The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is the premier women's professional basketball league. It is composed of 12 teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA), and league play started in 1997. The regular season is played from May to September, with the All Star game being played midway through the season in July and the WNBA Finals at the end of September until the beginning of October.
The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as part of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was founded in 1997 and is one of the eight original franchises of the league. The team is owned by Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai, the majority owners of the Brooklyn Nets. The team's home games are played at Barclays Center.
The San Antonio Stars were a professional basketball team based in San Antonio, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, as the Utah Starzz before the league's inaugural 1997 season began; then moved to San Antonio before the 2003 season and became the San Antonio Silver Stars, then simply the San Antonio Stars in 2014. The team was owned by Spurs Sports & Entertainment, which also owned the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA. The team was sold to MGM Resorts International in 2017 and became the Las Vegas Aces for the 2018 season.
Rebecca Lynn Hammon is a Russian-American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She previously served as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A three-time All-American basketball player for the Colorado State Rams, Hammon went on to play for the San Antonio Stars and New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for several other teams outside the United States. Hammon was born and raised in the United States, but she became a naturalized Russian citizen in 2008 and represented the Russian national team in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Michael Francis Thibault is an American former basketball head coach. He coached the Connecticut Sun of the WNBA, and the Washington Mystics. In 2013, Thibault became the WNBA's all time most successful coach with 212 victories.
The 2007 WNBA Season was the Women's National Basketball Association's 11th season. On January 3, 2007 The Charlotte Sting folded. Three months later on April 4, the WNBA held their annual draft in Cleveland, Ohio. Lindsey Harding of Duke University was selected number one by the Phoenix Mercury. The Duke point guard was traded later to the Minnesota Lynx for Tangela Smith. The San Antonio Silver Stars selected Ohio State University center, Jessica Davenport. Davenport was traded to the New York Liberty for Becky Hammon. The season kicked off on May 19, with a rematch of the 2006 WNBA Finals between the Sacramento Monarchs and the Detroit Shock. The Shock defeated the Monarchs 75-68. On July 15 The All Star Game was played at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. The Eastern All Stars defeated the Western All Stars 103-99. Detroit Shock center, Cheryl Ford won the MVP of the game. Playing 27 minutes contributing 16 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists for the Eastern All Stars victory. The 2007 WNBA regular season ended on August 19. Lauren Jackson of the Seattle Storm was named league MVP. Dan Hughes of the San Antonio Silver Stars was named Coach of the Year. Armintie Price of the Chicago Sky was named Rookie of The Year. The 2007 WNBA season officially ended on September 16 when the Phoenix Mercury won the season WNBA Championship. The Mercury defeated the Detroit Shock 3 games to 2. Mercury guard Cappie Pondexter was named Finals MVP.
The Women's National Basketball Association's Sixth Player of the Year Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the 2007 WNBA season to the league's most valuable player for her team coming off the bench as a substitute—or sixth woman. A panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States votes on the recipient. Each panel member casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points; and each third-place vote is worth one point. The player with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award. To be eligible for the award, a player must come off the bench in more games than she starts.
Mark M Davis is an American businessman and sports franchise owner. He is the controlling owner and managing general partner of the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) and the owner of the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). His father, Al, was the principal owner of the Raiders from 1972 until his death in 2011. Upon his father's death, Davis and his mother, Carol, inherited ownership of the Raiders, with Davis taking over as operating head of the franchise. As of February 2023, his estimated net worth was $1.9 billion.
Kelsey Christine Plum is an American professional basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She has won back-to-back WNBA championships in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, she earned her first All-WNBA First Team selection and was named the WNBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (MVP) in her first WNBA All-Star Game. She also won the gold medal in Women's 3x3 basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
A'ja Riyadh Wilson is an American professional basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Wilson played for the South Carolina Gamecocks in college, and helped lead the Gamecocks to their first NCAA Women's Basketball Championship in 2017, and won the NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player award. In 2018, she won a record third straight SEC Player of the Year award, leading South Carolina to a record fourth straight SEC Tournament Championship, becoming the all-time leading scorer in South Carolina women's basketball history, and was a consensus first-team All-American for the third consecutive season. Wilson swept all National Player of the Year awards as the best player in Women's College basketball for 2018. In the 2018 WNBA draft, she was drafted first overall by the Aces.
The Las Vegas Aces are an American professional basketball team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Aces compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team plays their home games at Michelob Ultra Arena in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, and is headquartered in Henderson, Nevada. The Aces won the 2022 WNBA Commissioner's Cup and WNBA Championship. The Aces also won the 2023 WNBA Championship, becoming the first team to win back-to-back championships since 2001-2002, when the Los Angeles Sparks completed that feat.
The 2019 WNBA All-Star Game was an exhibition basketball game played on July 27, 2019. The Las Vegas Aces hosted the WNBA All-Star Game for the first time.
The WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award first presented after the league's 2017 regular season. The winner is selected at the end of the regular season by a panel consisting of one executive from each of the WNBA's 12 teams, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place. Panel members are not allowed to vote for themselves. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points; and each third-place vote is worth one point. The person with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.
The 2019 WNBA season was the 23rd season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Seattle Storm were the defending champions. The regular season began on May 24, with the Atlanta Dream hosting the Dallas Wings and the New York Liberty hosting the Indiana Fever. The season ended with the Washington Mystics securing their first WNBA Title over the Connecticut Sun three games to two, in a closely contested finals. Emma Meesseman was named Finals MVP and teammate Elena Delle Donne was named regular season MVP.
The 2022 Las Vegas Aces season was the franchise's 26th season in the Women's National Basketball Association and the 5th year the franchise is based in Las Vegas - after relocating from San Antonio and Utah. The regular season began on May 6, 2022, at the Phoenix Mercury.
The 2022 WNBA season was the 26th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Chicago Sky were the defending champions.
The 2022 WNBA All-Star Game was an exhibition basketball game that was played on July 10, 2022, at Wintrust Arena. The Chicago Sky hosted the game and related events for the first time.
The 2022 WNBA Finals, officially the WNBA Finals 2022 presented by YouTube TV for sponsorship reasons, was the best-of-five championship series for the 2022 season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The finals featured the first-seeded Las Vegas Aces facing off against the third-seeded Connecticut Sun. The Aces defeated the Sun in 4 games, winning their first WNBA Championship. This was Las Vegas's third time making the finals, and the second time since moving to Vegas. They previously competed in the Finals in 2008 and 2020. This was Connecticut's fourth time making the finals. They previously competed in 2004, 2005, and 2019.
The 2023 Las Vegas Aces season was the franchise's 27th season in the Women's National Basketball Association and the sixth year the franchise is based in Las Vegas - after relocating from San Antonio and Utah. This was also the second season under head coach Becky Hammon. They were the defending WNBA champions, after defeating the Connecticut Sun in the 2022 WNBA Finals.
The 2023 WNBA season was the 27th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The defending champions, the Las Vegas Aces, repeated as champions after defeating the New York Liberty 3 games to 1 in the Finals.
