58 Fun Facts About WNBA

In which year did the WNBA play its first season?

The WNBA tipped off in June 1997 with eight teams; the NBA Board of Governors had approved the league in April 1996, and the US women's Olympic gold that August fuelled interest before the first game.

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 left Iowa as Division I's all-time leading scorer, passing Pete Maravich in 2024, and set the WNBA single-season assists record as a rookie with Indiana.

Which team, owned by Raiders owner Mark Davis, won WNBA titles in 2022, 2023 and 2025?

The Las Vegas Aces, owned by Raiders owner Mark Davis, won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023 and then a third under coach Becky Hammon two years later; the franchise moved to Las Vegas in 2018.

Which WNBA star holds the league's all-time scoring record and won six Olympic gold medals?

Diana Taurasi played all 20 of her seasons for the Phoenix Mercury, passed Tina Thompson as the career scoring leader in June 2017 and retired after the 2024 season with more than 10,000 points.

Under the WNBA's 2020 labor deal, what was the maximum number of players on a roster?

The tight 12-player limit was one reason training-camp cuts in the WNBA were so brutal every spring.

Who is the only player to win WNBA Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season?

Candace Parker won both awards in 2008 with the Los Angeles Sparks, averaging 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds as a rookie; 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 of the Los Angeles Sparks threw down the first WNBA dunk on a breakaway against the Miami Sol on 30 July 2002; the 6-foot-5 center was a three-time MVP and four-time Olympic gold medallist.

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

The Atlanta Dream began play in 2008 as the league's 14th franchise; Golden State paid a reported $50 million expansion fee to become the first new team in 17 years.

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

The Toronto Tempo, owned by Larry Tanenbaum's Kilmer Sports Ventures, play at Coca-Cola Coliseum, an 8,500-seat arena at Exhibition Place; the name was unveiled in December 2024.

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.

How many Finals had the New York Liberty lost before their first title in 2024?

The Liberty had lost five Finals, three of them in the league's first four seasons plus 2002 and 2023, before winning the 2024 title in a five-game series decided in overtime.

Which three franchises had each won four WNBA championships by the end of 2025?

Comets, Lynx and Storm each had four titles: the Lynx's came in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 and the Storm's in 2004, 2010, 2018 and 2020, while no other franchise had more than three.

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

Cynthia Cooper was Finals MVP in each of the first four championship series and won the league's first two MVP awards; she was 34 when the league launched after a decade starring in Italy.

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

She went on to three MVP awards, three Olympic golds and a Nike signature shoe, the Air Swoopes.

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

Cheryl Reeve won all four awards with the same franchise, which she also coached to championships in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017.

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, the Phoenix Mercury center, had been detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport in February 2022 over vape cartridges containing cannabis oil; she was swapped for arms dealer Viktor Bout on 8 December 2022.

Who holds the WNBA single-game scoring record with 53 points?

Liz Cambage scored 53 points for the Dallas Wings against the New York Liberty on 17 July 2018, breaking Riquna Williams's record of 51 set in 2013.

Who holds the WNBA career free-throw percentage record and first joined the 50-40-90 club?

Elena Delle Donne shot better than 93 percent from the line for her career and in 2019 became the first WNBA player with a 50-40-90 season, leading Washington to its first title and winning her second MVP.

Which Australian won three WNBA MVP awards and two titles alongside Sue Bird?

Lauren Jackson, the No. 1 pick in 2001 at 19, won MVP in 2003, 2007 and 2010 and delivered the franchise's first two titles in 2004 and 2010 alongside her point guard.

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

Tamika Catchings posted 25 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists, 10 steals and 10 blocks for Duncanville High in Texas; she later spent all 15 of her WNBA seasons with Indiana and was Finals MVP in 2012.

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 set the WNBA single-season rebounding record in 2024?

Angel Reese, nicknamed the Bayou Barbie, pulled down 446 rebounds in 2024, passing the previous single-season record of 404; she had led LSU to its first national title in 2023 as Most Outstanding Player.

In which year did the WNBA Finals first become a best-of-seven series?

The Finals went to best-of-seven in 2025 with a 2-2-1-1-1 home-court format copied from the NBA; every previous Finals since 2005 had been best-of-5.

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

IMG Academy sits in Bradenton, south of Tampa on Florida's Gulf coast; every team lived and played there in what fans dubbed the 'Wubble', and the 2020 title was decided with no spectators.

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.

Whom did Cathy Engelbert succeed as the WNBA's top executive in 2019?

Lisa Borders, a former Coca-Cola executive, ran the league from 2016 until she left in October 2018 to lead Time's Up; Engelbert arrived from Deloitte, where she had been CEO.

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?

The Detroit Shock won titles in 2003, 2006 and 2008 under Pistons legend Bill Laimbeer, then moved to Tulsa in 2010 and became the Dallas Wings in 2016.

Which player scored the first points in WNBA history?

Penny Toler of the Los Angeles Sparks scored the first basket, a jumper against the New York Liberty at the Forum in the league's opening game; the Liberty won 67-57.

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 took on Curry at the 2024 NBA All-Star Saturday, scoring 26 to his 29; a year earlier she had set the WNBA Three-Point Contest record with 37 points, making 25 of 27 shots.

Which LSU guard did the Lynx take first overall in 2006, winning Rookie of the Year that season?

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 2017 final; its star center was named Most Outstanding Player, won three straight SEC Player of the Year awards and left as the program's top scorer.

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

Sylvia Fowles passed Brunson in August 2020 and retired in 2022 with 4,006 rebounds; she won four Defensive Player of the Year awards and was Finals MVP in 2015 and 2017.

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 team did the Golden State Valkyries NOT select from in their December 2024 expansion draft?

Golden State took one player from each of the other eleven teams and left the Seattle Storm untouched; they opened their first season at Chase Center the following May.

The WNBA shortened its shot clock in 2006 from 30 seconds to how many?

The 24-second clock matched the NBA's and arrived with the 2006 move to four 10-minute quarters; it suited Paul Westhead's run-and-gun Mercury, who set a league scoring record in 2007 and won the title.

How many fans attended Game 3 of the 2003 Finals at the Palace of Auburn Hills?

A crowd of 22,076 watched the Shock beat the Los Angeles Sparks 83-78 in the deciding Game 3 of the 2003 Finals at the Palace, completing a worst-to-first turnaround.

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 in the 2005 Finals, clinching on the Sun's home floor; Yolanda Griffith was Finals MVP after years of playoff runs with Ticha Penicheiro and Ruthie Bolton.

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.

What is the minimum circumference of a regulation WNBA basketball?

A WNBA ball measures 28.5 inches around, an inch smaller than the NBA's 29.5-inch ball, which is why it is sold as a 'size 6'.

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

The 2020 collective bargaining agreement set a top salary of $215,000 for the highest-paid veterans, up from a previous maximum of $117,500.

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

Madison Square Garden hosted the inaugural All-Star Game on July 14, 1999, when the West beat the East 79-61 before a sellout crowd.

Which Tennessee graduate was the first player ever drafted by the WNBA?

Dena Head went first to the Utah Starzz in the elite draft, held two months before the first regular draft; the process had begun with the allocation of 16 players, two per team.

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

Ellie the Elephant, a dancing mascot in sneakers, debuted three seasons before the Liberty's 2024 title and became a viral star during that championship run.

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.

The Chicago Sky won their first WNBA championship in which year?

The Sky beat the Phoenix Mercury 3-1 in the 2021 Finals, with Kahleah Copper as Finals MVP, after entering the playoffs as the sixth seed.

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

NBC carried the opening game from the Great Western Forum in Inglewood; ESPN and Lifetime shared the rest of the inaugural season's national schedule.

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?

The Liberty beat the Indiana Fever at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the US Open's main court in Flushing Meadows, on July 19, 2008.

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

Van Chancellor, hired from Ole Miss, coached the franchise from its first season through 2006 and won the league's first three Coach of the Year awards; his teams went a record-setting 27-3 in 1998.