Superteams, and new-look squads. Scandal-riven defending champs. A former political prisoner returns. Rule changes, a pressing need for league expansion, and more. The 2023 WNBA season is here, and these are some of the most riveting storylines to follow all season long.
The New York Liberty reloaded in the offseason, adding three-time WNBA champion Breanna Stewart, former league MVP Jonquel Jones, and 2021 title-winner Courtney Vandersloot to a starting lineup featuring Betnijah Laney, the league’s Most Improved Player in 2020, and triple-double threat Sabrina Ionescu, the 2020 No.1 overall pick. Jones has won titles overseas, but was stopped twice in the WNBA Finals with the Connecticut Sun since 2019. Jones is hungry. Ionescu, whose career got off to a slow start because of injury, seeks to legitimize the lore which surrounds her. Stacked with talented players, who all have skin in the game, the Liberty has its best chance in years to finish business.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, was not the credo of the 2022 WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces this offseason. The Aces parted ways with forward Dearica Hamby: two-time Sixth Woman of the Year and a fan favorite since the “Hamby Heave.” Hamby was shipped to the Los Angeles Sparks while pregnant, prompting allegations of discrimination and an investigation by the league resulting in punishment for the Aces and head coach Becky Hammon, who denies wrongdoing. Can the Aces tune out the noise stemming from these scandals and run it back? With Hamby’s salary off the books, the Aces were able to sign Candace Parker, a two-time title-winner, with different teams. With Parker, luck is on the Aces’ side. But in a league in which every bench player could be a starter on their own team, there are no guarantees.
Mark your calendar: The Liberty face the Aces for the first time on June 29, at 10 p.m. EST, in Las Vegas. The game streams nationally on Amazon Prime Video.
In 2022, the Atlanta Dream under first-year head coach Tanisha Wright and franchise centerpiece Rhyne Howard, the reigning Rookie of the Year, sparkled. Adding recent NCAA champions Laeticia Amihere (South Carolina, 2022), a 6-foot-4 forward, and Haley Jones (Stanford, 2021), a 6-foot-1 guard/forward, gives the Dream defense, depth, and size. This team will be fun to watch and now has the tools to make an earnest postseason run. The Dream start their season on the road, and play their home opener on Tuesday, May 30, at 7 p.m. ET. The game streams live on Twitter.
The Washington Mystics, meanwhile, start their 2023 campaign with something the team has lacked in recent seasons — a healthy Elena Della Donne. Under new head coach Eric Thibault, the Mystics return the core of its 2019 title-winning squad (Ariel Atkins, Natasha Cloud, Myisha Hines-Allen, Tianna Hawkins, Kristi Toliver, and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, plus LaToya Sanders, who is now the associated head coach). Washington added young veterans Amanda Zahui B at center, and Brittney Sykes at guard. With Shakira Austin (the third overall pick in the 2022 draft) entering her second season, look for the Mystics to be a serious Eastern Conference threat. The Mystics tip off their 2023 campaign tonight, May 19, in a home opener against the Liberty. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. ET on NBA TV.
The league is wasting no time in showcasing the skills of double-double threat Aliyah Boston, the 2023 No. 1 overall pick out of South Carolina. Her Indiana Fever host the new-look Connecticut Sun at 7 p.m. ET. Watch the game on WNBA League Pass or locally on Bally Sports Indiana and NESN.
Skylar Diggins-Smith, Shey Peddy, Sophie Cunningham, and Brianna Turner kept the Mercury’s emotional 2022 season alive: battling on the hardwood while campaigning for the freedom of the team’s biggest star, Griner, who spent most of the season wrongfully detained in Russian prisons. On the sidelines, there was public discord between Diggins-Smith and Diana Taurasi, who also took issue with head coach Vanessa Nygaard’s reaction to her All-Star nod in a year when Taurasi was not honored. In February, the franchise re-signed Taurasi to a multiyear deal and declared her “the face of the franchise.”
Diggins-Smith, currently on maternity leave, is the face of Puma’s “Desert Sky” campaign. Her status with the team, however, is unclear. What is certain, though, is that Taurasi turns 41 in June and should not be promoted as the face of the franchise. She missed significant playing time in recent years because of various injuries. In 2022, her defensive effort at times amounted to throwing her arms in the air rather than running back to help her team. She even gave Sylvia Fowles the retirement gift of a low blow.
Peddy, who sustained a ruptured Achilles in the 2022 playoffs, helped power the Mercury to the final playoff spot (a date for her return in 2023 has not yet been set); she was in cahoots with the ultra-competitive Cunningham, who battled an elbow injury for much of the season, and Diggins-Smith, who grounded the Mercury in hoops IQ and experience. These are the players, plus Turner and Griner, if she wants to be one of them, who should be promoted as the team’s stars, for the sake of cementing the franchise’s future. Griner can do a lot for the Mercury, but only the Phoenix front office can stitch together its many frayed parts and snip away the threads which are no longer useful.
Mark your calendar: Phoenix plays its home opener against the Chicago Sky on Saturday, May 21, at 4 p.m. EST. Expect tear-jerking coverage of Griner’s return, and then a tense battle between Cunningham and Kahleah Copper.
On Saturday, May 13, the Minnesota Lynx and Chicago Sky competed in the first-ever WNBA game played in Canada. Inside a packed Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, the Sky defeated the Lynx, 82-74, in a game that whetted the appetites of fans seeking league expansion. Outside of Canada native Laeticia Amihere (South Carolina), the 2021 NCAA Women’s Tournament winner picked eighth overall by the Atlanta Dream, few athletes of this year’s draft class survived final roster cuts.
Aliyah Boston, the No. 1 overall pick and 2021 NCAA title-winner with Amihere, is stuck with the Indiana Fever; Diamond Miller (Maryland), the No. 2 overall pick, is on the Minnesota Lynx’s opening-day roster; and No. 3 pick Maddy Siegrist (Villanova), will debut with the Dallas Wings. Of the remaining first-rounders from the 2023 draft, Lou Lopez-Senechal (Dallas Wings/Connecticut), Haley Jones (Atlanta Dream/Stanford), Grace Berger (Fever/Indiana), Jordan Horston (Storm/Tennessee), and Zia Cooke (Sparks/South Carolina) remain. Just four of 12 second-round picks survived the roster-cut deadline. Only two third-round picks in the 2023 WNBA draft will suit up for the season’s opening day.
The exacting nature of final roster cuts this year felt brutal. Players are pieces; moving them is just business. But there will be no future for the league if younger players are denied the chance to make names for themselves. NCAA title-winner Alexis Morris, who was drafted by the Sun, and waived, suggests that WNBA teams could remedy this by cutting veterans instead of rookies.
She has a point. When Seimone Augustus retired in 2021 after a four-title career with the Minnesota Lynx, she cited among her reasons for calling it quits the need to make way for younger players. With each draft class, the list of elite, but disenfranchised women’s basketball players grows longer.
The WNBA expanded too quickly in the league’s early years. Most of those expansion teams — plus a handful of the original eight squads — no longer exist. But Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has demonstrably grown the league, year over year; the WNBA, through the players’ booming endorsements, is gaining a stronger foothold in the mainstream. When new fans do show up, they deserve to see the best on-court product, which seems increasingly hampered by salary cap issues, higher player minimum salaries, and an insufficient number of teams.
From 2023 draft picks to seasoned veterans, here is a very incomplete list of players who need and deserve a WNBA roster spot: Brea Beal, Kalani Brown, Tina Charles, Alaina Coates, Monika Czinano, Kaela Davis, Rennia Davis, Chelsea Dungee, T’ea Cooper, Elisa Cunane, Emily Engstler, Destanni Henderson, Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, Stella Johnson, N’dea Jones, Lauren Manis, Imani McGee-Stafford, Odyssey Sims, Unique Thompson, Chrystin Williams, Gabby Williams, and Ty Young.
Look for an expansion announcement: The league typically drops big news during big events, such as All-Star Weekend, the Commissioner’s Cup, and playoffs.
The WNBA for the first time has implemented a Coach’s Challenge beginning with the 2023 season. Referees invariably make mistakes, and the ability for coaches to challenge bad calls will hopefully alleviate player and fan frustrations. Also new this season are modifications to rules regarding the review of out-of-bounds calls, transition take fouls, procedures for resuming play, and conduct of players on the bench. Dallas Wings star Arike Ogunbowale has gotten away with throwing things on the sideline. It is a potentially dangerous practice that the stricter rule hopes to curtail.
Dig in: Details of new and modified rules can be found HERE.
At least for the first month of the season, the WNBA will be competing for viewership against NBA Conference Finals and Finals games. Even with the men airing nationally, WNBA games have edged into the mainstream broadcast space. During opening weekend, May 19-21, fans and would-be fans can catch WNBA games on ESPN, ESPN2, NBA TV, ABC, and Twitter. Beginning in the season’s second week, national broadcasting will include CBS, CBS Sports, ION, and Amazon Prime Video. All games stream on WNBA League Pass (with regional blackouts).
Bookmark this: The 2023 WNBA schedule.