The WNBA takes another significant step forward

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — I am not a fan of players or teams. I am, however, a fan of historic moments. An incredible historic moment unfolded at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Sunday night as the New York Liberty, one of the WNBA’s original teams, won their first WNBA championship.

Led by Finals MVP Jonquel Jones, the Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx 67-62 in overtime. If any group of fans deserved a championship, the Liberty fans did. The Liberty reached the WNBA Finals five times and never won. Their fans have watched and waited and followed this team for 27 years, first at Madison Squares Garden.

When Knicks owner James Dolan put the team up for sale and exiled the Liberty to Westchester, Liberty fans followed. The Liberty played in Newark and even took the stage at Radio City Music Hall in 2004. Ultimately, the Liberty were bought by Brooklyn Nets owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai. When it became apparent on Sunday that the long-awaited championship moment finally had arrived, the Barclays Center erupted with the pent-up joy of a fan base that has been waiting for nearly three decades for a championship moment.

For those who may have been tuning into WNBA basketball for the first time — college basketball refugees who were brough to the league by Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese — this Liberty-Linx Finals may have been a revelation. For longtime WNBA fans, these Finals simply underscored what they already knew: the women in this league are super-talented, passionate and committed to a cause — the uplift of women’s basketball and women in general.

With the exception of Game 2 which the Liberty won in a rout, every game of the Finals came down to a final possession. In Game 1, Minnesota overcame an 18-point deficit to beat the Liberty 95-93 in overtime. In Game 3, the Liberty needed a 3-point shot by Sabrina Ionescu to pull out an 80-77 victory. The Lynx won Game 4 82-80 on a pair of last-second foul shots by Bridget Carleton. That set up the historic drama that unfolded on Sunday.

Sunday’s victory closed out a historic season, not only for the Liberty, but for a league that has screamed for attention at the top of its lungs in a competitive sports market that too off ignores or marginalizes women. Just as there are men who will never vote for a woman presidential candidate, regardless of her qualifications, there are men who will not give the WNBA consideration. Fortunately, the league continues to grow without them.

Despite the NFL, college football and hockey seasons in full swing, despite Major League Baseball playoffs going on, the WNBA’s voice finally has been heard.

• ESPN estimated that viewership climbed 170% to 1.2 million per game.
• WNBA teams sold 400,000 tickets in one month.
• 21 games attracted more than 1 million viewers each. Eighteen of those games featured the Indiana Fever and Clark, their No. 1 draft pick.

Without question, Clark and fellow rookie Reese of the Chicago Sky played a significant role in the league’s historic step forward this season, but they were by no means saviors. The WNBA may soon need fresh leadership but, with layers upon layers of great players, it does not need saviors.

WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert made a misstep last month when, at the height of the debates surrounding Clark and her initiation into the league, she was asked during a television interview about the racism and misogyny aimed at the WNBA’s predominantly Black player base. Engelbert said, “There’s no more apathy. Everybody cares. It is a little of that Bird-Magic moment if you recall from 1979, when those two rookies came in from a big college rivalry, one white, one Black. And so, we have that moment with these two.

“But the one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry. That’s what makes people watch. They want to watch games of consequence between rivals. They don’t want everybody being nice to one another.”

Later, Engelbert released a statement on social media clarifying her position. “To be clear, there is absolutely no place for hate or racism of any kind in the WNBA or anywhere else.” But Englebert made a valid point: Polarity attracts attention. Where she was wrong is that unlike the NBA in the 1970s, the WNBA does not need a savior. The league needs consistency, persistence and continued growth. It needs competitive Finals like the ones we just saw.

Much of the coverage around the WNBA has been cheerleading and advocacy. I’ve been guilty of that as well. The WNBA is a league but it’s also a movement, a crusade. That’s has made the league refreshing; it’s what separates the WNBA from other major leagues. The WNBA embraces empowerment and social justice while rebuking misogyny. During a conversation last summer at the Paris Olympics, Nadia Rawlinson, the co-owner of the Chicago Sky, said, “Eighty percent of the people on the court are African American women. A large number of those people identify as LGBTQIA. The very predicate of the league is around equality, access, opportunity, fighting for justice, getting space at the table.”

In 2021, players campaigned against Atlanta Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler, who became a vocal supporter of Donald Trump in her bid to retain her Senate seat. She lost. WNBA players have long advocated for LGBTQ rights. They dedicated the 2020 season to the Say Her Name campaign for Breonna Taylor. WNBA players became a respected political force. A year later, Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner was detained in Russia. Her detainment underlined how WNBA players are compelled to compete overseas to supplement their incomes.

I’m not sure how long the WNBA’s activist imperative will last. It could become a casualty of its popularity and expansion. The league is adding one team next season and two more in 2026.

The WNBA has turned yet another corner but there are still more corners to negotiate and mountains to climb. According to a report in the New York Post, the league could lose $40 million this season. The Post report also found that NBA players receive about 50% of the NBA’s basketball-related income, compared to 10% for the WNBA. Sports economist David Berri told the New York Post “the men of the NBA have never in its history been paid as badly as the women of the WNBA right now.” That may change in the next two decades.

But in the here and now, the WNBA took yet another significant step forward this season culminating in a historic moment for the Liberty. As a fan of historic moments, I felt fortunate to experience this one.