Time right for WNBA team in Bay Area
The draft is happening! Oh. No, not that draft. That draft is in 16 days — NFL teams will choose their new class beginning April 29.
But there’s another April draft: On Thursday, the WNBA holds its annual player selection. And, judging by the past year of increased viewership and buzz for the league, a lot of people will be paying attention.
That includes here in the Bay Area — even though we still don’t have a team, despite the WNBA celebrating its 25th anniversary and a kindasorta promise from the Warriors’ ownership.
Women’s basketball, historically popular here, is squarely back on the Bay Area’s radar, thanks to Stanford’s recent NCAA championship. Senior point guard Kiana Williams has declared for the draft, as has Arizona’s fabulous Aari McDonald, the Fresno native whom Stanford had to beat to win the title. Both are expected to be firstround draft choices, along with DiJonai Carrington, who transferred from Stanford to Baylor and almost singlehandedly upset UConn in the Elite Eight.
Last year, the Bay Area’s Sabrina Ionescu was the No. 1 pick in the draft, which was the first virtual sports event in our pandemic shutdown and gained a 123% increase in television ratings. Because Ionescu was injured last year and missed almost her entire rookie season in the “Wubble,” this season holds intrigue about how a healthy
Ionescu will fare as a professional.
Some of the key players from the NCAA Tournament — UConn’s Paige Bueckers, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, Stanford’s Haley Jones — are not eligible to turn professional. Although that has created discussion about whether the rules should be changed for the WNBA, their continued presence at the college level also gives women’s basketball one of its most important selling points.
Unlike men’s college basketball, the best players stay in school, develop, gain fans and become known. Fans can follow them year in and year out. The men’s college game is a revolving oneanddone door.
“In college, we see them develop their star power and then continue to follow it through to the WNBA,” ESPN commentator Rebecca Lobo said. “These women have a huge stage on that platform, and I’d like to see them continue to be on that stage until they’re completely ready for the WNBA.”
There’s a synergy between the collegiate and the professional game, which creates marketing opportunities and growth prospects. The popularity of women’s collegiate basketball only feeds the growing popularity of the WNBA.
This draft comes on the heels of a tournament that drew strong ratings and became a national talking point, both because of exciting games and outcomes but also because of the gross inequities between how the NCAA treated the women’s and the men’s tournaments.
Today’s players understand they have a platform to raise their visibility. In recent years, the WNBA has done a good job marketing players and capitalizing on their growing importance as a voice for female empowerment and social justice. The support of NBA players — many who wore orange WNBA logo hoodies last year — helps grow the league’s platform. So did the players’ disavowal of former Atlanta Dream team owner Kelly Loeffler, who criticized the league’s socialjustice stance. As did the league’s getoutthevote work in Georgia.
You could argue that the balance of power in the U.S. Senate was changed by WNBA players, which is a pretty powerful marketing tool. (Who had heard of Raphael Warnock until WNBA players began wearing his name on their shirts last summer?)
With marketing comes growth. With growth comes expansion, and the WNBA seems primed for it. In a recent predraft discussion, Lobo and fellow analyst LaChina Robinson talked about how hard it is to make a league in which, with just 12 teams, there is a maximum of 144 slots.
“If I’m in college, I may be the best player on my team, I may even be the best player in my league and I may even be drafted in the first round and still not make a roster,” said Robinson. “We definitely need more teams. There’s a ton of talent, and right now, it feels like roster space is tighter than ever.”
Lobo also voiced support for expansion.
“I certainly think the depth of talent could support an additional two teams,” she said. “Whether or not the fan base is there, the infrastructure and all those things, I don’t know. But is there enough talent to expand and still have great talent through every team? Absolutely.”
Which brings us to the Warriors. Over the years since Joe Lacob and Peter Guber bought the team, the idea of a WNBA franchise has been floated. In 2014, they looked into buying the Los Angeles Sparks. In 2017, Warriors President Rick Welts — who was instrumental in the founding of the league when he worked for the NBA — said:
“It’s definitely on our radar, but timing is a consideration for us. We talked to the league several times about what that would look like, but in reality, we have a lot on our plate with the new arena.”
Chase Center is complete. The Warriors have a front office full of powerful women and have countless events around Women’s Empowerment Month. But a pandemic has taken a financial toll on the organization. And now Welts is retiring.
He says the WNBA remains on the Warriors’ radar.
“It’s still being discussed, I promise you,” he said last week.
Welts is staying with the Warriors as a consultant. I have a suggestion for what could be Project No. 1: a WNBA franchise.