The WNBA has reached a historic milestone as its 30th season is nearing the halfway mark. It all began in 1997 with eight teams; now there are 15 and counting. Half of those original eight teams remain: the New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury, Los Angeles Sparks and Las Vegas Aces (then the Utah Starzz).
The Aces have won three of the last four WNBA championships. They are led by generational talent A’ja Wilson and head coach Becky Hammon. Hammon’s career as both a player and coach spans nearly the entirety of the WNBA’s existence.
It began in 1999 when she signed with the New York Liberty as an undrafted free agent. In her rookie season, she was the backup guard for Teresa Weatherspoon. She was witness to one of the most exciting moments in WNBA history: “The Shot”
While speaking with reporters, Hammon also recounted the run she and the rest of the San Antonio Silver Stars made in 2008, which ended in the WNBA Finals.
In Game 2 of the conference finals, San Antonio’s Sophia Young-Malcolm hit a game-winner to even up the series against the Los Angeles Sparks, 1-1. At the time, playoff series were best-of-three until the finals, which meant Hammon and the Silver Stars not only avoided elimination, but were just one win away from the Finals.
In the decisive Game 3, Hammon put the team on her back and set a franchise record for most points scored in a playoff game with 35. That record stood until 2023, when it was broken by Wilson.
“That whole series … was one to remember,” Hammon said.
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Growing through visibility
The WNBA has been around for a generation, and it has not been easy. For a long time, collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) made progress relative to the league’s starting point, but the gains still left pay, travel, facilities and living conditions subpar.
Entering Year 30, the new 2026 CBA was groundbreaking after a long back-and-forth battle between the WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA). For the first time in league history, players signed contracts with million-dollar salaries. That is a far cry from the $117,500 maximum salary as recently as 2019.
The new CBA’s improved standards across the board, especially in travel and practice facilities, will only help the league moving forward.
Being relieved of the stress of having to travel on commercial economy flights and low pay allows for a better product to be displayed. Now, the majority of the league does not have to play overseas in order to make more money.
Playing year-round creates a lot of wear and tear on the body. Now, many more players can remain stateside, allowing organizations and players to do more marketing during the offseason and giving players more time for recovery.
In the league’s early years, the WNBA consistently drew big crowds. Per Across The Timeline, the league’s per-game attendance in the inaugural season was 9,661 and finished above 9,000 each of the first six seasons.
Then attendance began to wane, leading to a period of instability, but a 48% spike from 2023 to 2024 brought the league average to 9,807, the first time above 9,000 in over 20 years.
It is unfortunate that the lull meant many people did not see a litany of greats like Maya Moore, Tamika Catchings, Cappie Pondexter, and so many others in their prime while the league was underserved and underseen.
Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud told The IX that she attributes the league’s growth to the players past and present.
“The women that make up this league,” the veteran said. “The OGs that came before us, that we’re standing on the shoulders of; the kids that will come after me and stand on my shoulders to continue to progress this sport.
“But I think after a huge and monumental CBA, what I want people to know is that this would have never worked if it wasn’t for the players. Yes, we need investment. Yes, we need … sponsorships, endorsements, but the product on the floor is made by us.”
Alysha Clark is a three-time champion and is currently serving as one of the WNBPA’s vice presidents. She is also the oldest player in the league. Her fondest memories are her WNBA championships, one of which she won with the Aces under Hammon in 2023.
Her earliest memory of the W is discovering that she shared a birthday with WNBA legend Lisa Leslie her sophomore year of high school. She told The IX that at the time she did not know much about the WNBA.
“I did a book report on her and learned about the WNBA through that. It was just cool to see. I was like, ‘Oh wow, there’s this professional basketball player, we share the same birthday, and she’s like a legend,'” the veteran forward said.
Star power and improved TV windows have been key in the league’s increased visibility. The league had increasingly been given diminished TV windows, and games were pushed to more niche channels over the course of decades.
Then, the tide slowly began to turn before major leaps in 2024 and 2025, culminating in the new $2.2 billion media rights deal with Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal that began this season and runs for 11 seasons. The league also has contracts with USA Network and CBS, further capitalizing on this momentum.
The league went through its growing pains and has now entered what can be considered a golden era. Today, people get to see and learn history from legends like Leslie, Rebecca Lobo, Sheryl Swoopes and Cynthia Cooper through their broadcasting roles.
Fans, new and old, learned even more of that history when the league celebrated its 30th season on June 21 with a matchup between Los Angeles and New York, who went head-to-head in the first game in league history.
The game began with a recreation of the first jump ball between Kym Hampton and Leslie, with the first WNBA president, Val Ackerman, tossing it up.
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Decades of championships
Every decade there has been a team that defined the league’s elite. In the 1990s it was the Houston Comets. Houston, led by Cooper, Swoopes and Tina Thompson, the league’s very first collegiate draft pick, won the first four WNBA championships, 1997-2000.
Between league expansion and the growing pool of talented players, it will be even more difficult for a team to put together a four-peat of their own.
The Detroit Shock dominated in the 2000s. They took home the WNBA title in 2003, 2006 and 2008. Before Maya Moore, there was Deanna “Tweety” Nolan. She was named to the WNBA Top 20@20 list in 2016.
The Minnesota Lynx won four championships in the 2010s. They were led by one of the greatest players to ever play in the WNBA: Maya Moore. The Lynx took home titles in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. This run cemented head coach Cheryl Reeve’s place in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
The aforementioned Las Vegas Aces have dominated the first half of this decade. They won the championship in 2022, 2023 and 2025. Wilson has already become one of the greatest of all time. She is a four-time Most Valuable Player and a three-time Defensive Player of the Year.
The best defender is not usually synonymous with the MVP; the only other player in league history to win both in the same year twice was Sheryl Swoopes. Wilson is the perfect example of how the game has evolved.
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Full circle
The league has seen a total of 21 franchises since 1997, and three have relocated at least once. Before becoming the Dallas Wings, the franchise had previous stints as the Detroit Shock and the Tulsa Shock before arriving in Texas for the 2016 season.
Likewise, the Aces began in Utah before their initial move to San Antonio and their later move to Las Vegas beginning in 2018. The Orlando Miracle relocated in 2003 to become the Connecticut Sun. This season will be their last in Connecticut, as they will relocate to Houston and use the Comets name in 2027.
When the original Comets folded, a large part of the league’s history became a ghost of the past. Though the championship banners have been displayed in the Toyota Center, the home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, there was still a void that will finally be filled in 2027.
Of the six markets that have had their teams folded in the league’s history, three will once again have a team by 2028. Along with the new Comets next season, the WNBA returned to Portland this season and Cleveland’s expansion team will take the floor in 2028.
Plus, in 2029, the league will once again have a team in Detroit for the first time since 2009, when the Shock left for Tulsa. To cap off the ongoing round of expansion, Philadelphia will bring the league to 18 teams starting in 2030.
When the league was announced in 1996, one year before games began, there was a lot of hope but also a lot of uncertainty. Multiple women’s professional basketball leagues had already folded, and they’d need to compete with the rival ABL, which had a one-season head start. Now, in 2026, the league is thriving, with a bright future ahead.
The IX Basketball’s Maggie Hendricks contributed reporting for this story.
