Choosing six frontcourt players and four backcourt players for the WNBA All-Star Game is never an easy task and casting a media ballot in 2024 feels almost daunting. To separate the cream from the very elite crop, we did not consider players who led the league in turnovers or personal fouls for games. Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston of the Indiana Fever were early cuts.
Emerging as a force to be reckoned with against gender identity discrimination, Layshia Clarendon, the WNBA’s first openly trans and non-binary player, has been nominated for the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award. Yet, in the same breath that we celebrate the joy of gender euphoria for countless people challenging the gender binary, we must band together and fight the intentional harms caused to our transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming siblings. In short, we are at a time where federal and state legislation has waged war against transgender and non-binary Americans. This prompted us to look into where states housing the 12 WNBA teams stand in terms of LGBTQ protections and anti-trans legislation.
The WNBA features a logjam of talent that has pushed some of the country’s best players out of the league, and expansion is the only solution. Yet, history illustrates the need to proceed with caution when growing a women’s professional sports league. Of the four teams the WNBA added on this day in 2000, just two remain.
Sue Bird’s jersey topped sales during the 2020 WNBA regular season suggesting the veteran Seattle Storm star, and other future Hall of Famers such as Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury (second in sales) and Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks (third in sales), are gaining long overdue mainstream recognition. But what about the league’s young stars like Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson, who will battle in this year’s WNBA Finals for the Storm and Las Vegas Aces, respectively? Will culturally ubiquity come for them before they’re teetering on the door of retirement?