58 Fun Facts About WNBA

Which NBA chief launched the WNBA in 1997?

David Stern won his owners' approval for the league in April 1996 and launched it 14 months later, building on the much-publicised gold medal the US women won at the 1996 Olympics.

Which team won the first four WNBA championships?

The Houston Comets won the first four titles, from the inaugural season through 2000; the franchise folded in December 2008 when no new owner could be found, dynasty and all.

Which NCAA all-time leading scorer at Iowa was drafted first overall by the Indiana Fever in 2024?

Caitlin Clark passed Pete Maravich as Division I's all-time leading scorer in March 2024; in her first season Indiana, a five-win team two years earlier, reached the playoffs.

Which team won WNBA titles in 2022, 2023 and 2025?

The Las Vegas Aces were bought in 2021 by Raiders owner Mark Davis, who hired Becky Hammon as the league's first million-dollar coach; she won the title in her first season.

Which WNBA star retired as the league's all-time leading scorer with six Olympic gold medals?

Diana Taurasi scored 10,646 points in 20 seasons; she skipped the 2015 season because her Russian club paid her more to rest than the WNBA could pay her to play.

Which Sparks forward led the players' union through the WNBA's landmark 2020 labor deal?

Nneka Ogwumike, elected union president in 2016, won higher salaries and maternity benefits in 2020; the players then opted out early and secured a richer deal in 2026.

Who was the first player to win WNBA Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season?

Candace Parker won both in 2008 as the Los Angeles Sparks, 10-24 the year before, went 20-14; in the NBA only Wilt Chamberlain and Wes Unseld have matched the double.

Which player was the first to dunk in a WNBA game, in 2002?

Lisa Leslie threw down the first WNBA dunk against the Miami Sol on 30 July 2002, yet her Sparks lost the game 82-73; the 6-foot-5 center was a three-time MVP.

The Golden State Valkyries, launched in 2025, were the WNBA's first expansion team since which 2008 franchise?

The Atlanta Dream lost their first 17 games in 2008, then reached the Finals two years later; Golden State arrived 17 years on as the league's next new team.

Which 2026 expansion team is the first WNBA franchise based outside the United States?

The Toronto Tempo play at Coca-Cola Coliseum, and in their first season they also staged regular-season home games in Vancouver and Montreal.

Which player won a record fourth WNBA MVP award in 2025?

A'ja Wilson's fourth MVP followed wins in 2020, 2022 and 2024, one more than any other player; that season she also took the scoring title, Defensive Player of the Year and a third championship.

Which center was Finals MVP of the New York Liberty's first title, in 2024?

Jonquel Jones scored 17 points in the overtime win in Game 5; New York had lost all five of its earlier Finals, the first of them in the league's opening season.

Which point guard won all four of the Seattle Storm's WNBA titles, from 2004 to 2020?

Sue Bird won titles 16 years apart with Seattle; she missed all of 2019 after knee surgery, then came back at 39 to win the fourth.

Which player was named Finals MVP in each of the WNBA's first four seasons?

Cynthia Cooper spent a decade with clubs in Spain and Italy because the US had no league for her; she was 34 when the WNBA began and still won Finals MVP four years running.

Which Texas Tech legend was the first player ever signed by the WNBA?

Sheryl Swoopes signed in October 1996 but sat out much of the first season because she was pregnant; she came back to win three MVP awards and had her own Nike shoe, the Air Swoopes.

Which coach won WNBA Coach of the Year in 2011, 2016, 2020 and 2024?

Cheryl Reeve won them all with one franchise, which had missed the playoffs for years before her 2011 team took the title; she added a fifth award in 2026.

Which Lynx star stepped away from the game in 2019 to focus on criminal justice reform?

Maya Moore, a four-time champion and the 2014 MVP, sat out from 2019 to help overturn the wrongful conviction of Jonathan Irons, whom she married, and formally retired in 2023.

Which player was freed from a Russian penal colony in December 2022 in an exchange for Viktor Bout?

Brittney Griner had been detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport in February 2022 over vape cartridges holding less than a gram of hash oil; she was swapped for arms dealer Viktor Bout that December.

Who set the WNBA single-game scoring record of 53 points in 2018?

Liz Cambage had not played in the WNBA since 2013; in her first season back she scored 53 for Dallas against the New York Liberty, breaking Riquna Williams's record of 51.

Who in 2019 became the first WNBA player to record a 50-40-90 shooting season?

Elena Delle Donne also won her second MVP that year, then played through three herniated discs in the Finals as Washington took its first title; her 93.7 percent career free-throw mark is the league's best.

Which Australian won three WNBA MVP awards and two titles with the Seattle Storm?

Lauren Jackson, the No. 1 pick in 2001 at 19, was MVP in 2003, 2007 and 2010; she retired in 2016, then came back in 2022 and played for Australia at the Paris Olympics.

Which Fever legend was credited with a quintuple-double as a Texas high-school player?

Tamika Catchings, who is hearing impaired, threw her hearing aids into a field as a third-grader; at Duncanville she posted 25 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists, 10 steals and 10 blocks.

Which NBA team made Becky Hammon the first full-time female assistant coach in a major US league?

The San Antonio Spurs hired Hammon as a full-time assistant under Gregg Popovich in 2014; she later became the first WNBA coach paid over $1 million a year, having gone undrafted as a player in 1999.

Which Chicago Sky rookie averaged a WNBA-record 13.1 rebounds a game in 2024?

Angel Reese broke the season record with 446 rebounds before a wrist fracture ended her year, and her total was passed before the season ended; her 13.1 a game was still the best average in 2026.

Which team was swept in the first best-of-seven WNBA Finals?

The Phoenix Mercury knocked out the defending champions and then the top seed to reach the 2025 Finals, where they lost four straight; every Finals from 2005 to 2024 had been best-of-five.

The 2020 WNBA season was played inside a bubble at IMG Academy in which Florida city?

Bradenton's IMG Academy housed every team for the whole 2020 season; the players dedicated it to Breonna Taylor and wore her name on their jerseys.

Which in-season tournament, first held in 2021, does the WNBA play each summer?

The Commissioner's Cup pits the best in-season record from each conference in a one-off final with its own prize pool; the inaugural final streamed on Amazon Prime Video.

Which former Deloitte chief executive became the WNBA's top executive in 2019?

Cathy Engelbert had been the first woman to run a Big Four accounting firm; she replaced Lisa Borders, the league's fourth president, who had left to lead Time's Up.

Under what name did the team the Mohegan Tribe bought in 2003 begin play in 1999?

The Orlando Miracle played four seasons in Florida before the Mohegan Tribe bought them and moved them to its casino arena in Uncasville, becoming the first Native American tribe to own a professional sports franchise.

The Dallas Wings were previously the Tulsa Shock and, before that, a three-time champion in which city?

Detroit's Shock lost their first 13 games of 2002, won the title a year later and added two more in 2006 and 2008 before leaving for Tulsa and, in 2016, Dallas.

Which Los Angeles Sparks guard scored the first points in WNBA history?

Penny Toler scored the first basket against the New York Liberty at the Forum in the league's opening game, though her Sparks lost 67-57; she went on to run the team's front office.

What slogan did the WNBA's launch campaign build around its three original marquee stars?

'We Got Next' is playground code for claiming the next game on the court; the launch campaign built the slogan around Rebecca Lobo and two other marquee signings.

Which Liberty guard hit a 50-foot buzzer-beater in Game 2 of the 1999 Finals to force a Game 3?

Teresa Weatherspoon banked in a heave from beyond half-court with 2.4 seconds left as New York trailed 67-65 with no timeouts; the defending champions took the title in Game 3 regardless.

Who faced Stephen Curry in the first NBA-versus-WNBA three-point contest in 2024?

Sabrina Ionescu chose to shoot from the NBA line and scored 26 to Curry's 29; a year earlier she had made 25 of 27 shots in the WNBA's own contest.

Which LSU guard did the Lynx take first overall in 2006 before she won Rookie of the Year?

Seimone Augustus averaged 21.9 points as a rookie in 2006 and stayed with the franchise through 2019, the first piece of a core that added Lindsay Whalen and Rebekkah Brunson for four titles.

Napheesa Collier co-founded the 3-on-3 league Unrivaled with which Liberty star?

Breanna Stewart and Collier launched Unrivaled's first season with six teams of six players in Medley, Florida, giving stars a domestic alternative to playing overseas in winter.

Which coach and GM led the Mystics to their first title in 2019?

Mike Thibault, hired in December 2012 after Trudi Lacey's firing, coached Washington to the 2019 championship and retired after the 2022 season, handing the job to his son Eric.

The Aces' three straight No. 1 picks were Kelsey Plum, A'ja Wilson and which guard?

Jackie Young, a Notre Dame guard, was the third straight No. 1 pick in 2019; Chelsea Gray, the fourth member of the core, arrived as a free agent two years later.

A'ja Wilson led which college to its first NCAA championship in 2017?

South Carolina beat Mississippi State 67-55 in the final, two days after the Bulldogs had ended UConn's 111-game winning streak; Wilson was named Most Outstanding Player.

Who became the WNBA's career rebounding leader by passing Rebekkah Brunson in 2020?

Sylvia Fowles passed Brunson in 2020 and retired in 2022 with 4,006 rebounds and four Defensive Player of the Year awards; Tina Charles has since overtaken her total.

Atlanta's WNBA players wore 'VOTE WARNOCK' shirts in 2020 in opposition to which team co-owner and senator?

Kelly Loeffler, the team's co-owner, had criticised the league's support for Black Lives Matter; Warnock won the seat, Loeffler sold her stake months later and former player Renee Montgomery joined the new ownership group.

Which Oregon franchise returned to the WNBA in 2026 with the name of the team that folded in 2002?

The Portland Fire name revives the franchise that played from 2000 to 2002 at the Rose Garden; the new team plays at the Moda Center, the same building under its later name.

Which Lakers legend was part of the group that bought the Los Angeles Sparks in 2014?

Magic Johnson and Dodgers owner Mark Walter stepped in weeks after the previous owners abruptly gave the team up; two years later the Sparks won the title.

Which coach of the 1980 champion Lakers won a WNBA title in 2007?

Paul Westhead began the 1979-80 season as a Lakers assistant and ended it as a champion head coach; in 2007 his run-and-gun WNBA side made him a title winner in both leagues.

Which center did the Indiana Fever draft first overall in 2023 after winning only five games in 2022?

Aliyah Boston won Rookie of the Year; Indiana landed the top pick again a year later, and in 2024 the Fever were back in the playoffs.

Whom did the Sacramento Monarchs beat for their only WNBA title in 2005, before folding in 2009?

The Monarchs beat the Connecticut Sun 3-1 after losing Game 2 in overtime to a tying three with two seconds left; they clinched at home in Sacramento, with Yolanda Griffith the Finals MVP.

Whom did the Fever's first title team beat in the 2012 Finals?

Indiana beat the defending champion Minnesota Lynx 3-1 in 2012 after staving off elimination in both earlier rounds and losing Katie Douglas to an ankle injury.

Which company replaced Spalding as maker of the official WNBA game ball in 2021?

Wilson took over the WNBA and NBA balls after Spalding's 37-year run, a return for the firm that had supplied the NBA before; the WNBA ball is 28.5 inches around, an inch smaller than the men's.

In 2020, what top salary did the WNBA's new labor deal set for its highest-paid players?

The 2020 deal set a top salary of $215,000 for long-serving stars, up from $117,500; the players opted out early, and the 2026 agreement lifted the ceiling to about $1.4 million.

The first WNBA All-Star Game was played in 1999 at which arena?

Madison Square Garden hosted it on July 14, 1999; the Liberty's Rebecca Lobo was picked for the East but could not play, having torn a knee ligament in the season's first game.

Which USC forward was the first pick in the WNBA's inaugural college draft in 1997?

Tina Thompson went first in April 1997 because the league's biggest names had already been assigned to teams; she played 17 seasons and retired as its leading scorer.

The New York Liberty's mascot, introduced in 2021, is what kind of animal?

An elephant, Ellie, nods to the elephants P. T. Barnum paraded across the Brooklyn Bridge to show it was sound; she was chosen as the Liberty made Brooklyn their home.

Whom did the Dallas Wings take first overall in 2025 after her UConn national title?

Paige Bueckers was the first freshman named national player of the year, missed most of two seasons with knee injuries, then won a national title at UConn before going first overall to Dallas.

Which sixth seed won its first WNBA title in 2021?

The Chicago Sky, 16-16 in the regular season, won two single-elimination games and lost only twice across the semifinals and Finals, with Kahleah Copper the Finals MVP.

Which network televised the first WNBA game, Liberty versus Sparks?

NBC, then the NBA's own broadcaster, carried the opener from the Great Western Forum in Inglewood on June 21, 1997; ESPN and Lifetime also showed games that first season.

Which rival women's competition began play in fall 1996 and folded during its 1998-99 season?

The American Basketball League paid higher salaries than the WNBA but folded in December 1998 midway through its third season; stars such as Dawn Staley and Yolanda Griffith then moved to WNBA rosters.

Where was the 2008 Liberty Outdoor Classic, the WNBA's first outdoor game, held?

Arthur Ashe Stadium, the US Open's main tennis court, hosted the game on July 19, 2008, before 19,393 fans; the visiting Indiana Fever spoiled the occasion, winning 71-55.

Which coach posted a 98-24 record over the WNBA's first four seasons?

Van Chancellor, hired from Ole Miss, won the league's first three Coach of the Year awards and went 27-3 in 1998; he then took charge of the US women and coached them to Olympic gold in 2004.