The Women’s National Basketball Association, or WNBA, is a professional basketball league comprised of 12 teams featuring the best women’s basketball players in the world.
Want to watch WNBA players work live and in person? Tickets for every team are available on each team’s website or by clicking here.
The WNBA was founded on April 24, 1996, and the first season began in 1997. The 2022 season is the 26th in league history.
There are 12 teams – six in each conference. The conferences are divided between the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference.
The teams and their conferences are as follows: Atlanta Dream (Eastern Conference), Chicago Sky (Eastern Conference), Connecticut Sun (Eastern Conference), Dallas Wings (Western Conference), Indiana Fever (Eastern Conference), Las Vegas Aces (Western Conference), Los Angeles Sparks (Western Conference), New York Liberty (Eastern Conference), Minnesota Lynx (Western Conference), Phoenix Mercury (Western Conference), Seattle Storm (Western Conference) and Washington Mystics (Eastern Conference).
When the WNBA was launched, it featured eight teams: Charlotte Sting, Cleveland Rockers, Houston Comets, New York Liberty, Los Angeles Sparks, Phoenix Mercury, Sacramento Monarchs and the Utah Starzz
The 2022 regular season will see each team play 36 games – 18 at home and 18 on the road. Each team will play four games apiece versus three opponents, and three games apiece versus eight opponents.
The 2022 regular season tipped off on May 6th. The regular season, currently scheduled to conclude on Sunday, Aug. 14, will be followed by new playoffs and Finals format.
Under the new playoff format announced in November 2021:
Click here to view the WNBA’s schedule.
The official website of the WNBA is WNBA.com. You can also download the WNBA mobile app for iOS and Android devices. On social media, you can follow the WNBA on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat (@WNBA), Giphy and TikTok (@WNBA).
The WNBA has been the home of many legends over the years, but some of the league’s most notable greats are Lisa Leslie, Tina Thompson, Cynthia Cooper, Tamika Catchings, Lauren Jackson, and Sheryl Swoopes. These legends helped pave the way for today’s superstars like A’ja Wilson, Elena Delle Donne, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Tina Charles, and Candace Parker, among others.
For a complete look at the league’s all-time leaders in various statistical categories, click here.
Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, and Lauren Jackson are all tied for the most WNBA MVP awards with three. Cynthia Cooper is the only player in WNBA history to win back-to-back WNBA MVP awards (1997, 1998.)
Candace Parker is the only WNBA player to win WNBA Rookie of the Year and WNBA MVP in the same season.
Diana Taurasi is the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer over the course of her illustrious career. Taurasi passed Tina Thompson (7,488 career points) in 2017.
Click here to view the WNBA’s all-time leading scorers.
The Minnesota Lynx (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017) and now-defunct Houston Comets have won the most championships in league history. The Comets won the first four WNBA titles in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000.
The Seattle Storm (2004, 2010, 2018), Los Angeles Sparks (2001, 2002, 2016), Phoenix Mercury (2007, 2009, 2014) and now defunct Detroit Shock (2003, 2006, 2008) are tied for second with three WNBA championships.
Yes. In 2019, Erica Wheeler became the first undrafted player to earn WNBA All-Star MVP. Wheeler finished with 25 points and an All-Star Game record-tying seven 3-pointers, including a trey with 22 seconds to go that sealed Team Wilson’s 129-126 win over Team Delle Donne.
The coaching staff of the teams with the two best records in the league regardless of the conference following the Friday games played two weeks before the All-Star Game will serve as the All-Star coaches.
The WNBA Draft is held annually and allows WNBA teams to select from a pool of up-and-coming talented college basketball players, as well as others playing in other leagues across the world. The 2022 Draft was held on April 11. Rhyne Howard, out of Kentucky, was the No. 1 overall pick to the Atlanta Dream.
The league requires domestic draft entrants to be at least 22 years old during the year in which the draft takes place and to have no remaining college eligibility or to renounce any future college eligibility. International draftees must be at least 20 years old during the year in which the draft takes place.
The draft lottery is comprised of the four teams that did not make the playoffs. Starting with the 2017 Draft, lottery odds are determined by taking into account the team’s two-year cumulative record.
The Lottery Team with the worst two-year cumulative record has 442 chances out of 1,000 to win the first pick, the Lottery Team with the second-worst two-year cumulative record has 276 chances out of 1,000, the Lottery Team with the third-worst two-year cumulative record has 178 chances out of 1,000, and the Lottery Team with the best two-year cumulative record having 104 chances out of 1,000 to win the first pick. Tiebreakers are based solely on the immediately preceding season.
Each WNBA team has a minimum roster size of 11 players and a maximum roster size of 12 players, as outlined in the league’s CBA.
Each quarter of play in the WNBA lasts 10 minutes.
Just like the NBA, the shot clock is 24 seconds.
While the WNBA season is an action-packed 36 games, many players spend their off-seasons continuing to play the game of basketball. Many travel overseas to play in leagues in China, Russia, Israel, or Italy, just to name a few.
Some players also participate with other national teams in tournament competitions, such as FIBA World Cup.
Download the rule book here.
Just like the NBA, rims in the WNBA hang 10 feet from the floor, sitting on opposite ends of a court that’s 50 feet wide and 94 feet long.
Both ends of the floor feature a free throw line, 15 feet from the rim. Per the WNBA rule book, “the three-point field goal area has parallel lines 36″ from the sidelines, extending 63″ from the baseline and an arc of 22’13 /4″ from the middle of the basket which intersects the parallel lines.”
The basketball itself has a circumference within a maximum of 29 inches and a minimum of 28.5 inches and has a pressure between 7.5 and 8.6 pounds.