Another year has come and gone.
It is hard to believe that the year 2025 is on the verge of being entirely placed in the history books after said year began seemingly not that long ago.
The last 12 months resulted in three new cities announced as sites for WNBA franchises, a blue blood collegiate program regain its former glory, two GOATs calling it a career and another solidifying said GOAT status with an all-time generational run.
It even saw the debut of an entirely new league – one that will begin its second season in a matter of days.
Without further ado as we begin our (basket)ball drops for the 60 second countdown to 2026, let us reflect on the year it was in women’s hoops.
JuJu Watkins’ Injury
The Trojans of USC entered the 2024-25 season with lofty aspirations. Given it was the second season of JuJu Watkins wearing a Trojans uniform, many a prognosticator saw the 2024-25 campaign as one that could result in a possible Final Four or even national championship run.
All signs were pointing in that direction as the season progressed in what was also USC’s first season as a participant in an expanded Big Ten Conference. USC concluded the 2024-25 season with a 31-4 record plus a 17-1 mark in conference.
The Women of Troy even earned signature victories on the road at UConn in late December and at Maryland in early January. USC was on the receiving end of a 72-67 defeat to crosstown rival UCLA in the Big Ten championship game, but the Trojans still entered the NCAA tournament with a No. 1 seed.
The basketball world froze when during the Sweet Sixteen against Kansas State, Watkins injured her ACL – an injury she is still rehabilitating to this day. USC did win the matchup against the Wildcats by a final score of 67-61 but going into an Elite Eight contest against UConn sans Watkins proved to be too much for the Trojans.
Watkins received a much-deserved outpouring of support and love on social media immediately as the injury took place. Staying lifted following a crushing injury is important for any athlete. Recently, she attended USA Basketball’s training camp in Durham. While she did not take part in any basketball activities, she had a chance to observe those that did.
Even though Watkins is slated to miss the entire 2025-26 season with USC, her rehab is going in the right direction. And when she does step back on the court, one can expect her to be better than ever.
Part of the Problem … or Part of the Project?
Of course, we know about the WNBA. Of course we know about Athletes Unlimited. Of course we know about Unrivaled.
The year 2025 laid the groundwork for a new women’s basketball league to join the fray. Project B was announced this year with plans for the first season to take place in November of 2026. The league is slated to stage its inaugural season from November of 2026 through April of 2027. This means it will operate during months where the WNBA is in offseason but its season will also overlap against Unrivaled.
Project B has faced criticism for its ties to Saudi entities. It has also managed to ink deals with a large number of notables that are familiar to WNBA fans. These include Jonquel Jones, Jewell Loyd, Nneka Ogwumike, Alyssa Thomas, Kamilla Cardoso, Kelsey Mitchell, Leonie Fiebich, Justé Jocyté, Sophie Cunningham, Li Meng and Janelle Salaün.
A co-founder if the league is Alana Beard, who previously was part of an effort to bring the WNBA to the Bay Area and a recent inductee into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Project B is slated to feature six teams with 11 roster spots for each team. Candace Parker is an investor. It will have teams in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Curtain Calls
The groundwork for today’s WNBA was, of course, laid by the previous crop of greats that were faces of the league. Prior to the start of the 2025 season, two of those all-time greats would stow away their jerseys entirely.
One of those was Diana Taurasi. Throughout the 2024 season, it was the worst kept secret that it would be the final time for Dee in her signature purple and orange Phoenix Mercury threads. After all, the 2024 All-Star Game taking place in Phoenix was practically a celebration of Taurasi’s career with the Mercury.
Taurasi retired after delivering three championships for Arizona’s WNBA franchise. Along with those three rings, she was a two-time Finals MVP an 11-time All-Star and the WNBA’s regular season MVP in 2009. She also was the 2004 Rookie of the Year, a three-time national champion with UConn and a six-time Olympic gold medalist.
Taurasi was not the only all-time great to call it a career. The same also applied to Elena Delle Donne. One of the headliners of the 2013 WNBA draft class, Delaware’s favorite daughter would put away her No. 11 jersey following a career that included stints with the Chicago Sky and, most notably, the Washington Mystics.
It was prior to the 2017 season when Delle Donne departed from the Windy City and began wearing Mystics threads as she yearned to be closer to her native Delaware. Delle Donne’s arrival with the Mystics solidified their status as contenders and Washington was part of the District of Champions run its team were on when it won the 2019 WNBA championship in a classic Finals against the Connecticut Sun.
Even more remarkable was how Delle Donne led Washington to its first-ever WNBA championship despite three herniated discs in her back. That same year, Delle Donne became the only player in the W’s 50-40-90 club. She also is a seven-time All-Star and an Olympic gold medalist from the Rio Olympics. Delle Donne is now a special advisor to Monumental Basketball.
The Ascent of Ballhalla
The 2025 WNBA season was unique in many ways. In addition to the 44-game schedule every team played, it also featured the debut of the W’s newest franchise – the Golden State Valkyries.
Given the Valkyries were an expansion franchise, after all, expectations were low. Golden State was expected by many – including by us here at Beyond The W – to struggle out of the gate. The Valkyries also made a few moves during training camp that appeared questionable – and seemed to confirm the suspicions of many that the Valkyries would be at the bottom of the W’s standings.
Then – the Valks began to win…and win…and win…and win a bit more. The consistent winning also made Ballhalla into one of the most formidable home court advantages in the entire WNBA. It helps when a team puts together a string of consistent sellouts.
Kayla Thornton, Tiffany Hayes, Veronica Burton, Carla Leite, Cecilia Zandalasini, Monique Billings, Kate Martin, Temi Fágbénlé, Iliana Rupert, Kaila Charles, Laeticia Amihere, Kaitlyn Chen and Janelle Salaün made up the inaugural version of a Golden State franchise that looked more put together in its first season than several established WNBA franchises.
Thornton earned All-Star recognition. Burton was named the WNBA’s Most Improved Player. Head Coach Natalie Nakase was named Coach of the Year. And the Valkyries qualified for the playoffs.
Golden State matched up against one of the toughest outs in the Minnesota Lynx in the first round and nearly pulled off a stunning upset over the Lynx in Game 2 despite said contest taking place in San Jose at the SAP Center. Minnesota would come back and put an end to the Valks’ 2025 season but it was a successful one in Ballhalla by any measure.
Where To, W?
Remember when commissioner Cathy Engelbert had set a goal of 18 teams for the WNBA’s expansion efforts?
Expanding to the San Francisco Bay Area with the Golden State Valkyries was the first step. Then came Toronto which we learned would be known as the Tempo – a name interchangeable in both Francophone and Anglophone. After that saw the resurrection of an old WNBA blast from the past in the Portland Fire.
A few weeks prior to the 2025 All-Star weekend in Indianapolis, Engelbert held a conference where her vision of an 18-team WNBA would be recognized. That June 30 announcement would be that the W would have franchises in three more cities – Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia.
All three of these expansion efforts were spearheaded by existing NBA owners. This meant Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert was heading the Cleveland effort, Pistons governor Tom Gores was leading the Detroit bid and the Philly keyed by Josh Harris (Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment) in collaboration with Comcast Spectacor.
Cleveland will be welcomed to the W in 2028 followed by Detroit in 2029 and finally Philadelphia in 2030. The Philly expansion particularly made sense from a business perspective given Comcast owns and operates NBC – which is slated to become a WNBA television and streaming partner with the 2026 season.
Engelbert also dropped a nugget at that press conference about another city that apparently is on her mind for expansion.
Sun Setting in Connecticut?
Following the 2024 season, plenty of changes took place with the Connecticut Sun. Former coach Stephanie White took a job with the Indiana Fever. Former general manager took a job with Texas A&M where his wife, Joni, is head coach.
The changes with the Sun also occurred in the form of player personnel. Alyssa Thomas took her triple-double talents west and south to the Phoenix Mercury. DeWanna Bonner originally joined White with the Fever before heading back to the team that drafted her in the Mercury. DiJonai Carrington at first wore blue and volt of the Dallas Wings before finishing the 2025 season with the Minnesota Lynx. Brionna Jones traded her Connecticut threads for those of the Atlanta Dream.
Years and years of playoff near falls finally took their toll on the Sun, but one could tell given all of the roster turnover prior to the 2025 season that something else was afoot. After all, that saying is true – where there is smoke, there is fire. It was especially a poor look for the Mohegan Tribe that the Sun practiced at a rec league gym prior to a 2024 playoff matchup against the Fever.
Rumors of a possible sale began brewing throughout New England. The Mohegan Tribe appeared poised to sell to Steve Pagliuca who wanted to relocate the team to Boston with intent on having the franchise play at TD Garden. Pagliuca also wanted to invest money into a practice facility and his effort was supported by the governors of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
There was also an effort – backed by Connecticut governor Ned Lamont – to sell to Marc Lasry with the intent on moving the team from the Mohegan Sun Casino and Resort to Hartford. Instead, both bids appeared to receive the thumbs down from Engelbert.
The likeliest scenario, per reports, is that the Sun would be sold to Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta. The scenario unfolding with the Sun sale is rewarding Fertitta for applying for an expansion franchise while punishing the Boston and Hartford bids for not doing the same.
Ask many a WNBA fan – and they will say they want the Comets back. The process in which the Comets could return by way of the Sun may make a few WNBA backers ill – not to mention Fertitta’s right-wing political connections.
Boston and Hartford’s prospective owners may also feel a bit jilted by the process. They may not have thought that it made sense to apply for an expansion franchise given the Sun are right there in New England and had intentions to keep them there.
Bienvenidos a Miami
As we mentioned a bit earlier, the 2026 Unrivaled season tips off in a few days. The year 2025 would see the fledgling full-court 3-on-3 basketball league make its maiden voyage in the Miami suburb of Medley.
Unrivaled debuted with six teams – and a number of notable names very familiar to WNBA fans. Those teams were Laces BC, Lunar Owls BC, Mist BC, Rose BC, Phantom BC and Vinyl BC. Among those that took part in Unrivaled’s inaugural campaign included Jackie Young, Kayla McBride, Alyssa Thomas, Skylar Diggins, Courtney Williams, Allisha Gray, Jewell Loyd, Courtney Vandersloot, DiJonai Carrington, Sabrina Ionescu, Natasha Cloud, Chelsea Gray, Kahleah Copper, Arike Ogunbowale, Rhyne Howard, Aliyah Boston, Angel Reese, Brittney Griner and league co-founders Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier.
The two-month league earned plenty of high praise from pundits – from its facilities to how the league was presented with Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT, TruTV, HBO Max) as a television and streaming partner.
After a scintillating first season, it came down to Rose BC and Vinyl BC for the first-ever Unrivaled championship. That championship contest resulted in a 62-54 victory for Rose. Chelsea Gray was named Finals MVP. Gray also earned First-Team honors along with McBride and Phee.
Reese, Smith and Howard were named to Unrivaled’s All-Second Team.
Unrivaled had such a successful first season that it is returning this upcoming season with two new teams – Breeze BC and Hive BC. In addition, while the WNBA is set to go into its 2026 season with no Black woman head coaches, Unrivaled has five. That quintet includes Noelle Quinn (Breeze), Rema Wakama (Hive), Roneeka Hodges (Phantom), Nola Henry (Rose) and Teresa Weatherspoon (Vinyl).
Not only that, but this year’s Unrivaled season will also feature a tour stop at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. It will take place on Jan. 30 and will feature Breeze vs. Phantom and Rose vs. Lunar Owls. Among the featured stars that will take to the court that day are Philly natives Natasha Cloud of Phantom and Kahleah Copper of Rose.
Collier also prevailed in Unrivaled’s 1-on-1 tournament over Aaliyah Edwards. Semifinalists also included Ogunbowale and Azurá Stevens.
C, B and A
Amidst the glitz and glamour of the 2025 WNBA season, three letters dominated much of the conversation – C, B and A.
With the season being the final season of the existing collective bargaining agreement, one knew that CBA talks would be the white (or should we say, green) elephant in the room as the season progressed.
This was the case at All-Star weekend in Indianapolis when the players warmed up in shirts that said “Pay Us What You Owe Us” – a show of solidarity among the WNBPA.
The game itself featured Team Collier vs. Team Clark – even though the “Clark” in question (Caitlin) was unable to play due to injury. Team Phee got the better of Team CC by a final score of 151-131 and Collier set a new single-game All-Star record with 36 points.
What took place following the contest was a much a story as the build-up to the game itself. As Phee was presented with the All-Star MVP trophy, fans held up signs saying “Pay The Players” and chanted “Pay Them! Pay Them!” to show their support for the players.
Phee also made her presence known within the heat of the WNBA’s CBA dispute with the players following the Lynx being eliminated from the playoffs in four games in the semifinals by the Mercury.
Collier aired out a great deal of dirty laundry regarding conversations between her and Engelbert. She alleged that Engelbert said players should be thankful for the media rights deals she brokered, that only “losers” complain about referees and that Clark can make the $16 million she makes away from the WNBA because of the W.
Since the original October 31 deadline date for the CBA, league and players have agreed upon a couple of extensions to possibly kiss and make up. Given what has been revealed in these talks, it is a fair question as to if these extensions are doing much of anything.
The reality is there is no reason for the WNBA to play broke given the skyrocketing valuations of the existing franchises not to mention the new revenue streams created by new television and streaming deals plus the money the W is generating via expansion franchises.
What Phee said in those remarks also put Engelbert under a greater microscope. There is no question that the WNBA has seen tremendous growth under her stewardship – including the expansion to new cities, the new television and streaming partnerships and guiding the W out of the pandemic. But one wonders if Engelbert has been much of a relationship-builder with the players – and if that is affecting the tenor of the current CBA brouhaha.
Dozen By Way of Dominance
Entering the 2024-25 college season, every team wanted to be South Carolina.
The Dawn Staley-led Gamecocks earned victory over Iowa in the 2024 national championship game, preventing Clark from “finishing her story” at the collegiate level – and completing a perfect season for South Carolina.
One of those teams that wanted to be South Carolina was UConn. Anyone who is a women’s basketball fan understands the laundry list of names that have come out of the UConn program to go on to greatness in the W.
That list includes Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles, Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier. When one wears UConn’s navy blue and red threads, national championships are expected.
Paige Bueckers had established herself as another name that would go from Storrs to WNBA greatness. One item was left for Bueckers to check off of her collegiate wish list – a national championship. A core that included Buckers, girlfriend of PB5’s in Azzi Fudd and a young, versatile phenom out of the Carolinas named Sarah Strong, the Huskies had the team to claim that first championship in a decade.
It came down to UConn and who else but South Carolina – and given the Huskies already defeated the Gamecocks earlier in the season, one had to believe Auriemma’s assembling may just have the number of Staley’s squad.
It did. UConn routed South Carolina by a final of 82-59 as Bueckers “finished her story” at the collegiate level.
Bueckers went on to be the first overall selection to the Dallas Wings in the 2025 WNBA Draft. She was not the only Husky selected – Kaitlyn Chen was a third-round pick of the Valkyries.
Viva Las Vengeance: The Trilogy
When the Las Vegas Aces won back-to-back WNBA championships in 2022 and 2023, the deserved topic of conversation revolved around the Aces becoming the next great WNBA dynasty alongside the late 1990s Houston Comets and the Minnesota Lynx of the 2010s.
The Aces were knocked off their perch in 2024 by a New York Liberty assembling that won its first championship in franchise history that year following a grueling five-game Finals classic against Cheryl Reeve’s Lynx.
Expectations for the 2025 version of the Aces were high – even after a three-team trade that sent Kelsey Plum – a franchise cornerstone who was with Las Vegas since its final season as the San Antonio Stars – to the Los Angeles Sparks. In that trade, Jewell Loyd joined the Aces from the Seattle Storm.
For a good portion of the season, the Aces struggled. At one point the team was 14-14 and on the verge of missing the postseason entirely. The low point of Las Vegas’ occurred in early August – on the Aces’ home floor.
The Minnesota Lynx embarrassed the Aces by a final score of 111-58 in front of their home fans. Many a fan and pundit analyzed that game and asked if Las Vegas’ dynasty had indeed run its course (including us at Beyond The W). They even asked if A’ja Wilson – set to be a free agent following the 2025 season – would call it a career in Sin City.
Something happened to this team following that game – and it was not only with Loyd playing a role as a sixth woman. The mindset of this team shifted. The Aces needed to endure that loss to remember who they were.
Las Vegas went from being on the playoff bubble to the second seed in the playoffs. A signature game in Las Vegas’ run happened against those same Lynx on Sep. 4 when Wilson tallied 31 points while the Aces’ defense held Collier to only 12. At a time where the MVP award was up for grabs between Wilson, Phee, Alyssa Thomas and Allisha Gray, that contest practically won a fourth MVP award for the Gamecock legend-turned Ace.
The Aces’ run continued into the playoffs. Las Vegas survived a first-round scare to best the Storm in three games. Next up – an Indiana Fever team that was playing its best basketball in the playoffs despite not having Clark.
Kelsey Mitchell, Odyssey Sims and fellow Gamecock alum of Wilson’s in Aliyah Boston threw everything including the proverbial kitchen sink at these Aces. But these Aces are battle-tested in the playoffs and that enabled Las Vegas to outlast Indiana in five games.
All that stood between Las Vegas and the team regaining dynasty status was the Phoenix Mercury – a team with players that have Finals experience. DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas played in Finals during their days in Connecticut. Copper was a former Finals MVP from her days with the Sky.
Except the Aces already won the regular season series against the Mercury – and that theme continued into the playoffs. Following victories in the first couple of Finals games, Phoenix had a golden opportunity to right the ship at the Mortgage Matchup Center in front of the X-Factor.
One problem – the Aces have A’ja Wilson. And she drained a legacy-making midrange jumper at the conclusion of Game 3 to put Vegas ahead 3-0 in the series.
When that shot happened, it was no longer a matter of if the Aces would win in the Finals – but how many games it would take. The first-ever seven-game Finals series in WNBA history would result in a sweep for Wilson, Loyd, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray, NaLyssa Smith and company.
Not only would it be the third championships for Wilson, Young and Loyd but it would be the fourth for Gray, capping off a 2025 that also saw her win the inaugural Unrivaled championship with Rose.
Sin City was Win City once again. Viva Las Vengeance, indeed.
Looking Into the 2026 Crystal Basketball…
One can expect for 2026 to be another topsy turvy year in the realm of women’s hoops – both at the college and at the professional level.
Of course, there is a CBA to be ironed out. In addition, we have to remember that whenever that CBA is agreed to, free agency will take place. That free agency period – whenever it is – is sure to be a wild one given the number of free agents set to be on the market.
The women’s basketball calendar will begin in earnest when Unrivaled tips off that first full week of January. The 2026 WNBA season – its 30th anniversary – will see the debuts of two new teams in the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire not to mention the return of All-Star to Chicago.
Plus, Project B is set to debut the latter part of the year and 2026 will also be a FIBA World Cup year. Expect many players to also be active in the political sphere given it is a midterm election year.
Expect 2026 to be full of tricks – and count on us at Beyond The W to be deep in the mix.
