All eyes are on the Commissioner’s Cup, set to tip off between the Seattle Storm and the Connecticut Sun at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday.

That includes those outside of the WNBA.

“It’s a really good idea. Another opportunity for people to see these women compete at the highest level,” Spurs assistant Becky Hammon told the Associated Press. “It’s not foreign to women playing overseas. The WNBA players are used to it.”

Hammon played 16 seasons in the WNBA, starting her career with the New York Liberty and ending it with the San Antonio Stars. Almost every offseason, like most WNBA athletes today, she went overseas to play for another professional team and supplement her WNBA salary.

“They are always fun, always bonuses in everyone’s contract. That was overseas,” she said of the Commissioner’s Cup-style games she was used to. “Put a little something extra on the line.”

For the inaugural Commissioner’s Cup championship game, that bonus includes $500,000 in prize money. The winning team will line each player’s pockets with an additional $30,000, while the game MVP will take home an additional $5,000.

Sun forward Jonquel Jones appreciates the innovation behind the event.

“It’s funny because I feel like in our league we do things first and then you see things on ESPN about how the NBA is thinking about doing an in-season tournament, and I’m like, ‘Been there, done that,’” Jones said. “We are always the first to do things and other leagues do it after that, and I like that we are always the first to bring things up.”

Other players and coaches involved recognize the challenges surrounding the championship game Thursday. The Sun have had three weeks of practice to prepare, while the Storm had five players competing in the Tokyo Olympics and haven’t had as much time to get up to speed with their full roster. That includes Breanna Stewart, Sue Bird and Jewell Loyd, who helped Team USA win its seventh consecutive gold medal in Tokyo.

Neither team has played a WNBA game in five weeks while the league was on a break for the Olympics.

Sun guard DeWanna Bonner said Connecticut has been preparing to perform at their peak, working on plays and defensive schemes and getting some lifting sessions in.

“Coach Miller definitely didn’t take it lightly on us, that is for sure,” Bonner said. “It felt like college all over again.”

“It’s a great story for the broadcast,” Sun coach Curt Miller told reporters on Monday. “Not playing a game for five weeks, are you a little rusty? Are you a little nervous? Are you playing a little fast? Do you settle into the tempo of the game? Or does Seattle look tired and look like they haven’t practiced together?

“We have to get the cobwebs out — we haven’t played a game in five weeks,” Miller continued. “That is the benefit that Stewie, Bird and Lloyd have. They played games throughout this whole stretch and while they may not be beach with their core group practicing as hard as we practiced, there is no substitute for games.”

Meanwhile, the three players returning to the Storm aren’t exactly coming back with fresh legs. Bird and Lloyd tallied 150 minutes and 112 minutes, respectively, for Team USA at the Olympics. Stewart, logging at least 34 minutes in four of the six games, played a tournament-high 192 minutes.

“Obviously it’s not the best for us,” Stewart said in Tokyo about the timing of the Cup game. “We’ll see what happens.”

Jones believes the Sun can take advantage of the Storm’s fatigue.

“It’s just playing smart basketball,” she said. “We can probably get up and down the court a little bit quicker than them. We will just try to work them early to see how tired they are.”

Storm coach Noelle Quinn acknowledged that the minutes Seattle’s three Olympians played in Tokyo and the time the team spent apart in the past month will play a key role in Thursday night’s game.

“It wasn’t that our Olympians were away on vacation; they were away on a work call so to speak,” Quinn said. “I’m hoping that it’s seamless, but there’s very much the reality that the play may not look great those first few possessions because of the time that we’ve had off. We have to get back into a groove and a rhythm.”

Storm center Mercedes Russell feels similarly.

“Honestly, I feel like those first four minutes may get us because we have been off for a month, but it will be nice to be back in game mode,” she said. “For it to be the first Cup of the WNBA is exciting.”

Cameron Brink already has her rookie of the year pick for the upcoming WNBA season, and it’s Indiana-bound star Caitlin Clark. 

In the latest edition of Kelley on the Street, host Kelley O'Hara caught up with Brink in New York hours before the Stanford phenom went No. 2 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks at the 2024 WNBA Draft. When O’Hara asked who would win the WNBA's rookie of the year, she answered without pause.

"Caitlin Clark," she said, while a fan commented that she thought Brink would take home the award. Brink later added that the extra foul granted to WNBA players will be "good for me."

"I hope it’s me," Charisma Osborne, who was later drafted by the Phoenix Mercury, said when asked her ROY prediction. "But, I don’t know — we’ll see."

Watch more of Kelley on the Street:

Maria Sanchez issued a statement on Thursday, confirming recent reports that she has requested a trade from the Houston Dash. 

In it, she revealed that the club has been aware of the request "since late March."

"This has all taken a toll and isn’t an easy thing to talk about, but I want to confirm that I’ve requested an immediate trade," she wrote. "My expectations and reasons have been clear. I trust that my current club’s management will honor my decision in a timely manner and proceed with accepting a trade."

"I’m eager to refocus and dive back into what I love most: playing football," she concluded.

Thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of kindness and support. pic.twitter.com/gcnN7dhCJU

— Maria Sanchez (@Maria17_7) April 19, 2024

Reports of Sanchez's trade request first surfaced on ESPN last week, and were later confirmed by multiple sources. 

In December of last year, Sanchez signed a three-year contract with the Dash valued at $1.5 million including bonuses and an option year. It was the largest contract in NWSL history at the time — a figure that would be eclipsed by multiple contracts in the following months. 

Sanchez spent the offseason as a restricted free agent, meaning that Houston could match any other team's offer to retain her rights. Should the Dash trade Sanchez, her current contract terms would remain intact, limiting potential buyers to teams able to afford to take on an inking of that size.

The Dash has yet to address the trade, instead reiterating to ESPN that Sanchez is "under contract, a choice she made in free agency at the end of 2023." 

Both the NWSL trade window and transfer window close tonight, April 19th, at 12 a.m. ET. The window will stay closed through the next 11 regular season games, reopening on August 1st, 2024.

The four-time league champion Seattle Storm unveiled their new practice facility on Thursday, with Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel dubbing Interbay's Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance the team’s "new home."

"It's just such a special space," Brummel told Fox 13 Seattle. "I think when the players get here, it's gonna be overwhelming."

The sprawling 50,000-square-foot, $64 million property is just the second designated practice facility to be designed and built expressly for a WNBA team, with the Storm further noting that 85% of all design and engineering team members involved in the project's construction were women and people of color. The finished product holds two professional indoor courts, two 3x3 outdoor courts, a state-of-the-art locker room, and players' lounge, plus designated areas for strength and conditioning, kitchen, dining, and nutrition, and recovery. 

"This facility reflects our commitment to providing our athletes an exceptional environment that supports their growth, health, and performance," said Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder in an official team release. "It’s built for women, by women, embodying our dedication to leading the way in professional women’s sports."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

For their part, the team can't wait to make the faciilty their own.

"It's amazing," Storm guard Jewell Loyd told Fox 13. "Not having to drive everywhere around, knowing you have access anytime of the day to get into the gym, to workout." 

Head coach Noelle Quinn said she predicts the team is "never going to leave this building."

"Which is a good thing for me," she continued. "You talk about having an edge in performance. We want our athletes to not only perform on the court, but get whatever they need."

All of the Storm's staff and operations will now live under one roof, and the team also has plans to launch a youth basketball program operating out of the building.

The Caitlin Clark effect is quickly making its mark on the big leagues, as WNBA host teams around the country rush to upgrade their Fever games to larger arenas in order to accommodate surging ticket sales.

With Clark mere weeks away from her Indiana Fever debut, both the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics have officially relocated their scheduled home games with head coach Christie Sides' squad. On Thursday, the Mystics became the latest to adjust their plans, moving their June 7th matchup from Entertainment & Sports Arena in Southwest DC to the more centrally located — and much larger — Capital One Arena "due to unprecedented demand."

The Mystics home court's capacity taps out at 4,200, while Capital One Arena — home to the Wizards, Capitals, and Georgetown Hoya's Men's Basketball — can fit nearly five times that crowd at some 20,000 spectators.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Washington Mystics (@washmystics)

"The move to Capital One Arena will allow for additional fans in the stands as well as premium hospitality options, including Suites and the all-new all-inclusive courtside Hennessy Lofts," the team announced via Thursday's press release.

The Aces were one of the first teams to switch venues, aiming to take on the Indiana Fever in front of as many as 20,000 fans inside T-Mobile Arena on July 2nd. That’s a sizable a boost from their home venue, which holds just 12,000.

For those still planning to face the Fever in their home arenas, ticket prices have skyrocketed. Previously scheduled construction has already forced the LA Sparks to relocate their first five games — including their May 24th clash with the Fever — to Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid. The temporary venue is quite the downsize, holding just 4,000 in comparison to Crypto.com Arena's near-19,000. As of Friday, the get-in price for that game started around $400.

Despite fans launching a Change.org petition urging relocation, the Chicago Sky say they're unable to move their June 23rd Fever meeting from Wintrust Arena's 10,000-seat facility to the 23,500-seat United Center due to a concert. Tickets for that game start around $325 as of Friday.