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WNBA: Beard, Chook, Fowles and Pondexter headed to WBHOF – Women Are Sports
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WNBA: Beard, Chook, Fowles and Pondexter headed to WBHOF

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WNBA: Beard, Chook, Fowles and Pondexter headed to WBHOF

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Here are the latest announcements and developments from around women’s basketball:


Fab four headlines WBHOF Class of 2025

During halftime of Friday evening’s game between No. 2 UConn and No. 14 North Carolina, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2025 was revealed—and it’s a good one.

The quartet of Alanna Beard, Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles and Cappie Pondexter will be inducted on June 14 at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville. Alongside the players, coaches Lucille Kyvallos, former head coach at West Chester State College in Pennsylvania and Queens College in New York, and Mark Campbell, former head coach at Union University in Tennessee, will be inducted, as will Danielle Donehew, the executive director of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

The resumes of Beard, Bird, Fowles and Pondexter are well known, and too long to list in detail. But, here’s a quick reminder of why the foursome is headed into the Hall:

Alana Beard

Winner of multiple national player of the honors as a senior at Duke, Beard was a member of the 2016 WNBA champion Los Angeles Sparks. Across a 14-year WNBA career with the Washington Mystics and Sparks, she was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, nine-time All-Defensive honoree and four-time All-Star.

Sue Bird

A two-time national champion at UConn who received multiple national player of the year awards as a senior, Bird authored a 19-year WNBA career with the Seattle Storm, highlighted by four WNBA championships, 13 All-Star appearances and eight All-WNBA nominations.

Sylvia Fowles

A multi-time All-American at LSU, Fowles captured two WNBA titles and two WNBA Finals MVPs with the Minnesota Lynx. Her 15-year WNBA career, which began with the Chicago Sky, also featured four Defensive Player of the Year awards, 11 All-Defensive honors, eight All-WNBA selections and eight All-Star appearances.

Cappie Pondexter

After collecting multiple All-American honors at Rutgers, Pondexter began her 14-year WNBA career with the Phoenix Mercury, winning two WNBA titles and a WNBA Finals MVP. The four-time All-WNBA, seven-time All-Star and one-time All-Defensive team member also played for the New York Liberty, Chicago Sky, Los Angeles Sparks and Indiana Fever.

Storm staff under investigation

On Friday night, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Annie Constabile reported that the Seattle Storm coaching staff is under investigation for the alleged mistreatment of players. Noelle Quinn has served as the team’s head coach since 2021. Her assistants for the 2024 season were Perry Huang, who had been with Quinn since 2021 (and now is an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers’ G League team), Ebony Hoffman, a former WNBA player who has been on the staff since 2022, and Pokey Chatman, former head coach of the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever who also has been on staff since 2022. Chatman has been the organization’s associate general manager since 2023 as well.

Constabile writes:

A law firm hired by the team is looking into accusations of alleged harassment and bullying by the coaching staff tied to on-court performance during the 2024 season, a source said. The allegations stem from incidents that happened at practice and during games. An email from the law firm, obtained by the Sun-Times, showed the investigation has been active for at least two weeks.

According to Constabile, the experiences of multiple players led to the investigation. The WNBA has yet to return her request for comment, while the Storm declined to comment. The WNBPA only asserted that the union was aware of the investigation.

Circling Seattle Sports offered additional commentary on the relationship between the staff and players during the 2024 season. According to Christian Braswell:

Clear dysfunction and a feeling of distrust led to players-only meetings to discuss alleged mistreatment without Ogwumike—the WNBPA president—in attendance due to a fear of partiality to the coaching staff.

Braswell further reports:

As the season developed, it was clear that Diggins-Smith’s style of leadership wasn’t held in high regard by most except the coaching staff. According to multiple sources, Diggins-Smith led several outbursts laced with vulgarity during practices directed at teammates.

Unrivaled shares more details

Mark your calendars for Nov. 20. That’s when Unrivaled is set to reveal the rosters for its six clubs: Mist Basketball Club, Laces Basketball Club, Lunar Owls Basketball Club, Vinyl Basketball Club, Rose Basketball Club and Phantom Basketball Club. Tickets also will go on sale on Nov. 20.

On Friday, we learned the six coaches who will lead the 3×3 clubs: Phil Handy, Adam Harrington, Nola Henry, DJ Sackmann, Andrew Wade and Teresa Weatherspoon.

And while curiosity stills abounds when it comes to how Unrivaled will allot its 36 players and six coaches among the six clubs, we do know that Clare Duwelius will be a part of that process. Duwelius was named the first executive vice president and general manager of Unrivaled.

She comes to the 3×3 professional league after more than a decade working for the Minnesota Lynx, beginning as the organization’s basketball operations coordinator in 2014 before rising to general manager in 2022, a position she held through the 2024 season.

On adding Duewlius to the Unrivaled team, Commissioner Micky Lawler said:

We are thrilled to welcome Clare Duwelius as a critical piece of our league. Her track record and proven excellency speak for themselves, and she brings years of unparalleled experienced from a storied and successful franchise.



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