Sports

Expansion is coming to the WNBA whether the league is ready for it or not – For The Win

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1 year ago

September 29, 2023

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This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Gooooood morning, Winners! I hope you’re well today. Happy Wednesday, folks. The week is halfway through.
Folks have been calling for expansion for years with the WNBA. Now, it seems like it’s actually happening.
While you were sleeping, news broke that the Golden State Warriors group headed by Joe Lacob is nearing a deal to bring a team to the Bay Area, according to Marcus Thompson of The Athletic. The team would be headquartered in Oakland but share the Chase Center with the Warriors.
This is a huge deal. We’ve been having conversations about it here for a long time. Every single season, players who are talented enough to make rosters around the league are getting cut because there’s just not enough space for everyone. Another team or two solves that issue.
Plus, it just feels like it’s time, doesn’t it? The league hasn’t expanded since 2008 when the Atlanta Dream entered the fold. Another team brings something fresh — especially by the bay where there’s a history with women’s basketball.
Now, look. There are some folks who harbor a bit of trepidation on the prospect of expansion for the league. Some players are included in that, Yahoo! WNBA reporter Cassandra Negley writes.
I get it. The WNBA has a lot of problems it needs to solve. The big one is obviously player travel with teams unable to book charter flights for their squads. Plus, because of league prioritization rules, the WNBA’s middle class is being squeezed a bit. Negley explains here.
“When the CBA was signed in 2020, it increased the maximum base salary by approximately 84%. The salary cap did not rise proportionally, increasing by 30%. That created stratification and a middle subset of players [Kelsey] Plum said is getting squeezed because they aren’t being paid big dollars domestically, and they can’t spend their 6-8 months off playing overseas because of prioritization rules that go into full effect this coming spring.”
It’s also very clear players also need pregnancy protections after what happened to Skylar Diggins-Smith and Dearica Hamby this season. They also don’t get proper benefits.
An extra team in the W would be great, but it admittedly wouldn’t solve any of those present problems the league’s players face. In fact, while it would get more players rostered and paid, it’d also open them up to some of those hardships, too.
But, look, with that being said, it’s hard to say no to expansion. It brings in another media market to the league and increases the size of the pie everyone is splitting. Lacob and company are clearly unafraid of spending big — just take a look at the Warriors’ luxury tax bill. That’s a huge plus and will go a long way for the future of the league.
Whether the WNBA is ready for it or not, expansion is coming. It’s best to just embrace it
Other WNBA news and notes:
— Breanna Stewart is your league MVP this season. She just beat out Alyssa Thomas and A’ja Wilson for the award in a historically slim margin. Wilson said losing the award to Stewart “hurt like hell.”
— Speaking of Wilson, the Aces took a 2-0 lead against the Wings behind yet another 30-point game from the Defensive Player of the Year. She’s not a tear right now.
— The Liberty also tied their series with the Sun up at 1-1 and New York did it without a spectacular game from Stewart. That’s scary. New York still needs to win on the road in Connecticut now after dropping Game 1. We’ll see.

This entire college football season has felt like one big Jake Paul boxing match.
A lot of it stems from Deion Sanders and Colorado. Teams absolutely hate them — that much is clear. But that’s not where the cattiness stops. Let’s turn our attention to this super weird beef between Ohio State’s Ryan Day and … Lou Holtz. Yes, that Lou Holtz.
Day called out Holtz after Ohio State’s win over Notre Dame last week because Holtz said he thought OSU wasn’t “physical enough” and that Notre Dame was a better team. Holtz is firing back and doubling down.
On Dan Dakich’s YouTube show he called out Day and his team. Again. AND he brought up Michigan. MICHIGAN.
“He doesn’t want to talk about Michigan and 0-2. He doesn’t want to talk about the big game coming up against Penn State and against Michigan again. He’s a great coach, he’s done a tremendous job, he’s a great offensive mind, he inherited an outstanding defensive coordinator from Oklahoma State … Ohio State’s a good football team, but I don’t think they’re a great football team, and he can go after me all he wants.”
Tell me that’s not WWE promo copy, man. I feel like Lou Holtz is going to walk out of the tunnel at halftime of Ohio State’s next game and all we’re going to hear is “BAH GAWD, THAT’S LOU HOLTZ’S MUSIC!” and all the lights are going to go out and it’s just going to be Holtz and Day standing face to face when the lights turn back on.
OK, Ohio State plays a noon game. So maybe the lights thing won’t work. But still! I know you see it.
This is great. Please, College Football, keep it up.
(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Boy math is only having five starting spots available on your basketball team, but saying that you have six starters. Steve Kerr is doing a phenomenal job.
In all seriousness, Kerr was asked about what he’s going to do with the Warriors’ starting lineup this season considering the addition of Chris Paul.
And, clearly, Kerr has not figured out how to solve this yet.
Steve Kerr on Chris Paul situation: "We basically have six starters (…) I haven't decided yet what we're going to do." pic.twitter.com/zT0luQYJa2
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) September 26, 2023

“We basically have six starters, the way I look at it. Only five can go each night. I haven’t decided yet what we’re going to do. I want to see training camp, we’re going to try different combinations and take a look.”
To me, this problem is easy to solve. Just bring Chris Paul off the bench. His ego aside, the Warriors had the best starting lineup in the NBA last season. You don’t just break that up.
But there’s a reason that ego exists. Paul has also never come off the bench a day in his life. He has to be willing to make that sacrifice, and he doesn’t seem to be willing to at this point.
We’ll see how this problem solves itself. I don’t envy Steve Kerr at all here.
— Mary Clarke rounded up six stats showing Taylor Swift’s immediate impact on the NFL. Swelce, thank you for the content.
— Bryan Kalbrosky ranked the 23 best players in the NBA under 23 years old. Timberwolves fans, you’ll love this one.
— Robert Zeglinski has your studs, duds and sleepers for fantasy football this week. CJ Stroud is a sneaky good move.
— Deion Sanders doesn’t mind your criticism. Meghan Hall has more on that.
— What kind of numbers are the Yankees counting here? New York said a nearly empty stadium had over 40,000 people in it. Andrew Joseph has more.
— I guess Taylor Swift eating chicken is a meme now. Charles Curtis has more on that.
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