Caitlin Clark, #22, and Aliyah Boston, #7, of the Indiana Fever during a preseason game earlier this month. Together, the two opposing No. 1 draft picks hope to lead the Fever to their first playoff appearance since 2016.
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Caitlin Clark, #22, and Aliyah Boston, #7, of the Indiana Fever during a preseason game earlier this month. Together, the two opposing No. 1 draft picks hope to lead the Fever to their first playoff appearance since 2016.
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This looks to be a big year for the WNBA. The tournament’s opening night comes on the heels of a record-breaking women’s college basketball season, in which more people watch women’s matches than that of men.
Now, as some of those college stars make their official WNBA debuts as rookies – including Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese – The WNBA gets underway on Tuesday hoping to capture that excitement.
The WNBA is looking to build on the success of the 2023 seasonwas the most watched in more than two decades, with a 21% increase in viewership and a 16% increase in viewership compared to 2022. And now, the tournament is aiming for expansion in 2025 and 2026.
The regular season will last until mid-September, with a break for the Paris Olympics in July and August, in which dozens of players will compete. The playoffs will take place from late September to October.
Here’s what to look out for as the season gets underway this week:
Can anyone topple the Las Vegas Aces?
A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces walks on the field during a training camp shootout at Las Vegas Aces Headquarters on May 2 in Henderson, Nev. The Aces are the favorites to win the championship in 2024.
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A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces walks on the field during a training camp shootout at Las Vegas Aces Headquarters on May 2 in Henderson, Nev. The Aces are the favorites to win the championship in 2024.
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The Aces won the WNBA title two years running (and they were runners-up in 2020), meaning this year they’re looking to three-peat. Led by All-Star MVP A’ja Wilson, the Aces are the favorites to win the title again.
Their most formidable opponent is New York Liberty, last year’s runner-up. Their roster is massive, led by a two-time MVP and No. 1 of the league. 2 leading scorer, Breanna Stewart, and point guard Courtney Vandersloot, who led the league in assists per game last year.
In contrast to Liberty’s old roster, keep an eye on the Chicago Sky, who have prioritized younger players. During the off-season, the Sky sent away their leading scorer as part of a blockbuster trade to acquire the No. 3 overall draft pick. With that pick, they selected college star Kamilla Cardoso (currently came out with an injury until at least June), and with their No. 7 pick, they chose Reese. Now Sky will be counting on those new recruits to get the team back to the Finals for the first time since 2021.
Can Caitlin Clark help turn around the Indiana fever?
Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark looks on while playing for the Dallas Wings during a preseason game at College Park Center on May 3 in Arlington, Texas.
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Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark looks on while playing for the Dallas Wings during a preseason game at College Park Center on May 3 in Arlington, Texas.
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On the other end of the spectrum are the Indiana Fever, who haven’t appeared in the playoffs since 2016 and whose most recent title, coming in 2012, feels like ancient history.
But their fortunes are changing. With #1 overall pick In April’s WNBA draft, the Fever selected Caitlin Clark, the transcendent college guard who came to the league on the heels of a championship-game loss during her senior college season with Iowa. With Indiana, Clark joins 2023 Rookie of the Year, Aliyah Boston.
The excitement surrounding Clark’s rookie season caused a wave of Fever season ticket sales and ticket sales to other teams when the Fever arrived. Several opponents, including the Aces and Washington Mystics, have moved their home games against the Fever to larger venues to accommodate ticket sales.
That’s exciting for a team that has lost 100 games in the past four seasons. But the WNBA is very friendly to teams making big moves. Several previous teams that produced consecutive No. 1 picks all won titles within a few years. Odds are Fever can do it too – the only question is: how close can they get this year?
Who gets a charter, and who doesn’t?
For years, WNBA players have complained about the league’s commercial air travel policy for most regular-season away games.
That is finally set to change. Last week, WNBA announced that the charter tour program will be “implemented in phases” starting with the start of this year’s season.
But not every team will fly charter flights right away. This week, only two teams traveled by charter – including Clark and Fever, who were seen enjoying the leather seats and footrests in a video posted to Instagram by defenseman Erica Wheeler.
Other traveling teams this week travel by bus or commercial flight. That includes the New York Liberty, who took a charter bus to Washington, D.C., for Tuesday’s game, said Breanna Stewart, who is also vice president of the WNBA players’ union.
Two tournament teams traveling by charter is “a win”, Stewart wrote on social media. “It could be bigger if [WNBA] allows teams that are not granted a League charter the right to self-insure until a solution with 12 teams is ready.”
Expansion is on the horizon
On Tuesday, the owners of the Golden State Warriors announced the team’s name. Bay Area’s new WNBA team: The Valkyries. Warriors ownership was awarded the new expansion franchise last year. The team will begin competition next season.
The Valkyries are the league’s first expansion franchise since 2008, and they will bring the total number of teams in the league to 13. A 14th team is expected to arrive in Toronto in 2026, CBC reported last week. Toronto’s expansion there will mark Canada’s first WNBA team and it will be the biggest tournament the league has hosted in more than 20 years.
