PHOENIX — A’ja Wilson scored 31 points, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young both added 18 and the Las Vegas Aces won their third WNBA championship in four seasons, beating the Phoenix Mercury 97-86 on Friday night for a four-game sweep of the Finals.
The Aces made quick work of the league’s first best-of-seven Finals. It was another offensive onslaught from Las Vegas, which scored 54 points in the first half and averaged more than 90 points per game in the series.
Wilson — honored as the Finals MVP — was in the middle of the action once again even if she didn’t have the best shooting night. The four-time regular-season MVP finished seven of 21 from the field, but made 17 of 19 free throws. Gray made four three-pointers, including two in the fourth quarter to help turn back a final rally by the Mercury.
The Aces were presented the championship trophy by embattled WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who was greeted with boos from the sizable contingent of Las Vegas fans who made the trip to Phoenix.
The Aces led 76-62 going into the fourth quarter, but the Mercury went on an 8-0 run early that cut the deficit to 76-70 with 7:56 left. That was as close as they would get.
Kahleah Copper led the Mercury with 30 points, shooting 12 of 22 from the field. Alyssa Thomas had 17 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts was ejected in the third quarter after receiving two quick technical fouls from official Gina Cross. Tibbetts was arguing a foul call against Mercury guard Monique Akoa Makani, and reacted in disbelief as he was escorted off the court.
DeWanna Bonner and Copper also got called for technical fouls in the fourth quarter.
The Aces never trailed in the series clincher, building a 30-21 lead by the end of the first quarter on 55% shooting. Jewell Loyd, Gray and Dana Evans made three straight threes early in the second quarter to put Las Vegas ahead by 19.
Las Vegas settled for a 54-38 halftime advantage. Wilson had 14 points before the break while Gray added 10.
The Mercury were without forward Satou Sabally, who suffered a concussion near the end of Game 3. They suffered another injury blow on Friday when Thomas had to leave just before halftime after taking a hard hit to her right shoulder on a screen from Loyd.
Thomas returned for the second half but was hampered by the injury.
The Mercury enjoyed a deep playoff run under Tibbetts, but couldn’t find a way to slow down the Aces. Phoenix made it to the finals after beating the defending champion New York Liberty in the opening round and knocking off the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx in the semifinals.
Phoenix lost in the WNBA Finals for the second time in five years, also falling to the Chicago Sky in 2021. The Mercury have won three championships, with the last coming in 2014.
LAS VEGAS — A’ja Wilson and Dana Evans each scored 21 points, and the Las Vegas Aces beat the Phoenix Mercury 89-86 in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Friday night.
Wilson scored 12 of her points over the final 14 minutes, and Phoenix’s Satou Sabally missed a long 3-pointer with 2 seconds left that would have tied it.
Game 2 is Sunday in Las Vegas.
Evans led an Aces bench that outscored the Mercury’s reserves 41-16. Reserve Jewell Loyd scored 18 points for second-seeded Las Vegas, and starter Jackie Young had 10. Wilson had 10 rebounds, and Chelsea Gray had 10 assists.
Kahleah Cooper scored 21 points for the fourth-seeded Mercury. Sabally added 19 points and Alyssa Thomas had 15 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
Copper scored 19 points in the first half, one off her playoff career high for a half. Her personal best also came against the Mercury, when she scored 20 points for Chicago in the first half of Game 3 of the 2021 Finals. Copper’s five 3-pointers in the first half topped her previous high of four for a game.
If this game was any indication, these Finals — a best-of-seven series for the first time — figure to be tight throughout. The largest lead was nine points, and there were 12 lead changes and nine ties.
The Mercury threatened to take control several times, only for the Aces to respond with a run. In the end, it was Las Vegas that nearly pulled away, only for Phoenix to keep it close.
With Phoenix Down a point with 24.6 seconds left, Thomas went to the free-throw line but missed both. Young was fouled on the other end with 13.5 seconds remaining and made both free throws for the final margin.
Bueckers averaged 19.2 points on 47.7 percent shooting along with 3.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.6 steals in the season.
Published On 16 Sep 202516 Sep 2025
Share
Dallas Wings’ basketball star Paige Bueckers has won the WNBA Rookie of the Year honour after one of the best debut seasons in league history.
Bueckers received 70 of the 72 votes from sportswriters and broadcasters in balloting announced by the league on Tuesday. The other two went to Washington Mystics guard Sonia Citron.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Bueckers was a bright spot for a team that tied the Chicago Sky with a league-worst 10-34 record after being drafted with the number-one overall pick and the first Dallas Wings player to win the award since Allisha Gray in 2017. The former UConn star averaged 19.2 points on 47.7 per cent shooting along with 3.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.6 steals.
But those numbers do not tell the complete story.
Her 692 points and 194 assists were the third most by a WNBA rookie. The highlight was when she scored 44 in a loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on August 20.
It was the WNBA’s highest point total this season and the most ever by a rookie. She also became the first player in league history to score 40 or more while shooting 80 per cent in a game.
That performance came near the end of a 30-game double-digit streak, the third longest to start a career behind A’ja Wilson’s 33 games in 2018 and Candace Parker’s 32 games in 2008.
Paige Bueckers is the 2025 WNBA @Kia Rookie of the Year 🏆
Being out of postseason contention didn’t make the Sparks’ season finale meaningless.
It was a chance to avoid finishing with a losing record for the first time since 2020. An opportunity to foil the Las Vegas Aces’ push for the No. 2 seed in the playoffs while derailing a 15-game winning streak. And, above all, a matter of pride.
But just as with their season-long goal of reaching the playoffs, the Sparks fell short of their goal, as A’ja Wilson and the Aces dominated in a 103-75 victory at Crypto.com Arena.
The talent gap was stark in the first half, with Las Vegas building a lead that swelled to 22 behind a three-point barrage led by Jewell Loyd and Chelsea Gray. One of the league’s best three-point shooting teams (34.6% per game entering Thursday), the Aces (30-14) hit 11 threes in the first half to take a 19-point lead by halftime.
The Aces finished with 22 three-pointers — the most ever in a WNBA regular-season game. The Aces already hold the outright record of 23 three-pointers, which they set in the playoffs in 2022.
The trio of Loyd, Gray and Wilson proved too much for a short-handed Sparks squad to handle.
Loyd and Gray reached double figures in scoring by halftime — Loyd with 21 and Gray with 13. Wilson, a front-runner for league MVP, delivered yet another dominant stat line: 23 points, 19 rebounds, four blocks and two steals.
Sparks forward Emma Cannon, left, knocks the ball out of the hands of Las Vegas guard Chelsea Gray during the first half Thursday.
(Harry How / Getty Images)
Former Aces Dearica Hamby and Kelsey Plum tried to will the Sparks (21-23) to one more victory, but it was all for naught. Plum had her hands full with the opposing backcourt, and Hamby drew the unenviable assignment of battling the league’s best in Wilson.
Hamby opened strong, scoring all seven Sparks’ points in the first six minutes as the team tried to feed her in the post. She finished with 15 points, six rebounds and three steals.
Plum also finished with 15 points in a physical game that featured several players arguing with referees over foul calls.
In the second quarter, Cameron Brink caught a left elbow to the nose from Aces forward NaLyssa Smith under the basket. Blood trickled from Brink’s face onto the hardwood as Brink shouted at the referees after no foul was called.
The training staff escorted her to the locker room with a towel pressed to her face, and she did not return.
Trailing 77-58 at the end of the third quarter, Sparks coach Lynne Roberts put in rookies Sarah Ashlee Barker, Alissa Pili and Sania Feagin.
Barker scored 15 points in 38 minutes. Pilli scored a career-high seven points in six minutes. Feagin finished with four points.
The WNBA is still struggling with a string of sex toy disturbances.
In the past week and a half, sex toys have been thrown on court during games in Atlanta on July 29, Chicago on August 1, Los Angeles on August 5 and Chicago again on Thursday night, with the most recent object hitting the court in the closing seconds of the Atlanta Dream’s victory over the Sky.
The sex toy that landed on the court in Los Angeles nearly hit Fever guard Sophie Cunningham during Indiana’s game against the Sparks. Sex toys were also thrown at games in New York and Phoenix last Tuesday, but didn’t reach the court. Police say another toy was thrown at a game in Atlanta on August 1, although it is unclear if that one reached the court.
The distractions have created unexpected challenges for the league, the teams and the players, but also for arena security. Here’s what to know.
A man was arrested Saturday in College Park, Georgia, after he was accused of throwing a sex toy onto the court during the Atlanta Dream’s July 29 matchup with the Golden State Valkyries, according to a police report. The report said he threw another sex toy during the Dream’s August 1 game against the Phoenix Mercury, but that instance did not seem to result in a delay of play.
He is charged with disorderly conduct, criminal trespassing, public indecency and indecent exposure. All four charges are misdemeanours in the state of Georgia, meaning that if he is convicted, the punishment for each can be a fine of up to $1,000 or jail time of up to 12 months. A misdemeanour for public indecency and indecent exposure may also require registration on the state’s sex offender list.
The report said the man told police, “This was supposed to be a joke and the joke [was] supposed to go viral.”`
Another man in Phoenix was arrested after police say he threw a sex toy in the crowd at a Mercury game on Tuesday. Police say the 18-year-old pulled the sex toy from his sweater pocket and threw it towards seats in front of him, striking a spectator in the back.
The man later told police it was a prank that had been trending on social media and that he bought the toy a day earlier to take to the game. He was later tackled by a volunteer at the arena who had witnessed the incident and began following him as the man tried to leave the arena.
Police say the man was arrested on suspicion of assault, disorderly conduct and publicly displaying explicit sexual material.
The New York Liberty told The Associated Press on Thursday night that there is an ongoing investigation into the throwing in New York, and the team is cooperating with law enforcement.
The types of sex toys being thrown onto the court generally do not include metal elements, meaning that arena metal detectors are not able to sense them. When carried on a spectator’s body, they become even more difficult to detect.
ARENA SECURITY?! Hello??! Please do better. It’s not funny. never was funny. Throwing ANYTHING on the court is so dangerous.
Arena security teams face challenges in catching these items, according to Ty Richmond, the president of the event services division at Allied Universal Security, a company that provides security services to certain NBA, WNBA, NFL, MLB and MLS arenas across the country.
“Not all stadiums are using a screening process that’s consistent and can detect (the sex toys) because of what it would require — pat down searches, opening the bags, prohibiting bags,” he said. “The conflict of expediency, of getting fans into the arena and into the venue, which is an important issue, and security and safety.”
The limits of arena security make legal action one of the strongest deterrents for this kind of behaviour, Richmond said.
“The decision to prosecute and show examples of how people are being handled is very important,” he said. “Without a doubt, I think it will make a difference. The application of it is important, and publicising that is important.”
There have not been any arrests made yet in Los Angeles and Chicago. In a statement to The AP, the Sparks said they are “working with arena personnel to identify the individual responsible and ensure appropriate action is taken”.
The WNBA has said that any spectators throwing objects onto the court will face a minimum one-year ban and prosecution from law enforcement.
As the disturbances pile up, those on the court have become increasingly frustrated.
“Everyone is trying to make sure the W is not a joke and it’s taken seriously, and then that happens,” Cunningham said on her podcast after nearly being hit by one of the sex toys on Tuesday. “I’m like, ‘How are we ever going to get taken seriously?’”
No other professional sports leagues have faced sex toy disturbances like this. It has started a conversation online about the perpetrators’ choices to throw them during games in a women’s league and a league with a high-profile amount of lesbian and queer players.
“This has been going on for centuries, the sexualization of women. This is the latest version of that. It’s not funny. It should not be the butt of jokes,” said Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve on Thursday. “The sexualisation of women is what’s used to hold women down, and this is no different.”
Despite the criminal behaviour leading to arrests, at least one crypto-based predictions market is offering trades essentially allowing users to wager on whether sex toys will be thrown at future WNBA games.
Players have also been sounding off on social media, echoing concerns about arena security protocols.
Liberty forward Isabelle Harrison posted on X last week, saying, “ARENA SECURITY?! Hello??! Please do better. It’s not funny. Never was funny. Throwing ANYTHING on the court is so dangerous.”
An 18-year-old man has been arrested after the sex toy he allegedly threw during a WNBA game in Phoenix hit a man and possibly a young girl sitting in front of him.
Waddell, Ariz., resident Kaden Lopez was booked on suspicion of one felony count for public display of obscene materials and two misdemeanor counts for assault and disorderly conduct. He appeared in court Wednesday and was released on his own recognizance, with his next court appearance scheduled for Aug. 21.
According to a probable cause statement filed by the arresting officer from the Phoenix Police Dept. and viewed by The Times, Lopez was attending the Mercury’s game against the Connecticut Sun at PHX Arena on Tuesday when he “threw a green dildo towards the seats in front of him.”
The statement initially indicates that the object allegedly struck an “adult male victim as well as the victims 9 year old niece.” The document later states that the “male victim” told officers that the object hit him on the back and “then fell to the ground next to them.”
Lopez then attempted to leave the arena, the statement reads, but an arena volunteer who witnessed the alleged incident followed him, tackled him and waited for authorities to arrive.
According to the statement, Lopez told the arresting officers that he bought the toy the previous day to take with him to the game but had not intended for it to “hit anyone” or “fall next to a child.”
“Lopez stated he was very sorry, that it was just a stupid prank that was trending on social media,” the statement added.
The trend of throwing sex toys — seemingly always colored green — at WNBA games appears to have started July 29, when one of the objects was tossed onto the court while the Golden State Valkyries played the Atlanta Dream at Gateway Center Arena. The WNBA announced Saturday that “the subject involved in the incident in Atlanta has been arrested.”
According to an ESPN report, 23-year-old Delbert Carver was arrested on Saturday by College Park, Ga., police in connection with that incident. Carver allegedly told police that the stunt was meant as a joke to go viral.
Court records show that Carver faces counts of criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and public indecency. He was released on bond for an undisclosed amount on Sunday and was scheduled to appear in court the following day.
On Aug. 1, a sex toy was tossed under the basket during a game between the Valkyries and the Chicago Sky. Then, during the Sparks’ win over the Indiana Fever at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday, another such object landed in the paint near Fever guard Sophie Cunningham with 2:05 remaining in the first half.
A fan video also appears to show one of the objects being thrown toward the court and nearly hitting a child while the Dallas Wings played the New York Liberty at Barclays Center on Tuesday.
According to a USA Today report Thursday, a cryptocurrency group is claiming responsibility for some of the incidents, although it says neither Lopez nor Carver is affiliated with the group. The “pranks” are part of a protest against the “toxic” environment in the crypto world, according to the report, and more such stunts have allegedly been planned.
The WNBA declined to comment for this article and instead referred The Times to a statement it released Saturday.
“The safety and well-being of everyone in our arenas is a top priority for our league,” the league stated. “Objects of any kind thrown onto the court or in the seating area can pose a safety risk for players, game officials, and fans. In line with WNBA Arena Security Standards, any fan who intentionally throws an object onto the court will be immediately ejected and face a minimum one-year ban in addition to being subject to arrest and prosecution by local authorities.”
With red welts scattered like landmarks of the war she’d just waged, Kelsey Plum let the microphone have it.
“I drive more than anyone in the league,” the Sparks guard said, voice taut. “So to shoot six free throws is f— absurd. And I got scratches on my face, I got scratches on my body, and these guards on the other teams get these ticky-tack fouls, and I’m sick of it.”
Plum played 41 minutes during an overtime loss to the Golden State Valkyries, during which she was awarded those six free throws. She is one of many WNBA players, coaches and fans who have vented frustration over what they see as inconsistent and unreliable officiating this season.
Yet, within the walls of the league’s officiating office, there is steadfast belief that referees are doing their jobs well.
Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon questions a referee’s call during the game against the Sparks at Crypto.com Arena on July 29.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“Overall, I’m very pleased with the work this year,” said Monty McCutchen, the head of referee training and development for all NBA leagues.
But McCutchen and Sue Blauch, who oversees WNBA referee performance and development, aren’t blind to the backlash — acknowledging “some high-profile misses that we need to own on our end.”
To do so, they pointed to an officiating analysis program through which 95% of games are watched live, with every play graded by internal and independent reviewers. Those evaluations are used to chart each referee’s performance over time.
Teams can flag up to 30 plays for review per game through a league portal — including isolated calls or themes spanning multiple games. League officials respond with rulings on each clip and compile curated playlists by call type, delivering them directly to the referees.
“There’s no shortage of feedback,” McCutchen said.
But the WNBA’s structural backbone of officiating differs from the NBA in significant ways. With just 35 referees, all of whom moonlight calling NCAA or G League games, the WNBA relies on part-timers earning $1,538 per game as rookies, with each official calling 20 to 34 contests per season.
“You’re working three very different kinds of basketball,” said Jacob Tingle, director of sport management at Trinity University who has conducted research on officiating networks and pathways. “The reason the NBA or MLB works is because that’s all you do — you’re working the same kind of game only.”
The WNBA lacks a centralized replay center, a developmental league to groom talent and shuffles crew combinations from game to game — a patchwork system that can strain referees expected to deliver consistency.
Sparks guard Kelsey Plum questions the official’s out-of-bounds call during a game against the Las Vegas Aces at Crypto.com Arena on July 29.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“When you don’t have group cohesion, you don’t have the same level of trust in your partners,” said David Hancock, a professor who studies the psychology of sports officiating. “We’ve done one study — when referees felt more connected to their group, they also felt they performed better.”
McCutchen said teams get a verdict on the calls they send for review. But beyond that, there’s no insight into grading or transparency about patterns the league has researched. So when it seems a whistle has been swallowed during a game, players and coaches are left searching for consistency.
“You don’t know in the WNBA anymore,” said Joshua Jackson, a Louisiana State University professor who studies media and athlete perception. “I can’t tell when I’m watching a game exactly what this foul call is going to be. I’ll hear the whistle and think, ‘OK, maybe it’s a reach-in and then suddenly it’s a view for a flagrant one instead? Wait, how did we get here?’”
The whistle has become one of the WNBA’s biggest wild cards. Angel Reese called it “diabolical.” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said after a fourth-quarter letdown led to a loss that the game was “stolen from us.” Belgian guard Julie Allemand told The Times she felt more “protected” playing in EuroBasket. And Napheesa Collier, one of the stars of the 2025 season, warned “it’s getting worse.”
The whistle, or lack thereof, might echo louder in 2026, when the WNBA begins a $2.2-billion, 11-year media rights deal with Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal — each of whom will air more than 125 games a year across TV and streaming networks.
Nicole LaVoi, who helms the Tucker Center — a research hub focused on advocating for girls and women in sports — said the narrative surrounding female athletes forces them to walk a tightrope: speak up and risk being dismissed as an emotional woman or stay quiet and let the league’s image unravel.
“This is a broader, contextual, systemic issue,” LaVoi said. “It’s not just about bad refs making bad calls. This is a much larger problem within a system where women’s sport has been undervalued and underappreciated for decades.”
Many players have ignored concerns about the perception they whine too much about officiating, arguing the inconsistency in calls is dangerous.
Lucas Seehafer, a professor and kinesiologist at Medical University of South Carolina who tracks WNBA injuries, said players have suffered 173 injuries this season and missed 789 games, entering Saturday’s games.
Sparks forward Cameron Brink reacts toward an official after no foul was called after the ball was stripped from her as she was driving to the basket at Crypto.com Arena on July 29.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Injuries are undoubtedly multifactorial, Seehafer said. Still, inconsistent whistles can leave players unsure of how much contact to expect — forcing them into unfamiliar movements or hesitation. And that can lend itself to awkward landings, a key contributor in lower-extremity injuries.
“The athletes strive on consistency and mechanical efficiency,” said Nirav Pandya, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at UC San Francisco. “When you don’t know how much contact’s going to be allowed, it does throw off that rhythm, which increases your injury risk.”
When Caitlin Clark suffered a groin injury in mid-July, her brother — in a now-deleted X post — blamed the officials for letting too much contact slide.
“People go watch the WNBA because of the talent,” LaVoi said, “and when the talent is sitting on the bench, that’s not very exciting to fans.”
While critics are quick to call out officiating, referees are navigating a structure stretched thin.
Brenda Hilton, founder of Officially Human — an organization dedicated to improving the treatment of sports officials — said 70%-80% of officials quit within their first three years, largely due to online abuse.
“The people that are doing the work are people, they are fallible,” LaVoi said. “The players are fallible as well, so are the coaches. So can we get back some compassion for the humanity of the people doing it, and appreciate the fact that they love what they do? They’re not doing it because they’re getting huge NIL deals and branding opportunities.”
NBA and WNBA officiating leaders have not announced any plans for changes to their system, so the stress will probably continue among players, coaches, fans and those who control the whistles.
Shakira Austin didn’t realize how important fashion would become when she entered the WNBA in 2022.
Her introduction to game-day tunnel fashion began at the University of Mississippi in 2020.
“My school started doing their own tunnel fits,” she said. “It was cute, but I definitely didn’t know [the WNBA tunnel walk was] as popping and as big as it is now.”
During the last few years, college and WNBA social media teams have photographed players walking into arenas and to their locker rooms on game day. Tunnel walk fashion now quickly spreads on social media on game days.
The Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese poses on the orange carpet during WNBA All Star Game week in Indianapolis.
(Darron Cummings / Associated Press)
What started as a social media trend that fans enjoyed has become a high-profile chance for WNBA players to show off their personal style and potentially land endorsement deals. A Vogue article published last season declared that “The WNBA Tunnel Is Officially a Fashion Destination.”
Austin has adapted to the spotlight and says she enjoys expressing herself through clothing.
“It gives a little bit of a model essence,” Austin said. “You go through, you pick out your fit for the day, and all cameras are on you, so it’s definitely a nice little highlight off the court before you start to lock in for the game.”
Now in her fourth year with the Washington Mystics, Austin’s sense of style is fully her own.
Without much styling advice from teammates as a rookie, she leaned on her passion for creativity and beauty to guide her looks.
“I’ve just always liked to express myself through beauty — from either masculine or feminine looks,” she said.
At 6 foot 5, Austin has had to work with limited clothing options.
“Being that I am a tall girl, it’s kind of hard to find clothes, so repeating stuff is a big deal for me,” she said. “Also, just making [the outfit] a different vibe each time.”
The Dallas Wings’ Paige Bueckers poses on the orange carpet during a WNBA All-Star Game event in Indianapolis.
(Darron Cummings / Associated Press)
Connecticut Sun center Olivia Nelson-Ododa didn’t get comfortable until she partnered with stylist Kristine Anigwe, a former WNBA player and owner of KA Creative Consulting.
“Figuring out, ‘OK, this is my style, this is what I actually like and enjoy wearing. How can I put it together in something that is comfortable and makes me feel confident?’” Nelson-Ododa said.
She describes being a “serial pieces repeater,” choosing to mix and match rather than follow trends.
“Honestly, it’s fashion, there’s like no rules to it.”
Off the court, fashion is now a way for her to show different sides of herself beyond her basketball identity.
“We already have an amazing job like this, and being able to add on by showing ourselves in a different light is super fun,” she said.
Although she doesn’t have the biggest interest in fashion, Sparks center Azura Stevens has seen tunnel fashion evolve into something much bigger.
The Sparks’ Rickea Jackson poses on the orange carpet during a WNBA All-Star Game event in Indianapolis.
(Darron Cummings / Associated Press)
“It’s cool to put together different fits, kind of show your personality through style,” she said. “I am kind of used to it now — it’s just a part of the game-day routine.”
During her time in the league, fashion has become a natural part of the culture.
“It has become a really big thing for it to be like runways almost before the game. It’s a part of the culture now of the [league],” she said.
Stevens’ teammate, veteran forward Dearica Hamby, has had a career full of fashion transitions since she entered the league in 2015 when fashion wasn’t a major part of the WNBA culture.
“Mine has changed over the course of the years,” she said. “For me, I’m sometimes business-like, but overall just really well put together.”
Hamby credits her time with the Las Vegas Aces as the moment she saw the shift.
“I kind of feel like my time in Vegas is when it really took off. We had a really talented photographer who was able to capture our fits,” she said.
Hamby is still learning what works best for her style. One thing she’s noticed: how an outfit looks in a photo matters.
“Sometimes things don’t photograph well, and that’s what I am starting to learn,” she said. “It could look good in person, but it doesn’t necessarily photograph well, so you wanna wear things that are cut and crisp.”
As tunnel walk content grows on social media, so can critiques of players and their outfit choices.
“I’ve definitely gotten flamed before for certain outfits,” Nelson-Ododa said. “Some people are not fans and some people are fans. I really don’t care, as long as it feels good on me, I’m fine.”
“You definitely know that eyes are going to see, and you’re going to be talked about — whether it’s a positive view or negative view,” Hamby said.
What matters most to Hamby is the feeling behind the fit: “Just remind yourself that if you feel good and you feel like you look good in it, that’s all that matters.”
INDIANAPOLIS — Sabrina Ionescu won the three-point contest and her New York Liberty teammate Natasha Cloud was the skills champion at the WNBA’s All-Star Friday night.
Ionescu, who won the title in 2023 with a record performance, had a strong final round, scoring 30 points. It was less than her record-breaking effort of 37 two years ago when she made 25 of 27 shots — the most ever in either the WNBA or NBA. The total of 30 ranks matched the second-highest in the event.
Atlanta’s Allisha Gray, who made her own history last year by winning the three-point shootout and skills competition, fell short in both this time. She had 22 points in the three-point contest.
Ionescu’s 30 points was the second-highest in a WNBA three-point contest.
Gray went last in the opening round and needed to beat Kelsey Plum’s 22 points to reach the final round. Gray hit her final four shots, including the money ball to tie Ionescu and advance.
Plum, from the Sparks, was looking to become the first player in WNBA history to win an All-Star MVP (2022), skills challenge (2023) and three-point contest.
Lexie Hull who was a fill-in for Indiana teammate Caitlin Clark, who injured her right groin on Tuesday night, scored 20 points to finish fourth. Clark hyped up the crowd from the sideline before Hull’s turn.
Washington rookie Sonia Citron scored 19 points in the opening round.
Cloud had the fastest time in the first round of the obstacle course that combines passing, dribbling and shooting. She needed to beat Seattle’s Erica Wheeler’s mark of 37.5 seconds in the finals. Cloud won despite missing all three of her shots from the corner over the windmill defender. She was able to get through the obstacle course in 36.4 seconds — 1.1 faster than Wheeler.
After beating Wheeler, Cloud hugged Ionescu. She then picked up her girlfriend and Liberty teammate Isabelle Harrison and gave her a hug and kiss. Harrison had told Cloud that she needed to win so they could put a down payment on a house.
“You’re gonna get that house,” Cloud said after winning.
Cloud received $55,000 from Aflac as part of a partnership with the WNBAPA. She also receives $2,575 from the league for the victory, which was part of the collective bargaining agreement.
Wheeler competed a year after missing the competition in Phoenix because of flight issues due to a faulty software update that caused technological havoc worldwide. Wheeler spent a few years in Indiana and received a loud ovation from the fans when she was introduced.
Defending champion Gray, who was wearing custom A’ja Wilson shoes with “money sign” on them, was in trouble after missing all three of the chest passes, which slowed her time and spoiled her bid for a repeat.
She finished the course in 39.4 seconds, which was behind Cloud and Wheeler’s opening-round times. Courtney Williams (42.0) and Skylar Diggins (44.3) also didn’t make the final round.
WNBA All-Star weekend is only a few days away, with the anticipation of hometown favorite Caitlin Clark serving as captain of Team Clark for the game in Indianapolis palpable among fans.
Nothing like a pulled muscle to mute the buzz.
The Indiana Fever superstar guard grabbed her right groin and appeared to be holding back tears as she exited with 39.6 seconds to play in a victory against the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night.
“[Clark] just felt a little something in her groin,” Fever coach Stephanie White told reporters. ”She’s being evaluated, we’ll see where we are with that, and certainly we’ll have another evaluation, probably a conversation in the morning, and see where we are.”
Teammate Aliyah Boston tried to console Clark as she walked to the basket stanchion and tapped her forehead against it before sitting down and covering her head with a towel. She did not speak with reporters after the game.
This is the fourth leg injury of the season for Clark, who is averaging 16.5 points, 8.8 assists and five rebounds a game. She missed five games — including the Commissioner’s Cup Championship — because of a left groin strain and missed five games with an injury to her left quad. She also missed the Fever’s preseason opener May 3 because of tightness in her quad.
Before this season, Clark, 23, had never missed a game in college or the WNBA because of injury. She played all 139 games at Iowa, then 46 games in a row to start her WNBA career.
“It’s been challenging mentally, just, you know, staying in it,” Clark told reporters July 8 before her return from the left groin injury. “I’ve been here for hours and hours on hours trying to get my body right and do everything I can to put myself in a position to be available the rest of the year.”
The Fever plays the New York Liberty on Wednesday at Barclay Center ahead of the All-Star Game, which will be played Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Fever’s home arena. Clark is also scheduled to compete in the 3-point contest Friday.
Clark and Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx were named captains of the All-Star teams and drafted the rosters after getting the most fan votes. Clark finished with a record 1,293,526 fan votes and Collier received 1,176,020.
At least that’s what the public seems to think. The Indiana Fever superstar received a record 1,293,526 fan votes for the 2025 WNBA All-Star game.
Her fellow players, however, don’t seem to agree. Clark finished in ninth place among WNBA guards in player voting.
Nonetheless, Clark will serve as a team captain for the July 19 event that will take place at her team’s home arena, Gainbridge Fieldhouse. That honor is determined solely by fan votes, with Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx named as the other team captain after receiving 1,176,020 votes.
Clark finished third among guards in media All-Star voting. Her cumulative weighted score (determined by 50% fan voting, 25% player voting and 25% media voting) was 3.5.
That tied her for second among guards with New York’s Sabrina Ionescu (fifth in fan voting, second in media voting, second in player voting). Dallas Wings rookie Paige Bueckers received the top weighted score among guards (3.25) after finishing second in fan voting, fifth in media voting and fourth in player voting.
Although Clark’s ranking in the players’ poll might seem shockingly low, some perspective might be necessary. Each WNBA player receives one All-Star ballot on which they are allowed to cast a vote for up to four guards and six frontcourt players.
That means that no one wrote on a ballot — or even had the opportunity to do so — that Clark is the league’s ninth best guard; instead, she was left out of enough players’ top four that her cumulative score was the ninth-highest among guards.
In addition, it is unknown how many players even cast their ballots or how seriously those who did took the matter.
Still, some people have taken the results from the player voting as evidence of the ongoing narrative that many WNBA players are jealous of Clark and the credit she often receives for the league’s massive surge in popularity over the last two seasons.
“Absolutely PURE JEALOUSY that @WNBA players voted Caitlin Clark the 9th best guard,” legendary basketball announcer Dick Vitale wrote on X. “Some day they will realize what she Has done for ALL of the players in the WNBA. Charted planes – increase in salaries-sold out crowds – improved TV Ratings.”
Vitale added in another post, “No doubt she is THE BEST – thing to happen to the WNBA.”
Former NFL quarterback and current sports commentator Robert Griffin III wrote a lengthy post on X about the matter.
“Players are supposed to get it right more than the fans and the media because they know what it takes and what it looks like,” Griffin wrote. “Not all WNBA Players are to blame and not all of them hate or are jealous of Caitlin Clark. But, the players that voted her low got it wrong in this case and some WNBA players are letting their jealously of Caitlin Clark get in the way of greatness for the entire WNBA.”
Clark has struggled with injuries in her second WNBA season, having sat out five games because of a left quadriceps strain and Indiana’s last two games because of a groin strain. She will also miss the Fever’s game against the Lynx in the Commissioner’s Cup final Tuesday night.
Having played in nine games so far in 2025, Clark is averaging 18.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 8.9 assists with a league-high 5.9 turnovers.
The top 10 guards and top 10 frontcourt players in the weighted scores were announced as All-Star starters on Monday. Sparks guard Kelsey Plum made the cut after finishing sixth in the fan vote, sixth in the media vote and 16th in the player vote. Clark’s longtime on-court rival Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky will start in the frontcourt after finishing fifth in the fan vote, 12th in the media vote and 12th in the player vote.
Clark and Collier will draft their respective All-Star teams from that group of starters plus 13 reserves who will be chosen by the WNBA coaches and announced Sunday.
In 2000, whispers of a 13-year-old phenom from Naperville, Ill. — a Chicago suburb — began reverberating through the AAU circuit. Generational. Dominant. Striking. Perhaps the greatest women’s basketball prospect ever. Candace Parker’s name rang out far beyond her hometown.
Word soon reached every elite college basketball program in the country — from Durham, N.C., to College Park, Md., to Knoxville, Tenn. — each clamoring for her talents. Few truly stood a chance.
“Her game at such an early age was something I had never seen in person,” said Nikki Fargas, then an assistant coach at Tennessee. “To see her do it so young tells you a lot. … She was undeniable, and her presence was felt.”
Long before Parker’s illustrious professional career and her Sparks jersey retirement ceremony Sunday — three championships, two MVPs, rookie of the year, defensive player of the year, Finals MVP, two Olympic golds, seven All-Star nods and 10 All-WNBA selections — she was simply “Ace,” a sweatband-wearing, bob-cut sporting teenager set to graduate.
Fargas, who won a national title under legendary coach Pat Summitt, was Tennessee’s recruiting director in 2003 and was looking to make a splash with her first class. The moment she saw Parker in person, she was certain: Parker would be a Lady Vol.
By her senior year in high school, Parker had grown into a 6-foot-4 national player of the year and state champion.
Candace Parker was considered one of the top college recruits while at Naperville Central High in a suburb outside of Chicago.
(Anne Ryan / Associated Press)
Fargas attended all of Parker’s games at Naperville Central High, a nearly 1,100-mile round trip. She sat in the Redhawks’ gym bleachers, decked out in Tennessee orange while sending a not-so-subtle message, often with Summitt by her side.
Fargas made her final pitch clear and direct: Parker could become the greatest under Summitt.
Joining Rocky Top
On Nov. 11, 2003, at the start of her senior year, Parker committed to Tennessee live on ESPNews — the first women’s basketball player to commit on national TV. Parker later told ESPN, “I wanted to be a professional basketball player. I loved that Knoxville was centered around women’s basketball.”
“Candace is the most versatile 6-foot-3 player at this stage of her game that I’ve ever seen,” Summitt said in a Tennessee news release announcing Parker’s signing a letter of intent. “She can play every position on the floor, from point guard to post, … Truly a great inside-outside player. … The total package.”
Parker’s arrival sent a jolt through Rocky Top. At just 18, she brought weighty expectations — it was championship or bust. For several years, it had been bust for Tennessee, which hadn’t won a national title since the late ’90s.
After missing her freshman year because of a knee injury, Parker proved to be better than advertised, propelling the Lady Vols back onto the national stage.
“Even in college, not only did she dunk, but she was able to pass, able to shoot at her position, able to do things that bigs weren’t doing,” said Noelle Quinn, a former Southland prep star and head coach of the Seattle Storm. “It was easy for Candace. It was easy for that team.”
Tennessee coach Pat Summitt gives instructions to Candace Parker during the 2007 NCAA title game against Rutgers.
(Tony Dejak / Associated Press)
Quinn experienced the Summitt-Parker era firsthand. In 2006, she led UCLA into an early-season clash on the road against No. 1 Tennessee — the start of Parker’s first title run.
“It was an amazing environment to play in — a game I’ll never forget,” Quinn recalled. Parker and Quinn led their teams in scoring — Parker with 22 points, Quinn with 20. Tennessee’s dominance with Parker at the helm was clear, Quinn said.
At the height of the team’s back-to-back championship runs, Fargas said traveling with the Lady Vols “was like traveling with rock stars.” Summitt’s fearless approach — taking on anyone, anywhere — kept Tennessee in the spotlight, with Parker as the undisputed headliner.
“What we’re seeing right now with Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark — bringing awareness, getting people to watch and increasing attendance — Parker was doing that already,” Fargas said. “Fans would be lined up at our hotel. Our bus would pull up and there were the fans.”
By the end of her college career, Parker had accomplished everything — two-time AP player of the year, 2008 Naismith college player of the year, and most outstanding player during both national title runs — the last of which was Summitt’s final championship.
“She fits in at the top,” Fargas said of Parker’s place in program history. “When you talk about Lady Vols, Parker is maybe the first of the names people talk about. … She was different.”
Big L.A. dreams
Parker was arguably the WNBA’s most anticipated prospect — a franchise-altering talent. Yet one question loomed: Who would land her?
In 2006, the Sparks were in championship contention, reaching the conference finals with MVP Lisa Leslie. But when Leslie missed the following season on maternity leave, the team plummeted to 10–24 — tied for worst in the league.
With a 34.1% chance at the No. 1 pick, the pingpong balls bounced the Sparks’ way.
Candace Parker, left, and Lisa Leslie crack jokes as they check their height at a Sparks photo shoot in 2008.
(Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)
Questions swirled about how Parker and Leslie would coexist. Leslie says she never saw a problem — only potential. She called herself “Smooth” and Parker “Silk,” and welcomed the role of hardening the rookie, likening it to “having another baby.”
For a time, Leslie lived a few floors from Parker in the team’s player housing, keeping tabs on Parker’s habits. She’d make her oatmeal and slice up fruit because Parker “wouldn’t eat well,” gently pushing through rookie stubbornness toward authority, nudging her toward the weight room and stressing the importance of body maintenance.
The wisdom of one MVP — and the freedom granted by Sparks coach Michael Cooper — helped ignite the greatest rookie season in WNBA history. Parker captured both rookie of the year and MVP honors, joining an exclusive club with NBA legends Wilt Chamberlain and Wes Unseld.
“Candace always showed greatness,” Leslie said. “Each generation, we’ve done our part. You carry that torch as far as you can, and hand it off with grace.”
The torch was Parker’s to bear into the next decade. But nine seasons in, she was still chasing her first Finals appearance, let alone a championship. Years of coaching changes, early playoff exits and unmet expectations had left the franchise — and its star — without a title.
Brian Agler’s first year as Sparks head coach started rocky with a 3–14 record, as Parker sat out the first half of the 2015 season after playing overseas. As the losses mounted, Parker prepared for a return and called Agler to arrange a closed workout.
“I think she wanted to play into me as, ‘OK, I’m gonna come back and get ready,’” Agler said. “But in reality, she was sort of measuring me up.”
Agler believed it was a test to see whether she thought he was the right fit — if he could lead the team to a championship, just as he had done with the Seattle Storm in 2010.
Sparks forward Candace Parker drives past Lynx forward Rebekkah Brunson during a game in 2012.
(Stacy Bengs / Associated Press)
By the following season, with the pieces in play, contending for a championship seemed within reach. But the 2016 season wasn’t without turmoil for Parker. She was surprisingly left off the USA Olympic team, faced marital strife and mourned the loss of Summitt, who died of complications from Alzheimer’s.
On the court, Parker remained a force, and helped foster the rise of one of the league’s best — former No. 1 overall pick and MVP Nneka Ogwumike. Like Leslie had done for her, Parker took Ogwumike under her wing.
“For the most part, I was someone who paid attention to what vets did, and I spent a lot of time watching what she did,” Ogwumike said of Parker. “She helped me understand [the game] from a different lens, from a more advanced perspective coming in from college. We were able to develop some great chemistry.”
Agler said their connection “was as special as I’ve seen,” adding that Ogwumike “probably understood Candace better than most anybody.”
In Parker’s first WNBA Finals, she led the Sparks through a dramatic series against the Lynx, capped by a 28-point and 12-rebound performance in Game 5 to secure the title and Finals MVP.
Through tears, she found the only words she could muster: “This is for Pat.”
“I’m sure it [the pressure] was there for her,” Agler said. “I just remember when we won, how happy she was. She almost collapsed on the floor with joy. … That’s really the only time I’ve seen her that way in a public setting.”
Soon after the championship run, a divide grew between Parker and the organization. In her new book, “The Can-do Mindset,” Parker reflects on strained relationships with the front office, a carousel of head coaches and a growing distrust that ultimately fractured her relationship with the Sparks.
“The culture was toxic, and whether I wanted to admit it or not, I was a part of that culture and had been absorbed in that toxicity,” Parker wrote in her book, referring to the breakup. “I had to admit to myself that I didn’t like who I’d become in my years with the Sparks. It takes two to tango. So though I didn’t create the culture, I was still at fault in my own way.”
Chasing more titles and ownership
Candace Parker, center right, celebrates with Chicago Sky teammates after winning the 2021 WNBA title.
(Paul Beaty / Associated Press)
After 13 years, Parker decided to leave the Sparks. It’s a move Leslie called “unfortunate,” adding she had “no idea how they let her get away.” But Parker announced she was ready to find “a sense of peace,” signing with the Chicago Sky — moving as close to her native Naperville as possible.
During free agency, Parker called Azurá Stevens, who had just wrapped her first season with the Sky. Curious about the team and open to a fresh start, Parker asked about Stevens’ experience. Stevens still describes the conversation as “surreal,” thrilled by the idea of sharing the court with her childhood idol.
Growing up, Stevens — now the Sparks’ starting forward — modeled her game after Parker. Standing 6-foot-6, she admired Parker’s versatility and poise, and now, the two would be teammates in the same starting lineup.
“We had an up-and-down year and went through a lot that season,” Stevens recalls of the team finishing .500. “Candace definitely led the way. … A strong veteran presence for us to keep us level-headed. And once we got to the playoffs, we flipped the switch.”
Seattle Storm guard Lexie Brown — like Stevens — followed Parker’s career. Finally playing alongside her in Chicago, what stood out wasn’t just Parker’s talent, but her relentless devotion while juggling motherhood, a broadcasting career and a championship run. “I remember watching her on TNT the night before, and she’d pull up to practice with some of her makeup still on,” Brown said. “She was really dedicated to helping us win. That was a special season for me.”
In the twilight of her career, Parker still showed flashes of the once baby-haired assassin who shook up the WNBA.
“It was a homecoming for the whole year,” Stevens said of Parker’s move to Chicago. “Being able to go back home and then bring a franchise its first championship is really special. The city really showed out for her.”
After two seasons in Chicago, Parker decided to reunite with Fargas — the coach who recruited Parker to Tennessee and eventually became president of the Las Vegas Aces.
With a championship pedigree and legacy to match, Parker’s new role was no longer the star but the connector. Her signing was meant to elevate A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young — all former No. 1 picks — to their fullest potential.
“She brought a calmness to our team,” Fargas said. “We already had a high-powered offense. … But having her on our team definitely helped raise and bring a championship culture.”
Candace Parker won her third WNBA championship with the Las Vegas Aces in 2023.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
The outcome? A third championship with a third different team — another WNBA first.
But the victory came with a bittersweet edge. An ankle injury sidelined Parker for much of the season. “She did everything in her power to get back to us. … I know that was very difficult for her,” Fargas said.
With wear and tear piling up, Parker announced her retirement — opening with a borrowed line from a Jay-Z verse on the track “Dear Summer”:
“Dear Summer, I know you gon’ miss me …”
“I love his lyrics, but I love how he’s redefined what rappers are capable of,” Parker said of Jay-Z during an interview with ESPNW in 2023. “That’s what I hope to do for women’s basketball players. … I want to be that business leader, that business mind.”
Soon after retiring, Parker joined an investment group aiming to bring a WNBA franchise to Tennessee. Billionaire and former Gov. Bill Haslam — now chairman of the NHL’s Nashville Predators — and his wife, Crissy, led the Nashville-based bid. They’ve assembled a star-studded roster that includes Parker, Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning and country music icons Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
“When I called her the first time, I said, ‘Candace, we’d love you to be involved, and we don’t just want your name,’” Haslam recalled. “She was really quick to say, ‘Well, that’s great, because that’s the only way I would be involved.’”
With the WNBA set to expand to 16 teams by 2028, the group submitted its formal bid in January. The group proposes calling the team Tennessee Summitt.
“To see Candace join an ownership group — why not?” Fargas said. “Why aren’t there more opportunities for the players who helped shape this league? Why aren’t there those opportunities to allow them to not only play the game, but also invest in it?”
Well before fans stream into Crypto.com Arena for the Sparks’ rematch against the Phoenix Mercury, Sarah Ashlee Barker is on the court two and a half hours early. The first out of the tunnel, as she’s been all season, she fires off jump shots with a stone-faced expression.
Thrown unexpectedly into a starting role as a rookie, Barker’s rise in the WNBA has outpaced even her own expectations. Amid a season riddled with injuries, the Sparks have leaned on their first-round pick.
On this day, Barker was trying to adjust to a new role coming off the bench after forcing some plays that hindered the team’s success.
Life for a rookie in the WNBA demands adaptability.
An uncommon sight across the league, the Sparks kept all three of their recent draft picks on the roster. They are former college standouts who earned conference honors, with one winning a national championship. But they face far greater physicality, speed and overall grit in the WNBA.
Sparks guard Sarah Ashlee Barker, right, drives to the basket against Golden State Valkyries guard Julie Vanloo on May 6.
(Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)
For Barker, the jump to the WNBA has been grueling. In a short time, she’s faced some of the league’s top players — Chelsea Gray, Nneka Ogwumike, Rhyne Howard. At times, she’s held her own. But there are also moments when she’s looked every bit like a rookie.
When Sparks coach Lynne Roberts first told Barker she’d be starting, the message was short and direct: “Hey kiddo, you’re going to be starting. I believe in you. I have confidence in you. I trust you.”
“Those matchups are tough,” Roberts acknowledged. “That’s throwing a rookie in the deep end, but I do think she was ready for it.”
Barker was soon shifted to the bench to “take some pressure off,” but it didn’t last long. The injury-plagued Sparks needed her to start again.
Back in the starting lineup, she delivered her best stat line of the season: 12 points and seven rebounds in 34 minutes during a loss to the Seattle Storm on Tuesday.
She continues to bounce in and out of the starting lineup, depending on the team’s needs. Barker credits veterans on the team, especially from Kelsey Plum, for helping her adapt.
“She’s been a leader to me pretty much since I got to L.A.,” Barker said. “She has so much experience, so I listen to everything she says.”
When Barker arrived in L.A., she joined Plum’s intense workouts — a challenge that left her breathless but determined, Roberts said. At practice, Plum takes a hands-on approach, guiding Barker through defensive shifts and assignments.
Off the court, Plum’s is just as involved. In a now-viral clip, Plum revealed Barker had played through training camp wearing an “old” pair of Sabrina Ionescu’s signature shoes — “a disaster,” Plum joked. That led Plum to contact Ionescu, who sent Barker six new pairs.
“She’s always telling me just to have fun too with the game,” Barker said. “But being able to have that presence and being able to teach me in any way, it does mean a lot.”
A lower-profile journey
Sania Feagin, right, poses for a photo with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected 21st overall by the Sparks in the WNBA draft in April.
(Pamela Smith / Associated Press)
Sparks second-round pick Sania Feagin has seen little game action. For Feagin, this isn’t uncharted territory.
Despite being the nation’s No. 1 high school forward and a five-star recruit, she had to wait her turn as a freshman at South Carolina behind some of the country’s top talent, including Aliyah Boston, Laeticia Amihere and Victaria Saxton.
Facing a logjam of talent, much like her current situation with the Sparks, Feagin didn’t start until her junior year and didn’t become a regular in the Gamecocks’ rotation until her senior season. Just as she did in college, Feagin is using time on the sideline to observe, learn and prepare — knowing that when her name is called, she doesn’t want to squander the minutes she gets.
“I knew it was going to be different,” Feagin said of her rookie year. “But since I am in the same boat, I can’t do nothing but to learn to trust the process.”
Feagin has only spoken once with Roberts about earning more minutes. Roberts encouraged her to keep learning and assured her that things would eventually fall into place. She has repeatedly said Feagin is working her way into the rotation and believes she’ll be a starter in the league one day.
For now, Roberts knows Feagin is itching to play, which makes keeping her engaged and motivated during this waiting period a delicate balancing act.
“You don’t want them to be OK with not playing,” Roberts said. “They have to understand that they don’t control when I put them in, but when you do get put in, you control how ready you are. … Those are the conversations we’ve had with her. And of course, she wants to play. … She’s staying ready.”
Just before training camp cuts, general manager Raegan Pebley and Roberts told Feagin she had made the team — and made sure she understood how rare that was for a second-round pick.
Trying to stay on roster
Sparks guard Liatu King shoots over Minnesota’s Maria Kliundikova during a game on June 14.
(Matt Krohn / Getty Images)
The odds of landing a roster spot are stacked heavily against a third-round pick. One of just three currently on a WNBA active roster, forward Liatu King’s rookie season has been nothing short of a whirlwind.
The former Pitt and Notre Dame star was selected by Sparks with their final draft pick and spent the next month battling for a roster spot during training camp. When final cuts were revealed, King found herself on the outside looking in — waived and boarding a flight back to South Bend, Ind.
For many, getting cut is a tough pill to swallow. But King chose not to dwell on the disappointment. Instead, she returned to Notre Dame and got back in the gym with coach Carlos Knox.
Pebley and Roberts gave King specific areas to work on — feedback she took seriously. And Pebley told her to stay by the phone.
“She said this league is so crazy, anything can happen,” King said of Pebley. “She was true to that. People get hurt. People have to go places. The unknown is always happening.”
King’s phone rang a week and a half later. The Sparks were already down a key contributor after Rae Burrell injured her knee in the season opener. Then Rickea Jackson suffered a concussion in the next game and entered protocol, leaving the team in urgent need of reinforcements.
The first call went to King, who signed a rest-of-season hardship waiver contract. The turnaround from waived to role player came even faster than from draftee to cut.
“It’s been surreal, to be honest, and I didn’t know it would happen that quickly,” King said of her Sparks debut, when she played 13 minutes. “I Ubered to Chicago [from South Bend, Ind.]. Then I flew from Chicago to LAX, and then the same day, we [flew] … to Phoenix to play the Mercury the next day. I was literally in three different time zones.”
Unfazed, King said Roberts told her she’d be playing at the three-spot in place of Jackson and Burrell. Her quick insertion into the rotation, she says, “is just a testament to always being ready, always keeping close connections.”
An unclear future
Roster moves in the WNBA come with a heavy dose of uncertainty — and for rookies, that volatility is even sharper. With the WNBA All-Star break less than a month away, nearly half of this year’s rookie class (42%) have already been released from teams across the league. Of those, some were initially cut and re-signed, like King, or were picked up by other teams.
Now, King is one of the 22 rookies still active on a WNBA roster and currently in the rotation. But her future remains in limbo. With only 12 coveted roster spots and several sidelined players expected to return, the Sparks’ front office will soon have to decide which hardship signees will be dismissed.
Julie Allemand is expected back from EuroBasket in late June. It’s unclear when Odyssey Sims, out for personal reasons, will return. Cameron Brink, who suffered a torn ACL last season, had targeted a return around the all-star break. The biggest factor affecting King’s spot is Burrell’s potential return. She was injured May 17 and expected to miss six to eight weeks, making her comeback possible between late June and mid-July.
King has done enough to earn praise from teammates and coaches, with Roberts saying “she has earned my trust, because I know when she goes out there, she will give me everything she has.”
The next few months will serve as a long-term tryout for King to prove her worth, not just to the Sparks, but to teams around the league.
Like King, teammate Emma Cannon faced similar challenges nearly a decade earlier. Undrafted out of Florida Southern, she spent six years bouncing around overseas — in Australia, Germany and Russia — before finally making her WNBA debut at 28 with the Phoenix Mercury.
“It’s super hard, especially when at that time, it was only 144 spots and you’re trying to get one,” Cannon said, noting the league’s notoriously limited roster spots.
With King in particular, Cannon sees a reflection of her own journey, having been waived and signed to hardship contracts multiple times throughout her career. When King was let go, Cannon was one of the first to reach out.
“I’ve been in Liatu’s shoes before,” Cannon said. “I wanted her to know that just because one door closed, doesn’t mean that another one won’t open. I told her to make sure that she stays confident in what her abilities are, that she continues to work hard. … Look, we called her right back.”
Cannon relates to each of the rookies, having walked their paths at different points in her career. She started at the bottom, coming off the bench with limited minutes, averaging just 13 per game as a rookie.
“Just that first year, it was super nerve-wracking, I’m not gonna lie,” Cannon said. “You finally get to where you wanted, and it’s here — and you just want to make sure you do everything in your power to stay.”
Cannon recognizes the daily grind and small victories that are keeping the trio on the roster. She sees Barker embracing an unexpected starting role, Feagin staying ready and making the most of limited minutes and King clawing her way back from being waived to logging meaningful time.
Only three rookies — Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen — have more starts than Barker this season.
Barker admits the start to her pro basketball career has “definitely been a lot,” but says she’s found ways to stayed grounded.
“I’ve learned to be where your feet are, be exactly where you are in the moment,” Barker said. “That’s the mindset I need to be in, because if you make it just about basketball 24/7, it will kind of overtake you.”
A WNBA investigation was unable to substantiate a “report of racist fan behavior in the vicinity of the court” during a game between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever on May 17 in Indianapolis.
The investigation reportedly was started in response to allegations that a fan had made racist comments toward Sky star Angel Reese. It remains unclear as to who made the allegations.
“Based on information gathered to date, including from relevant fans, team and arena staff, as well as audio and video review of the game, we have not substantiated it,” the league said Tuesday in a statement. “The WNBA is committed to fostering a safe and inclusive environment for everyone and will continue to be vigilant in enforcing our fan code of conduct.”
Reese remained reticent about the situation. The second-year player responded that she was “focused on the game today” when asked about the league’s findings before the Sky’s game Tuesday night in Phoenix. Reese said she was more concerned with helping her team achieve its first win of the season.
Chicago coach Tyler Marsh said he felt the same way before Tuesday’s game.
“We appreciate the investigation being done and we hope that the league continues to make the steps necessary moving forward to ensure a safe environment for everyone, all players included,” he said. “But tonight, the focus is on the game.”
The Sky ended up losing to the Mercury 94-89 to drop to 0-4 this season, but Reese made WNBA history by becoming the player to reach 500 points and 500 rebounds the fastest. She finished the game with 13 points and 15 rebounds to bring her totals in both categories to 502 after 38 career games.
The season-opening game on May 17 was the latest marquee matchup between Reese and Fever star Caitlin Clark. During the third quarter, Reese appeared upset after Clark committed a flagrant 1 foul on her. After the game, however, Reese referred to Clark’s foul as a “basketball play” and added that the ‘‘refs got it right.”
Clark said after the game that she “wasn’t trying to do anything malicious.”
The WNBA announced its investigation the next day, on May 18.
“The WNBA strongly condemns racism, hate and discrimination in all forms — they have no place in our league or in society,” the league’s statement read. “We are aware of the allegations and are looking into the matter.”
The Women’s National Basketball Players Assn. said in a statement the same day, specifying that the league was investigating “hateful comments” allegedly made at the Fever-Sky game. Multiple media outlets added detail, reporting that the alleged comments were racial and directed at Reese.
A fan allegedly made racist comments toward Chicago Sky star Angel Reese during the team’s season opener against the Indiana Fever on Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
“The WNBA strongly condemns racism, hate and discrimination in all forms — they have no place in our league or in society,” the WNBA said in a statement released Sunday. “We are aware of the allegations and are looking into the matter.”
The WNBA told The Times on Monday that it has no further comment at this time.
The Women’s National Basketball Players Assn. said in a statement Sunday that the league was investigating “hateful comments” made at the Fever-Sky game. Multiple media outlets were reporting that the comments were racial and directed at Reese.
“The WNBPA is aware of reports of hateful comments at yesterday’s game in Indianapolis and suppports the WNBA’s current investigation into this matter,” the union wrote Sunday. “Such behavior is unacceptable in our sport.”
Both teams issued statements supporting the WNBA’s investigation into what they characterized as fan misconduct.
“We will do everything in our power to protect Chicago Sky players,” team president and CEO Adam Fox stated, “and we encourage the league to continue taking meaningful steps to create a safe environment for all WNBA players.”
Pacers Sports & Entertainment CEO Mel Raines said: “We stand firm in our commitment to providing a safe environment for all WNBA players.”
In the latest marquee matchup between Reese and the Fever’s Caitlin Clark, Reese appeared upset after Clark committed a hard foul on her.
During the third quarter of the Fever’s 93-58 win, Clark sent Reese, who had just pulled in an offensive rebound, to the floor. Reese got up and tried to confront Clark, who walked away as members from both teams intervened. Clark’s foul was eventually upgraded to a flagrant 1, while Reese and Indiana’s Aliyah Boston were given technical fouls.
After the game, Reese referred to Clark’s foul as a “basketball play.”
‘‘Refs got it right,” she said. “Move on.’’
Clark told reporters of the incident: “Let’s not make it something that it’s not. It was just a good play on the basketball. I’m not sure what the ref saw to upgrade it, and that’s up to their discretion. … It’s a take foul to put them at the free-throw line rather than give up two points, you know? I’ve watched a lot of basketball in my life, that’s exactly what it was. I wasn’t trying to do anything malicious. That’s not the type of player I am. It wasn’t anything like that.”
The rivalry between the two players gained widespread attention in 2023, when Reese’s LSU Tigers defeated Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes in the NCAA tournament championship game. It carried over to the WNBA for the players’ rookie season last year, although both insisted that there are no personal hard feelings.
Clark was named the league’s rookie of the year, with Reese finishing second in the voting.
The presence of both players helped propel the league into unprecedented popularity. With the additional attention, however, came a negative aspect, as some players spoke about experiencing an increasing amount of racism online and in person throughout the season.
The WNBA has launched the “No Space for Hate” campaign this year to help fight hate and promote tolerance and respect.
