The 21st century has officially completed its first quarter, and what a time it has been in the world of women’s basketball.

The WNBA survived contraction and periods of declining interest to become the longest-running women’s professional sports league in the U.S. It is now in a period of boom with expansion increasing the size of the league by 50 percent. Moreover, massively popular and talented young stars have brought in a new subset of fans to join the diehards who have supported the league for years.

Meanwhile, NCAA basketball has maintained its relevance throughout. Coaching powerhouses at UConn, Tennessee, Notre Dame and Stanford made for dramatic rivalries. That was accentuated by player empowerment in the NIL era, as the business of college sports completely upended. College basketball also had a once-in-a-generation moment with Caitlin Clark that reimagined the sport’s potential on the national scene.

As we close the book on 2025, here are 25 moments that have defined the last 25 years of women’s basketball in the U.S.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. We encourage you to chime in with what’s missing in the comments. But this is our best effort to rank the on- and off-court moments that tell the story of college and professional women’s basketball since the start of the new century.

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1. NIL and transfer portal create new era

July 1, 2021

The Supreme Court affirmed in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston that the NCAA was violating antitrust law by restricting compensation for college athletes. Ten days later, the NCAA officially began the NIL era. Now that college athletes can partner with brands, they are visible in a way they never were before. It has created a viewership boom in college sports, particularly for female athletes who have a natural comfort with social media.

The introduction of NIL was even more impactful due to the corresponding change in transfer portal rules. College athletes no longer had to sit out one season after transferring and could play immediately, even within the same conference. The unprecedented freedom of player movement, combined with the ability to pay players as a recruiting tool, essentially brought free agency to the NCAA. Turnover is rampant during the offseason, and teams have shorter windows to build and grow together.

On the plus side, the change in eligibility rules has made the NCAA system friendlier to Olympic athletes. The last two WNBA Draft classes, the first of the NIL generation, have been massively popular. The professional game is capitalizing on the professionalization of the college game to great effect.

2. Breanna Stewart, UConn go four-for-four

April 5, 2016

Following Pat Summitt’s retirement at Tennessee in 2012, the stage seemed set for UConn to become the sole women’s college basketball superpower (at least for awhile). The Huskies did not squander that opportunity.

Breanna Stewart came onto campus as one of the more heralded recruits in program history and immediately lived up to the promise, breaking Maya Moore’s school scoring record for a player’s first 10 games. Although Stewart came off the bench for most of her freshman season and UConn lost four games, she re-entered the starting lineup in the NCAA Tournament, earning MOP honors in the championship. The Huskies won the next three titles with ease, earning victories by a double-digit margin in every tournament game — they lost only one regular-season game over those three years — and Stewart earned three more MOP trophies. Even in a program as decorated as UConn, Stewart distinguished herself above others.

The Huskies’ dominance created some tension as to whether so much winning by one team was good for the sport. But UConn’s loss in its first Final Four without Stewart proved that it hadn’t broken basketball, even if Stewart had.

Griner received support from teammates while she was detained in Russia. (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)

3. Brittney Griner detained in Russia

Feb. 17, 2022

While on her way back to Russia to report to UMMC Ekaterinburg in the WNBA offseason, Griner was detained at airport customs for having vape canisters in her luggage that contained hashish oil. Griner had been prescribed cannabis for chronic pain, which was legal in Phoenix but not in Russia. She was arrested on smuggling charges, and her detainment became a political football. After Griner pled guilty and was sentenced to nine years in Russian prison, the Russian government dangled the prospect of a prisoner swap with the U.S. to secure the release of arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner was eventually released and sent home on Dec. 8, 2022.

WNBA players’ relationship with overseas basketball changed fundamentally, partly as a result of Griner’s detainment. Every American player in Russia left the country when Griner was arrested, and they have mostly declined to return in the ensuing three years, choosing other markets or simply staying home. Stewart partnered with Napheesa Collier to start a new league, Unrivaled, that would keep WNBA players in the U.S.during the offseason. A new generation of players sustained by NIL money no longer needs to supplement its income by playing internationally during the WNBA offseason.

4. Angel Reese points to ring finger while beating Caitlin Clark

April 2, 2023

The 2023 national championship was already poised to be the most-watched in a generation, as the contest moved to ABC from ESPN. The broadcast hadn’t been on network television since 1995, when CBS carried the event. When Caitlin Clark led Iowa to an upset over undefeated South Carolina in the national semifinal, ABC received an extra dose of undisputed star power for the title game.

Except the Hawkeyes were no match for LSU’s offensive firepower, as super sub Jasmine Carson’s 16 first-half points proved to be the margin of victory. The Tigers’ lead was at least seven through the entire second half, and the lasting image of the game was Angel Reese performing wrestler John Cena’s “you can’t see me” taunt at Clark as the clock wound down (a gesture Clark had made while beating Louisville in the Elite Eight). A rivalry was instantly born. An average of 9.9 million viewers watched the game, a record mark that would not stand for long. Clark’s stardom took off like a rocket ship, resulting in women’s college basketball’s most popular season in 2023-24.

5. Dawn Staley and South Carolina win first title

April 2, 2017

In 1999, Purdue’s Carolyn Peck became the first Black woman head coach to win an NCAA title. But for nearly 20 years, she was the only one. In 2015, Peck shared a piece of her championship net with Dawn Staley, who had just made her first Final Four as South Carolina’s coach. Peck advised Staley to pass along pieces of her championship net if she won a title. That moment came in 2017, when the Gamecocks, led by homegrown A’ja Wilson, Allisha Gray, Alaina Coates and Kaela Davis, brought South Carolina its first title. Staley kept her word to Peck. She returned the piece Peck had given her and sent pieces of her net to every Black woman head coach in the NCAA before the 2021-22 season. Staley ended up replenishing her stock that year with her second title as the Gamecocks were becoming one of college basketball’s preeminent programs. South Carolina won its third title in 2024, putting Staley in historic company alongside Summitt, Geno Auriemma, Kim Mulkey and Tara VanDerveer.

THIS! Incredible exchange between the visionary behind #pieceofthenet. Thx @CAROLYNPECK for your vision and belief #nationalchamps #whosnext pic.twitter.com/PAarcVk3nk

— dawnstaley (@dawnstaley) April 29, 2017

6. WNBA and WNBPA agree on historic CBA

Jan. 14, 2020

It’s easy to forget how groundbreaking the 2020 collective bargaining agreement was. That CBA was the first for a major women’s sports league to include protections for mothers as well as fertility benefits. It increased compensation, nearly doubling the maximum salary. The CBA improved travel conditions on flights and better road accommodations. It introduced a revenue-sharing component, though it has never been exercised because of the loss of revenue during the pandemic. But it also ensured a season would take place during the 2020 pandemic.

Perhaps most importantly, the CBA significantly relaxed team control in free agency so that players could move to new teams in the offseason. That resulted in Candace Parker joining the Chicago Sky and winning a title in 2021, Chelsea Gray moving to Las Vegas and winning titles with the Aces in 2022, 2023 and 2025, and the creation of super-teams in 2023.

7. Nearly 19 million watch South Carolina defeat Iowa

April 7, 2024

The 2023-24 regular season lived up to the hype, but this was the matchup every fan and television executive was waiting for to culminate the season. On one side: Caitlin Clark and Iowa, which had a postseason run that included avenging prior tournament losses to LSU in the Elite Eight and UConn in the Final Four. On the other side, undefeated South Carolina, with a fresh starting lineup that was still eager to exact some vengeance of its own. The tournament had been record-breaking leading up to the final, and it was expected that this classic bout would deliver historic numbers. Did it ever.

Revenge is a dish best served cold 🥶

South Carolina takes out Iowa for the national title a year after the Hawkeyes ended their undefeated season at the Final Four 👏 pic.twitter.com/S2aFCX54Al

— ESPN (@espn) April 7, 2024

The Hawkeyes got off to a hot 10-0 start, sending Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland into a frenzy. It was the perfect recipe to capture even more viewership as the underdog took an early lead. The Gamecocks withstood the flurry and took a halftime lead. Still, they couldn’t quite break away from Iowa as Clark poured in 30 points in her final college game. Ultimately, South Carolina’s depth was too much to overcome; reserve guard Tessa Johnson led the Gamecocks with 19 points while the Hawkeyes’ reserves went scoreless. South Carolina became the 10th team in NCAA history to complete an undefeated season, Clark had a valiant finish to her transformational career and 18.9 million people tuned in to witness history.

8. Caitlin Clark breaks Kelsey Plum’s scoring record

Feb. 15, 2024

The moment seemed almost predestined: Clark from the logo for history. She entered her senior season at Iowa with a good chance of besting Kelsey Plum’s DI women’s basketball scoring record if she kept the pace of her first three seasons. Instead, the Iowa star ascended to a new level, averaging 31.6 points per game as a senior. That allowed Clark to take down Plum’s mark in February on a 33-footer, the location of which is forever memorialized with the logo “Clark 22” in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. For good measure, Clark proceeded to set the Iowa single-game scoring record of 49 points that night, a joyful celebration of her meaning to the program and college basketball.

Iowa honors Caitlin Clark by marking the spot where she broke the all-time NCAA DI women’s basketball points record. 👏

(via @IowaWBB) pic.twitter.com/7yspTyPZsv

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) February 25, 2024

Clark surpassed Pete Maravich’s all-time scoring total for men or women in the regular-season finale, but it came on a free throw and without the pageantry of the prior moment. The crescendo of Clark’s long-distance bomb on a 49-point night was unparalleled, a one-of-one moment for a one-of-one scorer.

9. Candace Parker wins MVP as rookie

2008

Arguably, no one in basketball history had a better year than Candace Parker in 2008. On April 8, she led Tennessee to its second straight national championship, once again as the most outstanding player. It was the eighth overall for the Lady Vols — at that time, the most for a women’s program. The next day, Parker was the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft for the Los Angeles Sparks. She scored 34 points in her professional debut, a record that still stands.

In her third game, Parker had 16 points, 16 rebounds, six blocks, five assists and five steals for the only 5×5 game (at least five of five different box-score stats) in league history. The next month, she became the second WNBA player to dunk in a regular-season game. Parker finished the WNBA season averaging 18.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.3 blocks and became the only WNBA player to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season. To put a cherry on top, Parker joined Team USA at the Beijing Olympics and won her first gold medal.

10. WNBPA opts out of CBA early

Oct. 21, 2024

It was no surprise when the WNBA players association opted out of the current collective bargaining agreement, triggering its termination in 2025 instead of 2027. The league’s rapid growth in viewership, attendance and revenue necessitated a new economic model. It also isn’t surprising that the league and players union are in their second extension of the CBA, considering talks in previous years required multiple extensions.

What was unexpected was how contentious the process has been. From the “Pay Us What You Owe Us” warmup shirts at WNBA All-Star to Napheesa Collier’s firestorm of an exit interview to the boos of Cathy Engelbert at the WNBA Finals to increasingly charged press releases from the league and union, the negotiations’ tenor has been combative. Fundamental differences remain between the WNBA and the players association. It’s still too early to say the 2026 season is in jeopardy, but a lot of ground remains to be covered.

11. Pat Summitt coaches her final game

April 18, 2012

The tenure of one of the greatest coaches in basketball history came to an early end in 2012, when Summitt had to retire because of early-onset Alzheimer’s. She ended her career as the winningest coach in NCAA basketball with the most national titles (eight). She created a dynasty in Knoxville, Tenn., never missing the NCAA Tournament or posting a losing season.

Summitt was committed to elevating the profile of the sport, always scheduling Tennessee against other marquee teams “for the good of the game.” Her rivalry with Auriemma and UConn was a defining element of the 1990s and 2000s when both programs coaxed greatness out of each other. Her retirement opened the door for a new UConn rivalry with Notre Dame and coach Muffet McGraw.

Some of the best players in women’s basketball, including Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings, and Parker, learned under Summitt. Her coaching legacy lives on, most prominently in Kara Lawson, the newest USA Basketball coach, who cites Summitt as her inspiration for being the first to play for and coach the senior national team. Summitt’s titanic presence at Tennessee has been impossible to replace, and her 39-year career set the standard in the sport.

12. Maya Moore steps away from basketball

Feb. 5, 2019

Moore shocked the basketball world in 2019 when she announced that she would not be playing in the WNBA that season, instead choosing to focus on her family, faith and ministry. Moore was at the peak of her basketball powers, having won four titles in eight seasons with the Minnesota Lynx. She had made seven consecutive all-WNBA teams and the Lynx were returning their entire title-winning starting lineup.

As it turned out, the basketball impact paled in comparison to what Moore would accomplish in the next act of her life. Over the next year, she worked to successfully reverse a wrongful conviction of burglary and assault for her future husband, Jonathan Irons. It was a continuation of the social justice convictions that Moore demonstrated during her basketball career, such as when she joined teammates Seimone Augustus, Rebekkah Brunson and Lindsay Whalen to protest police killings. After two Black men (Alton Sterling and Philando Castile) were killed by police, including one in a suburb of Saint Paul, Minn., the quartet held a pregame news conference and wore shirts that read “Change Starts With Us.” On the back were Sterling’s and Castile’s names, the logo of the Dallas police department (where there had been a mass shooting of police officers) and the phrase “Black Lives Matter.” Other teams, including New York and Phoenix, followed the protest in subsequent days.

13. ‘Vote Warnock’

Aug. 4, 2020

The 2020 WNBA season was dedicated to social justice during a summer of racial reckoning in the United States. Players spent the entire season with the name Breonna Taylor on the backs to honor the Black woman who was shot and killed by the police in her home while unarmed, and the phrase Black Lives Matter was printed on the court at IMG Academy.

The players took their activism a step further in the Georgia Senate special election. Incumbent Kelly Loeffler, then a co-owner of the Atlanta Dream, had written a letter to commissioner Cathy Engelbert objecting to the league’s support of Black Lives Matter. The players condemned the message in a letter of their own and called for her ouster. When that failed, the union decided to put its energy into supporting one of Loeffler’s opponents, landing on Rev. Raphael Warnock.

Before Atlanta’s first nationally-televised game of the year, players came out with shirts that read “Vote Warnock,” choosing to amplify a candidate who aligned with their values rather than continuing to use the name of a woman who didn’t. Warnock defeated Loeffler in a run-off in January 2021. Loeffler sold her stake in the Dream the next month.

14. WNBA celebrates Pride

June 2014

Gay players have competed in the WNBA since its inception, but the league hadn’t always been supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. Early marketing campaigns emphasized a stereotypical brand of femininity, and players said an understanding existed that more endorsements would come from presenting as heterosexual. Certain teams celebrated Pride nights — L.A. was as early as 2001 — and individual players came out, including Sue Wicks in 2002 and Sheryl Swoopes in 2005.

But the WNBA didn’t officially commemorate Pride until 2014. No matter the delay, being the first professional league to celebrate it was monumental. Brittney Griner had come out before being drafted No. 1 in 2013, and she received immediate support from the Phoenix Mercury. The WNBA acknowledging Pride Month opened the door for other leagues to follow. Players such as Candace Parker, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi became open about their sexuality and have been public with their partners. Fans eagerly follow WNBA couples’ content throughout the league, such as Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley, and Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner.

Diana Taurasi became an icon while winning titles at UConn. (Jay L. Clendenin / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

15. Diana Taurasi, UConn complete the three-peat

April 6, 2004

Tennessee was the first team in NCAA history to win three consecutive titles. It was kismet as the Geno Auriemma-Pat Summitt rivalry hit a fever pitch that UConn would be the next team to complete a three-peat, beating Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament during each title run, including twice in the national championship game. The Huskies were loaded, even after the star-studded senior class of Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Asjha Jones and Tamika Williams graduated in 2002.

Ashley Battle, Jessica Moore, Ann Strother and Barbara Turner were there to pick up the pieces, but it really came down to this: UConn had Diana Taurasi, and no one else did. Whether it was her 11 points in nine minutes to bring the Huskies back against Texas in the 2003 Final Four or her 28 points in the championship game against Tennessee two days later, there was no shortage of Taurasi moments that stamped this era. Over her three championship runs, Taurasi averaged 20.3 points and 4.6 assists while shooting 48.1 percent from the field and 39 percent on 3s. She was the best player of her generation.

16. Arike Ogunbowale’s back-to-back buzzer-beaters clinch Notre Dame championship

2018 Final Four

Notre Dame kept coming up short in the 2010s, advancing to five Final Fours in the decade but failing to capture a title. Three of the Irish’s season-ending defeats had come at the hands of rival UConn. But in 2018, despite losing four players to ACL tears and playing with only seven scholarship players for the second half of the season, they found some luck in the form of Arike Ogunbowale.

The two-time All-American cemented herself as a college icon with a buzzer-beating game-winner in overtime in the Final Four against undefeated UConn, a game in which Ogunbowale played all 45 minutes. For an encore two days later, Ogunbowale scored another buzzer-beating jumper to win the title, Notre Dame’s second in program history. The legacy of that Irish team would last long beyond that season; five players on that roster were drafted in 2019 and remain in the WNBA, including three-time champion Jackie Young. (Kathryn Westbeld would later join that group, making her WNBA debut at 29 in 2025.)

17. Tara VanDerveer breaks Pat Summitt’s wins record

Dec. 15, 2020

The 21st century has been filled with coaching records, too many to catalog in this particular exercise. Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer eventually went on to break the coaching wins record for women’s and men’s basketball, and then was passed on both of those lists by Geno Auriemma, so this mark doesn’t even stand anymore. However, it resonates because of what the 2020-21 season entailed for VanDerveer’s program. The pandemic season was a challenge for all college athletes, and for the country at large, but the Cardinal had to perform publicly through it all. They couldn’t use their home arena or even sleep in their dorm rooms, playing out the season on the road and in hotels. When VanDerveer broke Summitt’s record, it came at an empty arena in Stockton, Calif. But the Cardinal kept the joy, presenting her with a swim parka with “T-Dawg” embossed on the back. VanDerveer coached through unprecedented adversity, ultimately ending in her lone title of the 2000s.

18. Aces win back-to-back, ending the repeat drought

Oct. 18, 2023

For 20 years, no WNBA teams had repeated as champions, even as Minnesota, Detroit, Phoenix and Seattle collected multiple titles in short windows. Las Vegas was poised to break the drought in 2023, returning its entire starting lineup plus adding future HOFer Candace Parker and role player extraordinaire Alysha Clark, both already two-time champions.

The Aces started their repeat campaign with a 16-1 record before losing Parker to injury. Even then, they rolled through the regular season and swept the first two rounds of the playoffs to advance to the finals against the Liberty, the super-team theoretically designed to beat them.

Las Vegas had no issues with New York’s defense in its first two home games and a new banner seemed imminent until two Aces starters, including reigning finals MVP Chelsea Gray, were injured in Game 3. With a six-player rotation on the road in Game 4, Las Vegas trailed by 12 points in the third quarter. Clark did yeoman’s work defending former teammate Breanna Stewart, holding the MVP to 3-of-17 shooting. Cayla George scored 11 points, Kelsey Plum handled point guard duties, Sydney Colson locked up Sabrina Ionescu and Jackie Young added 16 points and seven assists. The person the Aces believed was the rightful MVP — A’ja Wilson — was the best player on the court, posting 24 points and 16 rebounds plus the game-winning jumper as she won her first finals MVP to complete Las Vegas’ repeat bid.

THE LAS VEGAS ACES GET THEIR 2023 WNBA CHAMPIONSHIP RINGS 💍🤩 pic.twitter.com/of4b1PFuPI

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 15, 2024

19. Lynx win fourth title in seven years

Oct. 4, 2017

Quibble about the definition of a dynasty, whether or not it requires back-to-back titles, but the Minnesota Lynx under Cheryl Reeve were the defining team of the 2010s, winning four titles in seven seasons behind perhaps the all-time greatest starting five in Lindsay Whalen, Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore, Rebekkah Brunson and Sylvia Fowles. The Lynx were the top regular-season squad in five of those seven seasons, demonstrating consistent, sustained dominance. Four of those starters are in the Hall of Fame, and Brunson retired as the WNBA’s all-time leading rebounder and the only player in league history to win five titles.

Minnesota’s fourth title took everything, as the Lynx withstood a buzzer-beating loss in Game 1 and won an elimination game on the road before closing out the Los Angeles Sparks — who had defeated them in 2016 — in Game 5. In the end, Fowles was too much on the glass, a fitting finals MVP after Minnesota had lost the previous year on an offensive rebound. Moore stepped away after the next season, prematurely ending a historic run.

20. Kristi Toliver stuns rival Duke for Maryland’s first title

April 4, 2006

Throughout the 2000s, Duke had been the class of the ACC under Gail Goestenkors. The Blue Devils already had won five regular-season titles and five tournament titles in the decade. Maryland was something of an upstart. In the first three years of coach Brenda Frese’s tenure, the Terrapins had lost double-digit games each season and couldn’t advance beyond the tournament’s first weekend.

But Maryland found its groove in 2006 thanks to two star freshmen: Marisa Coleman and Kristi Toliver. The Terrapins lost only three games during the regular season, beat Duke in the ACC tournament and then upset North Carolina (that year’s ACC champ) in the Final Four to set up a conference showdown in the national championship.

The Blue Devils had a 13-point second-half lead but let it dwindle away. In the final minute, Toliver hit a jumper to pull within one. After Maryland fouled and Duke hit both of its free throws, Toliver hit the tying 3-point jumper over the outstretched arms of 6-foot-7 Alison Bales to send the game into overtime. In the extra session, it was the cold-blooded freshman who hit the game-winning free throws to make the Terrapins champions. Maryland has been a national power ever since, though 2006 is its lone title, and assistant Jeff Walz (who drew up the play for Toliver) has had a successful tenure at Louisville. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils have never again made the Final Four.

21. Nike releases Sabrina 1

Sept. 1, 2023

The early years of the WNBA were fruitful for signature shoes: Cynthia Cooper, Lisa Leslie, Rebecca Lobo, Sheryl Swoopes and Dawn Staley all had their own sneakers. Most were with Nike, though Lobo was a Reebok athlete. But after Candace Parker’s Ace came out in 2010, a drought persisted for a decade. That’s why Breanna Stewart left Nike for Puma in 2021; she was promised her own shoe. Stewart and Elena Delle Donne debuted their own shoes (EDD with Nike) during the 2022 season, breaking the door open for Sabrina Ionescu’s historic release the next year.

With Ionescu already wearing Nike at Oregon, the brand had been eyeing her as a signature athlete from the moment she could legally sign. Nike designed her shoe as unisex, the first time for a female athlete, and it even added a unisex apparel line. The shoe blew up. It’s inescapable at parks, gyms and professional courts.

The Sabrina 2 was the second-most popular shoe in the NBA in 2024-25. A’ja Wilson’s shoe debuted in 2025 to great acclaim. Caitlin Clark’s is on the way in 2026, and a Paige Bueckers’ sneaker seems destined to follow. Ionescu changed the conversation, and the business prospects, for WNBA signature shoes.

22. Mark Davis buys Las Vegas Aces

Jan. 14, 2021

Mark Davis attended Aces’ games when the team moved to Las Vegas in 2018 and would routinely tell the existing owners that they needed to pay players more. When they told him it wasn’t that easy, Davis bought the team and put his money where his mouth was. Although he had no control over the salary cap, he hired the best possible coach and made Becky Hammon the highest-paid coach in WNBA history. He built the Aces the first WNBA-specific practice facility, which debuted in 2023 to rave reviews from WNBA and NBA players alike. He also allegedly provided impermissible benefits to players, and the Aces subsequently were docked a first-round pick in 2025 for violations with Dearica Hamby.

By hook or by crook, Aces’ games have become appointment viewing in Las Vegas, even in a city with so much other programming. Davis set a new standard for WNBA ownership, one that many league owners have been quick to follow. Davis inherited a wealth of talent from the previous owners, headlined by reigning MVP A’ja Wilson. Nonetheless, his tenure has been undeniably successful, with three titles in five seasons.

23. Diana Taurasi sits out WNBA season

2015

After winning her third WNBA title with the Phoenix Mercury in 2014, Taurasi opted against going for a repeat in 2015, instead resting for the full WNBA season at the request of her European team, Russia’s UMMC Ekaterinburg. Her contract was more than 10 times her WNBA salary, and it included an extra payout to sit out 2015 to keep her fresh. WNBA players were accustomed to pulling double duty at the time, playing basketball year-round to support the growth of the domestic league while making their real money abroad. One of the U.S.’s biggest stars choosing her Russian team was a flashbulb moment for the WNBA and informed the inclusion of a prioritization clause in the next CBA.

24. NBA ends collective ownership of WNBA

2002

When the WNBA launched in 1996, the league and its franchises were owned by the NBA. That model continued for six seasons. In 2002, the NBA sold the WNBA teams either to the NBA counterparts in the same city or to separate ownership. This resulted in the first WNBA team — the Connecticut Sun — that wasn’t affiliated with an NBA team when the Mohegan tribe purchased what was then the Orlando Miracle from the NBA’s Orlando Magic owners. The NBA still retained ownership of half of the league itself, if not the individual franchises.

This was the first example of NBA owners cutting bait at the first sign of economic distress, in this case the dot-com bubble. Two teams (the Miami Sol and Portland Fire) immediately contracted, and four more would follow suit by the end of the decade, a period that coincided with the Great Recession: the Cleveland Rockers, Charlotte Sting, Houston Comets and Sacramento Monarchs. The two new expansion teams during that time (the Chicago Sky and Atlanta Dream) did not have NBA ownership, and four more NBA owners would sell their WNBA teams by 2018, though James Dolan sold the New York Liberty after a protracted process to the owner of a different NBA team.

Independent ownership has had mixed results in the WNBA; the Las Vegas Aces and Seattle Storm have been huge successes, but the Dallas Wings, Chicago and L.A. have floundered. The relative ease of combining operations for NBA and WNBA teams has led the WNBA to pursue NBA groups in its latest round of expansion plans the last few years.

25. Gabby Williams comes up short at the Paris Olympics

Aug. 11, 2024

Diana Taurasi kept warning about the difficulties of potentially facing France in its home country during the leadup to the Paris Olympics as Team USA chased its eighth consecutive gold medal. Her words proved prophetic. After mostly gliding through the group stage and first two knockout rounds, the Americans met serious resistance in the gold-medal game, falling behind by 10 points in the third quarter. Despite being the tournament’s deepest team, Team USA needed a heroic effort from A’ja Wilson (21 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks) plus double-digit outings from Kahleah Copper and Kelsey Plum off the bench to keep the French at bay. Even so, three fourth-quarter lead changes and six ties later, Gabby Williams’ desperation floater for France was one foot away from tying the game at the buzzer. Although the Americans extended their gold-medal streak and their run as arguably Olympic history’s most dominant team, the margin of victory portends more challenges ahead.

UNBELIEVABLE ENDING IN PARIS. 😱

Gabby Williams banked it in at the buzzer but her FOOT WAS ON THE THREE-POINT LINE. TEAM USA WINS BY A SINGLE POINT.#ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/DJI7YxfVMl

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 11, 2024