The 2024 WNBA season closes with a cascade of news from around the league and across the sport, beginning with the best moments from the New York Liberty’s championship celebration:

Scenes from the Liberty’s championship parade

Breanna Stewart embodied Stew York City. Jonquel Jones waved the Bahamian flag. Sabrina Ionescu showed off her speciality jacket. The Sabally sisters and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton stunned. Courtney Vandersloot reveled with Allie Quigley. Kayla Thornton and Kennedy Burke flashed grins and puffed cigars. Leonie Fiebich and Jaylyn Sherrod soaked it all in. Sandy Brondello proclaimed her New Yorker status. Big Ellie vibed with everyone, including Senator Chuck Schumer. Maddie was there too! As were Liberty OGs Teresa Weatherspoon, Vickie Johnson and Kym Hampton.

It all was part of the New York Liberty’s 2024 WNBA championship celebration. The parade down Manhattan’s Canyon of Champions culminated with a ceremony at City Hall, where October 20 was declared New York Liberty Day.

Unrivaled reveals team names

Unrivaled continues to entice fans with a drip, drip, drip of news. This week, the forthcoming 3×3 professional league, fresh off of inking a lucrative media rights deal with TNT Sports, introduced the names of its six teams.

Laces Basketball Club, Mist Basketball Club, Phantom Basketball Club, Lunar Owls Basketball Club, Rose Basketball Club and Vinyl Basketball Club will compete in Miami beginning in mid-January. The league is borrowing from soccer by identifying teams as “clubs.” As declared in a promotional video, “We’re starting a new tradition this week and inviting you to imagine what is possible for the future of our basketball clubs with us.”

Each team has its own social media accounts on X, Instagram, TikTok and Threads, which presumably will distribute the exclusive, behind-the-scenes content promised by the league.

Currently, Unrivaled has announced 26 of its 30 participants. As reported by Front Office Sports, the league continues to recruit Caitlin Clark, hoping the prospect of a hefty payday will encourage the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year to participate in the inaugural season.

WNBA front office, coaching carousel keeps spinning

On Saturday afternoon, the Las Vegas Aces became the latest WNBA team to make a leadership change, announcing that general manager Natalie Williams’ contract would not be renewed as the organization looks to restructure its front office. Williams, who was an original member of the Utah Starzz, the grandmother of today’s Aces, was hired before the 2022 season.

Vegas president Nikki Fargas thanked Williams for her time with the organization, saying in a statement:

We are incredibly grateful for Natalie’s invaluable efforts in helping build the Aces into the premier franchise in the WNBA. Her time with the organization extends back to the league’s formative years in Utah, and she will forever be a part of our history, having left an indelible mark as both a player and an executive.

Three teams now have a general manager vacancy (Las Vegas, Washington, Dallas), while five remain without a head coach (Washington, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles).

According to Howard Megdal of The Next and the Locked on Women’s Basketball podcast, a number of teams with vacancies are interested in Latricia Trammell, who was dismissed from her post with the Dallas Wings after two seasons. Megdal does not identify the franchises that are considering Trammell.

A bit more clarity also has emerged regarding the Washington Mystics’ decision to dismiss both general manager Mike Thibault and head coach Eric Thibault. As reported by ESPN’s Alexa Philippou, the Mystics intend to rebuild through the draft rather than free agency, a strategy, presumably envisioned by Monumental Basketball president Michael Winger, that diverged from the Thibaults’ preferred approach.

However, as Albert Lee discusses at Bullets Forever, Winger’s draft-centric direction seems shortsighted. Because the WNBA’s current CBA was expected to expire after next season, a date confirmed with the WNBPA’s decision to opt out, few players signed contracts that go past the 2025 season, creating a free agency bonanza in the 2026 offseason. This coming reality makes the organization’s decision to not prioritize free agency puzzling.

Milwaukee headlines next WNBA expansion candidates

On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the Milwaukee Bucks ownership group has submitted a proposal for a WNBA expansion franchise.

Previously, the Sports Business Journal had identified Milwaukee as one of a number of cities or regions interested in an expansion team. Others include: Austin, Central Florida, Charlotte, Cleveland, Denver, Kansas City, Miami, Nashville and Philadelphia.

Final numbers for a record-breaking Finals, season

After Game 4 of the WNBA Finals was the most-viewed Finals game ever on a cable network, with an average of 1.7 million viewers and a peak of 2.4 million, Game 5 attracted an average of 2.2 million viewers and a peak of 3.3 million, making it the most-viewed Finals contest in 25 years.

Overall, Finals viewership increased 115 percent from 2023 to 2024, the culmination of a season-long viewership increase across WNBA platforms, which included the most-viewed WNBA Draft and All-Star Game.

WNBA, Nike continue partnership

Since 2017, the WNBA has been outfitted by Nike. Now, the brand will provide the league’s uniforms and official merchandise for 12 more years, per a contract extension reported last Monday.

Nike and the WNBA also will continue its WIN (“Women in Nike”) Program, which was established in 2019 and, according to Boardroom, “has placed former WNBA players into 24-month rotational workshops that will look to land them on a career path at Nike.” 72 former players have participated in the program, with 58 currently holding full-time roles at Nike, Jordan and Converse.

At last Tuesday’s public announcement of the continued partnership, Sue Bird and A’ja Wilson shared their excitement, with Wilson emphasizing that “the best is yet to come” because of Nike’s support for WNBA players’ desire to “push the needle.”

No. 22 to be retired on 2/2

“Pushing the needle” also describes what A’ja Wilson did at South Carolina. And for that, her No. 22 jersey will be raised into rafters of Colonial Life Arena on February 2.

Angel Reese set for Reebok signature shoe

Last year, Angel Reese was the first athlete signed by a revamped Reebok. Last week, Reese and Reebok not only extended that endorsement contract, but the Chi Barbie also is set to debut a signature shoe in 2026.

Dee’s not done?

We thought this was it. But maybe it wasn’t?

On Tuesday, Diana Taurasi indicated to the Associated Press that she had yet to make a final decision about her WNBA future. Taurasi said:

I don’t take retirement lightly. I know the minute I say it or announce it, whether it’s, you know, in a month or two months, I’m going to mean it. I talk to [wife Penny Taylor] and the Mercury, so I’m still in the thought process.

She further elaborated:

I have not taken it lightly. I think about it every day. You know, I’m still in deep thought about it. I want to make the right decision, you know, and I’m just taking my time a little bit. And you know, sometimes when the season ends, the last thing you want to think about is the next season.

I do think with the additions [on court] we made and in the front office we’ll be there for a long time. You know, those are my sisters. I’ve gone through a lot with them. So you know, I’ll chat with them. It’s a lot to process the season as a whole.

Those sound like the musing of someone who is feeling like this was not, in fact, it.

AU does Nashville

In anticipation of Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball heading to Nashville for the league’s fourth season, Sydney Colson, Lexie Brown and Theresa Plaisance introduced AU to the city through a series of welcome events on Thursday and Friday. After the trio was interviewed at an opening press conference at the Nashville Museum of African American Music, they visited a Vanderbilt practice and a went on a downtown happy hour tour that featured some karaoke action. They also crossed paths with Lynn Williams and Rose Lavelle of the USWNT, who were in town for a set of friendlies against Iceland.

The league also announced that Alissa Pili will be among the AU newcomers who will hoop in Nashville beginning in February.

Storm endorse Harris-Walz

The Seattle Storm have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in the 2024 presidential election. The Storm are the WNBA’s lone women-owned franchise, with the Force 10 Hoops ownership group composed of Dawn Trudeau, Lisa Brummel, Ginny Gilder and Sue Bird.

The WNBA, with an assist from Aliyah Boston, also is reminding fans to establish their voting game plan ahead of election day on Tuesday, November 5.

Zippy Broughton is a free spirit who loves the team sport of basketball.

Raised on a farm in Alabama, Broughton’s college career began at Rutgers, but after three years in New Jersey, she headed to Florida and joined the Gators. Now, she’s in Germany, getting her first taste of pro ball at TK Hannover Luchse.

Meet the aspiring member of the 5:30 club, who continues to work on herself (and her game) and documents her journey in journals, which she one day will publish. Some highlights from her conversation with Swish Appeal include:

On which was more important for her, the 2018 Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year (for her basketball play) or Jimmy Hitchcock Memorial Award (for her exceptional character):

If I had to choose. I’ll say Gatorade Player of the Year just because I was able to use that award for social engagement. So I won the Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year award and after that I was able to enter into an essay contest. And so I won the essay contest for all the women’s basketball players in the country. So after I won the Gatorade Player of the Year, I was able to donate $11,000 to whatever nonprofit organization I wanted to. I chose the Boys and Girls Club in Alabama, so I’ll pick Gatorade Player of the Year.

How a dream predicted her injury (and convinced her that things will work out):

Before my shoulder tear, a few days before, I had a dream that I woke up crying from. My mom is alive, but in the dream it was her spirit and she was basically in the dream, telling me, “Something big is about to happen, but you’re going to be okay.” And two days later, I tore my shoulder and ended up having surgery and then was out for months and I didn’t know what it meant then. But I know I woke up crying. And then after I tore my shoulder, I’m like, “I needed to hear that.” And the dream came into fruition. I was okay. I’m better than ever now. Like, I don’t think about my shoulder at all when I play. It was tough at first, but yeah, crazy things happen and I’m just so blessed.

A special thank you to Jesper Sundberg of TK Hannover Luchse for arranging the interview.

Half of the teams in the WNBA are now without a head coach.

On Sunday, the Indiana Fever announced that organization was letting go of head coach Christie Sides after two seasons. She is the sixth head coach to be fired since the end of the 2024 regular season.

In 2024, Sides navigated early-season turbulence, from on-court struggles to the off-court spotlight that came with No. 1 pick and eventual Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark, to led the Fever to a 20-20 record and playoff berth, the franchise’s best season since 2016. Sides was the WNBA’s Coach of the Month for August. She also received a one Coach of the Year vote.

Yet, Indiana, like much of the WNBA, seems infected with a lack of patience, rather than a spirit of perseverance. This posture also diverges from the sentiment expressed by Kelly Krauskopf, who recently returned to the Fever as the franchise’s president after serving as an executive with the Pacers since 2018. At her introductory news conference, Krauskopf appeared to give Sides a vote of confidence, saying:

I was really impressed with the progress that they made and how Christie is a resilient leader. You know, she’s a culture-builder. I know just that she’s got that kind of, you know, stamina to stick to it and stick to her plan, and she’s a good person, and she’s a great leader. I was impressed with the way they finished.

On Sunday, Krauskopf issued a statement that said:

While decisions like these are never easy, it is also imperative that we remain bold and assertive in the pursuit of our goals, which includes maximizing our talent and bringing another WNBA championship back to Indiana. Coach Sides was an incredible representative of the Fever and our community, and we wish her nothing but success in the future.

The Athletic has suggested that the organization’s interest in Connecticut Sun head coach Stephanie White could explain the decision to part ways with Sides. White was a player, assistant coach and head coach for the Fever during Krauskopf’s previous tenure with the organization. She remains under contract with the Sun.

Another interesting nugget was shared by The Next’s Tony East. He noted that Monday, Oct. 28 is set to be new general manager Amber Cox’s first official day on the job. It seems like she’ll be busy.

For much of Game 5 of the WNBA Finals, it seemed as if the New York Liberty’s season review would include a quite painful “What went wrong?” section, as the Liberty, the No. 1 seed playing on their home court in the championship-deciding game, appeared headed toward another ignominious Finals ending, with Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu combining for a 5-for-34 stinker as New York’s Finals record fell to 0-6.

Fortunately for the Liberty faithful, first among them being Big Ellie, New York found a way to scratch out the win (although Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve may dispute that wording). Finals MVP Jonquel Jones was the difference maker. Nyara Sabally emerged as an unexpected hero. And Stewart made the foul shots that mattered the most.

It was ugly. But finally, it was theirs. One of the WNBA’s original eight captured the championship it long has craved.

That result demands a celebration of New York’s season, followed by a look ahead to their chances of repeating in 2025:

What went right for the Liberty?

Sab’s super season

Sabrina Ionescu’s Game 5 left a sour impression of the fifth-year guard’s season, when she finished 1-for-19 and scored just five points. Without her Game 3 game-winner, her entire Finals also would have been a series to forget, as she averaged 12.4 points while shooting less than 30 percent from the field and below 25 percent from 3. Yikes!

However, Ionescu’s larger body of work indicated the continued evolution and maturation of her game. Weaponized as a 3-point bomber in 2023, she rounded out her game in 2024, scoring more effectively inside the arc. Her floater, in particular, emerged as an effective off-speed pitch. She was especially fantastic before the Olympic Break, when she was scoring almost 20 points per game.

Her subpar Finals also is offset by her stellar semifinals. Without Ionescu’s excellence, the Liberty might not have made it to the championship stage. Against the Las Vegas Aces, she averaged 17.8 points per game on better than 48 percent shooting from the field and exactly 48 percent from 3.

Fiebich’s perfect fit

In her season-long coverage of the Liberty, Chelsea Leite emphasized that New York’s bench was a work in progress. While the starting group benefitted from the cohesion established over the course of last season, the bench featured a number of new faces tasked with finding ways to elevate their All-Star teammates.

From that group, Leonie Fiebich steadily emerged, first becoming a leading Sixth Player of the Year candidate and then, come the postseason, a perfect fifth starter. After playing just over 10 minutes per game in May, she soon became a rotation regular for head coach Sandy Brondello, tallying more than 20 minutes per game through the rest of the season. After the Olympic break, when she started a number of games for an injured Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, she really found her groove, playing 23.3 minutes per game and averaging 8.1 points per contest on 58.7 percent shooting. She also made more than 52 percent of her 3.1 3-point attempts per game.

She, in short, was the rookie who didn’t play like a rookie, providing efficient offense and top-tier defense as a burgeoning star in her role. Fiebich’s breakout moment came in her first career playoff game, when she dropped a career-high 21 points, boosted by a 4-for-4 performance from the 3, as the Liberty rolled to a Game 1 first-round win.

Fiebich also stands as an enviable value for a top-heavy team. The 24-year-old German is on a bargain contract, under team control for the next three seasons with a salary that will top out at $85,745 in 2027.

Persevered to prevail

To win a championship, things usually have to go perfect. But, that wasn’t the case for the Liberty.

Courtney Vandersloot missed nine games due to her mother’s illness and eventual passing. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton underwent a midseason knee procedure that caused her to miss 12 total games. Breanna Stewart’s 3-point shot abandoned her for much of the regular season. Then, there was their Game 1 collapse in the Finals. It was an episode that could have caused ghosts from the franchises’ past Finals failures to swirl, inflicting players with doubts about their ability to get the job done.

No, the Liberty did not face an avalanche of adversity. But when it did arise, they rose to the occasion, showing that not only were they the WNBA’s best team quantitatively, based on stats and such, but also qualitatively, as they had cultivated the character necessary to claim the championship.

What’s next for New York?

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Sloot still in NYC?

Although the same Liberty squad might not be back in 2025, one that is similar enough should be.

Stewart is an unrestricted free agent, but there is no indication that she intends to depart her home-state team. As she made clear during the Finals, she plans to sign one-year contracts until the WNBA’s next CBA is finalized in order to maximize her earning power. Before Game 3, Stewart said:

I am under a one-year, and I’m going to sign another one-year. Just so I can continue to have that kind of flexibility going forward. It’s kind of hard to tell, because you don’t know obviously if we opt in or opt out, but with the potential from the new TV deal—how does everything play into effect.

The rest of the Liberty’s core is under contract for next season, except Vandersloot. It was a trying season for the point guard off the court. As noted above, she missed much of the month of June due to the death of her mother. On the court, her impact has demonstrably decreased, resulting in Brondello choosing to remove her from the starting lineup and use her as a reserve throughout the Liberty’s playoff run. In Game 5 of the Finals, Vandersloot saw just three minutes of playing time.

As she’ll be 36 before the 2025 season beings, it wouldn’t be surprising if she chose to retire. Alternatively, she could choose to join a new team with more opportunity. Or quite possibly, she’s happy to continue to play a reduced role on the Liberty, accepting a lower salary to accommodate the team’s finances. The ball is in Court’s court, as much as the team’s, when it comes to her future in seafoam. If Vandersloot does move on, the Liberty likely will have a hard time finding another primary ball handler of commensurate quality.

Return of Marine and more?

The Liberty still retain reserved player rights to Marine Johannès, at least for now. If the team chooses not to protect her in the expansion draft, the flair-filled French guard could be selected by the Golden State Valkyries. But, if she is protected by New York or Golden State opts not to draft the soon-to-be 30-year-old whose primary loyalty lies with the French national team, her return would be a boon to New York, providing off-the-bench offensive self-creation that team only inconsistently enjoyed in 2024, and would be especially lacking in 2025 if Vandersloot does not return.

New York also has the rights to Han Xu, as her contract expired when it was under suspended status because she had left the team to fulfill obligations with the Chinese national team. The 6-foot-11 center, who will turn 25 before the end of the month, mostly has been a novelty in her WNBA career. However, her size, touch and still latent potential would intrigue any team, including the defending champs.

While questions surround the prospect of Johannès or Han joining the Liberty in 2025, Rebekah Gardner appears set to be part of next season’s squad. During the 2024 offseason, New York savvily sent a pair of future second-round picks to the Chicago Sky for Gardner’s rights, even though she had recently torn her Achilles while playing in Spain and would miss the entire 2024 season. Now, the Liberty are in position to sign the reserved free agent to a team-friendly contract, equipping them another long, defense-first contributor. (That she recently visited Good Morning America and The Tonight Show with the team suggests their commitment to her.)