#wnba

#wnba

The 3x3 game differs so much from WNBA basketball that Unrivaled's utility as a gauge for player development is dubious. Last year, stars who had dismal Unrivaled seasons—Stewart, Aliyah Boston, Satou Sabally—went on to have their typically excellent WNBA seasons. It's certainly an appealing opportunity for media members to go to Miami in the winter: Last February, I watched games at the Unrivaled facility and found myself genuinely taken by the atmosphere and in-person product.

The Sun launched a process to explore investment options over a year ago, initially seeking to assess opportunities for a limited partnership sale that would help fund an infrastructure build. Earlier this year, Houston was among the groups that expressed interest in buying the Sun outright, eventually raising its offer to $250 million, the amount that Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia paid in an expansion fee earlier this year.

The players' decision is an unavoidable response to the state of negotiations with the WNBA and its teams, the union said in a statement. Time and again, the players' thoughtful and reasonable approach has been met by the WNBA and its teams with a resistance to change and a recommitment to the draconian provisions that have unfairly restricted players for nearly three decades.

In late July, before a game against the Boston Red Sox, Bryce Harper sat slumped in a chair in the Philadelphia Phillies clubhouse, a baseball bat in hand. Philadelphia was the latest stop on Rob Manfred's leaguewide speaking tour; ahead of a CBA negotiation that virtually everyone in baseball expects to involve a 2027 work stoppage, the MLB commissioner spent the summer visiting all 30 teams, trying to get players on board with his plans to restructure the league's economics. When the subject of a salary cap came up late in the meeting, Harper rose from his seat. He walked closer to Manfred until their noses almost touched, and told the commissioner that if Manfred wanted to talk salary cap, he could "get the fuck out of our clubhouse."

Then you think, well, who would be counting that? Well, the NBA does. NBA teams do and count just about everything you see on the court. And nowadays, it's really easy to drown yourself in stats, but writer Shea Serrano instead wants you to stop counting basketball numbers and start getting in touch with how watching basketball makes you feel.

As confetti fell and Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" blared through the arena, the New York Liberty celebrated the end of a long odyssey. The team that always fell short, starting from their days in Madison Square Garden, through detours to Radio City Music Hall and Westchester County Center, finally found their way to the top.

Kalani Brown knows how to make an entrance. Standing at a statuesque 6 feet, 6 inches, the Phoenix Mercury center is unmissable on and off the court. In fact, she's turned the buzzy tunnel walk into her own runway, complete with beaded gowns, sporty sweats, and 2000s-era bags. Though Brown enlists stylists like Kristine Anigwe to serve up some seriously chic looks, she says her personal style comes naturally.

My girlfriend Morgan and I were introduced by my realtor at the preseason game for the Chicago Sky. I'm opening a women's sports bar called Babe's, and she became an investor. We go to every home game together. For her birthday, I wrote her a novella called Courtside Connection about our relationship because she loves those sappy sapphic romance books. I have been threatening to throw a self-published book party for it at Babe's.

The WNBA has never been more visible. The best-of-seven-games finals between the Phoenix Mercury and Las Vegas Aces will tip off Friday night before what are expected to be the largest TV audiences that women's basketball has ever drawn. Crowds have swelled, viewership milestones have toppled, franchise valuations are soaring and formerly niche stars have broken into the mainstream. Yet as the league celebrates a second straight year of explosive growth, an old and thorny problem has risen to the surface: officiating.