcats organization announced it would no longer operate the Charlotte Sting. Soon after, the WNBA announced the Sting would not operate for 2007. A dispersal draft was held on January 8, 2007. Teams selected in inverse order of their 2006 records with the Chicago Sky receiving the first pick.
The Phoenix Mercury hired coach Paul Westhead before the 2006 season. His up-tempo style of play was perfect for the team, especially after the league shortened the shot clock from 30 to 24 seconds in 2006. Led by their "Big Three" of Cappie Pondexter, Diana Taurasi, and Penny Taylor, the Mercury averaged a league-record 89.0 points per game in 2007, far surpassing the previous record, and were propelled into first place in the Western Conference. Facing reigning champions the Detroit Shock in the 2007 Finals, the Mercury beat Detroit on their home floor in front of 22,076 fans in Game Five to claim their first-ever WNBA title.
In October 2007, the WNBA awarded another expansion franchise to Atlanta. Atlanta businessman Ron Terwilliger was the original owner of the new team. Citizens of Atlanta voted on the new team's nickname and colors, selecting the name Atlanta Dream.
During the 2008 regular season, the first-ever outdoor professional basketball game in North America, the Liberty Outdoor Classic, was played at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City. The Indiana Fever defeated the New York Liberty 71–55 in front of over 19,000 fans. In the 2008 Finals, the Shock swept the first-time finalists, the San Antonio Silver Stars, winning their third championship in six years under coach Bill Laimbeer. The victory effectively marked the end of the Shock dynasty, as Laimbeer resigned early in the 2009 season, with the team relocating shortly thereafter.
Late in 2008, the WNBA took over ownership of one of the league's original franchises, the Houston Comets. The Comets ceased operations on December 1, 2008, after no owners could be found. A dispersal draft took place on December 8, 2008, with the first pick, Sancho Lyttle, taken by the Atlanta Dream.