60 Fun Facts About WNBA

In which year did the WNBA play its first season?

The league was approved by the NBA Board of Governors in April 1996, riding the wave of the US women's Olympic gold that summer.

Which team won the first four WNBA championships?

The team folded in 2008 during the recession 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?

Her rookie year brought a triple-double, the single-season assists record and an attendance boom sportswriters nicknamed 'Clarkonomics'.

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

The franchise started life as the Utah Starzz in 1997 and spent fifteen years in San Antonio before moving to Las Vegas in 2018.

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

She played all 20 of her seasons for the Phoenix Mercury and passed Tina Thompson's record in June 2017.

Before the 2026 labor deal, how many players were on a WNBA roster, versus 15 in the NBA?

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?

She did it in 2008 with the Sparks, joining Wilt Chamberlain and Wes Unseld as the only American pros to pull off the double.

Which player was the first to dunk in a WNBA game, in 2002?

She could already dunk in the open court as a high-school sophomore despite not being able to palm the ball.

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

The Valkyries reportedly paid a $50 million expansion fee and took more than 2,000 season-ticket deposits within hours of being announced.

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

It plays at Coca-Cola Coliseum, an 8,500-seat arena at Exhibition Place, under owner Larry Tanenbaum's Kilmer Sports Ventures.

Which player won a record fourth WNBA MVP award in 2025?

That season she became the first NBA or WNBA player to win a scoring title, championship, Finals MVP, MVP and Defensive Player of the Year all in one year.

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

They fell to Houston three times, then to the Sparks in 2002 and the Aces in 2023 before beating Minnesota.

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

Through 2025 the Lynx had the most Finals appearances with seven, losing the seventh to New York in 2024.

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

She was 34 when the league launched, having spent a decade starring in Italy after winning Olympic gold and a USC title.

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.

Sue Bird spent her entire 20-year career with one franchise. How many Olympic gold medals did she win?

She and Diana Taurasi are the only basketball players of any gender with five; Taurasi later made it six.

Which Lynx star stepped away from the game in 2019 to focus on criminal justice reform?

She helped overturn the wrongful conviction of Jonathan Irons, whom she later married, and formally retired in 2023.

Which player was freed from a Russian penal colony in December 2022 in an exchange for Viktor Bout?

The Phoenix Mercury center had been detained at a Moscow airport over vape cartridges while playing overseas in the off-season.

The WNBA's all-time leading scorer also won six EuroLeague titles playing in which two countries?

One Russian club, UMMC Ekaterinburg, once paid her a bonus bigger than a WNBA max salary just to skip a WNBA season and rest.

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

She led Washington to its first championship in 2019 and won MVP that year and in 2015.

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

Seattle drafted her at 19; she and Bird delivered the franchise's first two titles in 2004 and 2010.

Which Fever legend is the only player at any level credited with an official quintuple-double?

She played all 15 seasons in Indiana, won five Defensive Player of the Year awards and led the league in steals eight times.

Which NBA team made Becky Hammon the first full-time female assistant coach in a major US league?

She was also 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?

Nicknamed the Bayou Barbie, she led LSU to its first national title in 2023 and was Most Outstanding Player.

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

The 2-2-1-1-1 home-court format copies the NBA Finals; the Aces beat Phoenix in the first seven-game-format series.

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

Fans dubbed it the 'Wubble'; the Storm won the title with no spectators in the building.

Which in-season tournament, first held in 2021, does the WNBA play each summer?

The Seattle Storm won the inaugural final, streamed on Amazon Prime Video, against Connecticut.

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

Val Ackerman was the first president in 1997; Engelbert came from Deloitte, where she had been CEO.

The Mohegan Tribe bought a WNBA team in 2003 and moved it to its casino. Under what name had it begun in 1999?

The 2003 purchase made the Mohegans the first Native American tribe to own a professional sports franchise.

Before moving to Las Vegas in 2018, the Aces franchise played in which two cities?

As the Utah Starzz they were an original 1997 team; in Texas they were the Silver Stars and later just the Stars.

The Dallas Wings were previously the Tulsa Shock and, before that, a three-time champion in which city?

Pistons legend Bill Laimbeer coached the Shock to titles in 2003, 2006 and 2008 before the franchise moved to Oklahoma.

Which player scored the very first point in WNBA history, in June 1997?

The season opened on June 21, 1997, with television deals on NBC, ESPN and Lifetime.

What slogan did the WNBA's 1997 launch campaign build around its three original marquee stars?

The phrase is playground code for claiming the next game on the court.

Which Liberty guard hit a 50-foot buzzer-beater in Game 2 of the 1999 Finals to force a Game 3?

New York was down 67-65 with 2.4 seconds left and no timeouts; the Comets won Game 3 anyway.

Who faced Stephen Curry in the first NBA-versus-WNBA three-point contest in 2024?

A year earlier she had scored 37 in the WNBA Three-Point Contest, the highest total in its history, making 25 of her final 27 shots.

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

She was the first piece of the core that later added Lindsay Whalen, Rebekkah Brunson and Maya Moore for four titles.

Napheesa Collier co-founded the 3-on-3 league Unrivaled with which Liberty star?

The inaugural season had six teams of six players in Medley, Florida, giving stars a domestic alternative to playing overseas in winter.

Which coach and GM, hired by the Mystics in 2013, led them to their first title in 2019?

He arrived after the firing of Trudi Lacey and had earlier built the Connecticut Sun into a contender.

The Aces' three straight No. 1 picks were Kelsey Plum, A'ja Wilson and which guard?

Chelsea Gray, the fourth member of the core, arrived as a free agent in 2021.

A'ja Wilson led which college to its first NCAA championship in 2017?

She won three straight SEC Player of the Year awards and left as the program's all-time leading scorer.

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

She won four Defensive Player of the Year awards and was Finals MVP for the Lynx in 2015 and 2017.

Atlanta's WNBA players wore 'VOTE WARNOCK' shirts in 2020 in opposition to which team co-owner and senator?

Warnock won the seat; the owner sold her stake and former Dream 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 original name referenced the fire and smoke signals of the Multnomah and Clackamas peoples; the new team plays at the Moda Center.

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

They took one player from each of the other eleven existing teams before playing their first game at Chase Center.

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

The change suited Paul Westhead's run-and-gun Mercury, who set a league scoring record the next year and won the 2007 title.

What was the WNBA-record crowd for Game 3 of the 2003 Finals at the Palace of Auburn Hills?

The 2007 win was the first time a road team clinched a WNBA title on its opponent's home court.

Whom did the Sacramento Monarchs beat for their only WNBA title in 2005, before folding in 2009?

Yolanda Griffith, Ticha Penicheiro and Ruthie Bolton had made the Monarchs perennial playoff visitors for years first.

Whom did the Fever's first title team beat in the 2012 Finals?

Indiana had to stave off elimination in both earlier rounds and lost Katie Douglas to injury before winning 3-1.

What is the minimum circumference of a regulation WNBA basketball?

That is an inch smaller than the NBA ball, which is why the WNBA ball is sold as 'size 6'.

Under the 2026 seven-year labor deal, roughly what did the WNBA maximum salary become?

For comparison, the 2020 max for most players was $185,000, and the new minimum rose to about $270,000-$300,000.

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

Lisa Leslie was named the first All-Star MVP with 13 points and five rebounds for the West.

Which 27-year-old Tennessee graduate was the first player ever drafted by the WNBA in 1997?

The 1997 draft came in three parts, starting with the allocation of 16 players to teams.

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

Ellie the Elephant debuted on May 6, 2021, three years before the team's first title.

Whom did the Dallas Wings take first overall in 2025 after her UConn national title?

She was the first freshman ever named national player of the year, then lost most of two seasons to knee injuries before her senior-year title.

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

Candace Parker had come home to Chicago that season and won the second of her three titles with three different teams.

Which network televised the first WNBA game, Liberty versus Sparks, in June 1997?

The league opened its first season on June 21, 1997 with TV deals with NBC, ESPN and Lifetime.

Who was the first president of the WNBA, serving until 2005?

Ackerman resigned effective February 1, 2005 and was succeeded by former PGA Tour executive Donna Orender.

Which rival women's competition began play in fall 1996 and folded during its 1998-99 season?

Its stars, including Dawn Staley and Nikki McCray, joined WNBA rosters after it declared bankruptcy in 1999.

Where was the 2008 Liberty Outdoor Classic, the first outdoor pro game in North America, held?

The New York Liberty hosted the game at the US Open tennis venue during the 2008 regular season.

Which coach led the Houston Comets to a 98-24 record over the league's first four seasons?

Houston's 'Big Three' of Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson went 16-3 in the playoffs over that span.