The WNBA is the premier women's basketball league in the world with our own WNBL in Australia not too far behind.
Founded in 1996 and commencing play in 1997, it has been run and bankrolled by the NBA as women's sport generally is seen as a money drainer (i.e. it doesn't bring in its fair share of revenue).
Over the years, 6 teams have folded (Charlotte Sting, Cleveland Rockets, Houston Comets, Miami Sol, Portland Fire and Sacramento Monarchs) while there have been 5 relocations (Detroit relocate to Tulsa who then relocated to Dallas, Orlando relocated to Connecticut and Utah who relocated to San Antonio who then relocated to Las Vegas) leaving the WNBA with its current 12 team competition.
What makes this league the best league in the world is how intense the competition is and how hard it is to actually secure a spot on the roster.
What also counters that view is that securing a spot on a roster is so tough that it leads to some brutal and frankly outrageous decisions.
In the most recent off-season, the WNBA had a draft and then the battle to secure spots on the draft led to some extraordinary calls.
The WNBA Draft has 3 rounds, 12 picks per round and the stats are staggering Round 1 - 1 player waived Round 2 - 6 players waived Round 3 - 6 players waived
So out of 36 players picked, 13 were waived (36.1%) and if we were to break that down a little more 7 players out of 24 (first 2 rounds of the draft) were waived (29.2%).
Undoubtedly the most controversial waiving was that of the #11 draft pick Abbey Meyers by the Dallas Wings but the most bitter was the waiving of the #22 draft pick Alexis Morris. Morris didn't take too kindly to being waived and in fact, launched an attack "The Vets gotta know when to cut the net and pass the torch bro...30+ hang it up"
Let's lay this straight out. I don't agree with the point that she made in the way she chose to make it. Some of the veterans still going around are fantastic for the league to have and still deserve a place in the league. A couple of examples: - Candace Parker (37) - most recent game had 10pts 6reb 7ast 5stl - plays for a very strong Las Vegas Aces team but still contributing - Nneka Ogwumike (33) - currently averaging 21.1pts and 9.8reb per game - plays for the Los Angeles Sparks who are sitting 5-4 chasing the Aces
- Elena Delle Donne (33) - currently averaging 18.4pts and 6.9reb per game - plays for a struggling Phoenix Mercury side sitting 2-6
- Courtney Vandersloot (34) - currently averaging 10.6pts and 8.9ast per game - moved from Chicago to form a "super-team" in New York
I could go on and on but under Alexis Morris' original criteria, these players would have to hang it up for younger players.
While Alexis Morris did backtrack on those comments claiming she meant no disrespect to the veterans of the league, what she did unintentionally do is open up a conversation about the state of the league and the fact that there aren't enough spots to go around. You could also question the point of drafting players when you're just going to waive them and given that happened to 13 players drafted this year, it kinda makes the draft redundant in some ways.
Right now though, the WNBA has a big problem looming and everyone can see it coming a mile away.
The 2024 potential WNBA Draft Pool could be one of the best that you will ever see and the scary nature of it will lead to some brutal cutting unless action is taken.
NBA Draftroom recently did a mock draft on what the 2024 WNBA Draft could look like and my word, it is something to behold.
To see their first 2 rounds in the mock draft, click here
But let's look at some of the names that make this extraordinary.
Caitlin Clark (Iowa) - what hasn't been said already, she is the Steph Curry of College Basketball regarding her shooting range
Angel Reese (LSU) - averaged a double-double throughout the entire college basketball season including the NCAA tournament which LSU won
Paige Bueckers (University of Connecticut) - Has had injuries but if healthy, she is unbelievable
Hailey van Lith (moved from Louisville to LSU) - another unbelievable guard who at a very talented LSU will take her game to another level
Georgia Amoore (Virginia Tech) - I'm a little biased given she's Australian but the way she has been given basically free-reign to develop her game, not to mention being green-lighted to launch from whatever range she deems worthy, again, another talent worthy
So what does the WNBA do to avoid what could be one of the most bizarre off-seasons in living memory? The way I see it, they have two paths they could go down. Both have risks but if done properly, could lead to some further gains and greater opportunities for the likes of Alexis Morris.
Path 1: Expand the Playing Squad Right now, WNBA teams are only allowed a maximum of 12 players in their squad on a hard cap (US $1,420,500). An argument could be made that at this present time, that is simply not enough salary to go around. By expanding the playing squad to say 13-15 players, teams would be obligated to keep those drafted players for at least 1 season. That is one potential option but that could lead to problems if those drafted players aren't getting any game time, thus stunting their development.
If you wanted to go down this path, this could also lead to the option of creating a Development League linked to every team. For that to work, you'd have to have a set salary cap for both the WNBA and the Development League. I'm not convinced the money is there to pull this off at all. It's not unreasonable to see something like this happen in the future but right now, no, very bloody unlikely.
This then leads to Path 2.
Path 2: Expand the League This one is an interesting option worth exploring. As someone who has seen the WNBL (Australia) try its hand at expansion with some pretty ordinary results, suggesting this doesn't match what I have seen in women's basketball.
In saying that though, in America, in the WNBA, I could actually see expansion working but that raises the question of where would be best suitable for expansion teams and more importantly, how would you ensure they are well run and funded?
This is where it gets a bit trickier.
The WNBA has historically been subsidised by the NBA with the NBA providing around US$12m per season. Teams struggle to turn a profit and you need ownership that is committed for the long haul. The Phoenix Mercury has it right with the owner of them (Mat Ishiba) also owning the Suns. The New York Liberty has it right with the owner of them (Joe Tsai) also owning the Brooklyn Nets.
This has to be the model for any expansion which means logically, you need to expand to places where owners are likely to be committed.
Again, the problem run into is that the WNBA still needs to maintain an even East/West Conference distribution. So let's go off the logic that the WNBA chooses to expand by 2 teams.
This would be my preference if I were in charge.
First of all, out West, I'm looking at San Francisco and more specifically the owners of the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors were recently valued at US$7.56b and I think the idea of having the Chase Centre as an all-year-round basketball venue is quite appealing. The other alternative is they base the team at Oakland Arena (formerly Oracle Arena) and given teams seem to be fleeing Oakland at a rate of knots, having one come in, actually wouldn't be the worst idea.
Out East is a little more complicated but I'm going a left-field option and taking the WNBA to Canada and more specifically Toronto. Toronto had a test run recently when they hosted a pre-season game between the Minnesota Lynx and Chicago Sky. They managed to sell out Scotiabank Arena with 19,923 fans attending that game. Granted, this was a one-off game but let's look at it this way. Could you imagine Drake sitting front row watching the Toronto women's team just like he does at Raptors games? That in itself is priceless to consider. In terms of ownership, you'd be looking first at the Raptors owners and I see no reason why they wouldn't take up the offer.
I'm not in charge of the WNBA, Cathy Engelbert is but what I do know right now is that the continued stories of players being drafted getting waived is not helping the reputation of the league. If you want to be serious about rewarding these college players who have worked hard for 4-5 years to get to the WNBA, you need to make a choice and make it very damn quickly. The WNBA right now is in crunch time. Which way it chooses to go will determine whether it maintains its status as the number 1 league in the world or whether it will start losing players to overseas leagues like China and Russia.
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