The WNBA released details about the league's 2025 Draft on Wednesday, dropping timing, venue, broadcast, and ticketing information ahead of the event's April 14th return to New York.
Following last year’s success in which the league included an audience of fans for the first time in the Draft's history, the 2025 edition will once again be open to the public.
To include more fans in this year's iteration, the WNBA is relocating the event from the Brooklyn Academy of Music to the higher-capacity The Shed at Hudson Yards, located on the west side of midtown Manhattan.
For fans who can’t attend, the 2025 WNBA Draft will air on ESPN starting at 7:30 PM ET, after the 7 PM ET WNBA Countdown.
"At a time when the passion and excitement surrounding the WNBA has never been higher, we continue to focus on creating elevated events that WNBA fans won’t want to miss," said WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert in the league's statement. "The tremendous fan engagement we enjoyed at draft last year was a precursor to a season in which we ultimately set records for viewership, attendance, digital consumption and merchandise sales."
"We look forward to welcoming in a new set of WNBA rookies in a memorable way."
First the Orange Carpet, then the rush to make a WNBA roster
As is tradition, top prospects like expected overall No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers will attend a celebratory lighting ceremony at the Empire State Building to begin the day, and walk the iconic "Orange Carpet" prior to the Draft.
Once the broadcast begins, Engelbert will announce each draftee, sending the top pick to the 2025 Draft Lottery-winning Dallas Wings, and the second to the Seattle Storm.
The Washington Mystics currently hold the third and fourth selections, while 2025 WNBA expansion team Golden State will recruit their first-ever rookie Valkyrie with the night's No. 5 pick.
With the league's 29th season tipping off on May 16th, the selected college and international players will face a baptism by fire, with one month to relocate and then prove themselves worthy of making a WNBA roster.
How to buy tickets to the 2025 WNBA Draft
Tickets to attend the 2025 WNBA Draft go on sale at 10 AM ET on Friday, March 21st, with fans able to register their interest now via WNBA Experiences.
Diana Taurasi is officially retiring from basketball, the WNBA legend told TIME Magazine on Tuesday, capping off a decorated and lengthy college and professional career.
"Mentally and physically, I’m just full," Taurasi said in the exclusive interview. "That’s probably the best way I can describe it. I’m full and I’m happy."
Taurasi's unmatched basketball career
Taurasi exits first and foremost as a winner, earning three straight NCAA championships with UConn before going as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 WNBA Draft to Phoenix, where she led the Mercury to three league titles over the course of her 20-year tenure with the team.
The 42-year-old also picked up six consecutive Olympic gold medals along the way — more than any other athlete in the sport's history. Even more, she snagged all six without ever losing a single Olympic game.
In addition to her domestic efforts, Taurasi played a prominent role in the European game, winning six EuroLeague titles as well as multiple championships with teams in Russia and Turkey.
The 2009 WNBA MVP leaves the court as the league’s all-time leading scorer and three-point shooter, as well as a two-time WNBA Finals MVP, 11-time All-Star, and a two-time NCAA Most Outstanding Player, among other individual honors.
"She has a way of making people feel connected to her, but also like the best version of themselves," Taurasi’s UConn and Team USA teammate Sue Bird — who hung up her jersey in 2022 — told ESPN after the news broke.
In a statement, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert also weighed in, calling Taurasi "one of the greatest competitors to ever play the game of basketball on any stage."
Taurasi leaves iconic legacy as she retires
Having helped build the WNBA into what it is today, Taurasi created a legacy defined not just by her resume, but by leaving the game better than she found it.
"Until someone comes along and eclipses what she’s done, then yes, she is [the GOAT]," UConn boss Geno Auriemma, who coached Taurasi both in college and on Team USA's 2012 and 2016 Olympic squads, said about the basketball superstar.
As for Taurasi, she fully expects a future player to surpass her stats, as the retiring legend continues to embody a competitor’s perspective on the game she leaves behind.
"My scoring record or the six gold medals, someone’s going to come around that has the same hunger, the same addiction to basketball, and put those records in a different way, a different name," she told TIME.
"That’s what sports is all about. That’s going to be fun to watch. Hopefully not soon."
Tennessee is officially in the running to host the 16th WNBA franchise, as an ownership group including retired basketball icon Candace Parker, NFL legend Peyton Manning, former Tennessee governor Bill Haslam, and country music stars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw announced Nashville's bid on Thursday.
Led by Haslam and his wife, Crissy, the investor group has named the prospective 2028 expansion team the Tennessee Summitt, in honor of the late legendary University of Tennessee coach Pat Summitt.
"We recognize the emergence of professional sports for women across the globe, at the same time observing the void in our state," Haslam said in a statement. "We believe a WNBA team, based in Nashville, could serve as a beacon for girls and women, young and old, across Tennessee."
Parker's "pinch-me moment"
Three-time WNBA champion Parker, who won two NCAA titles with Tennessee under Summitt, took to social media to mark what she called "a real pinch-me moment."
"If you know me, you know how important and impactful Coach Summitt IS on my life," Parker wrote. "Coach makes me the best version of myself as a mother, wife, daughter, sister, teammate, and person. I'm honored that we are submitting a bid to the @wnba today for a franchise to be named in her honor."
In her 38-year career, Summitt led the Vols to 18 Final Fours, winning eight NCAA championships. She retired in 2012 after a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's, eventually exiting with an all-time 1,098-208 record.
WNBA ramps up expansion plans
Following years of stasis, the WNBA is shifting into an aggressive expansion mode, with new 2025 team Golden State, plus 2026 debutants Toronto and Portland already earning the league's 13th, 14th, and 15th franchises.
With plans to have 16 teams in play by 2028, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert previously confirmed that the league had identified 10 to 12 ideal markets.
Bidding remains open for the current expansion round's final team, with Nashville joining Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Cleveland, and others eyeing the 16th spot.
Should their bid be successful, the Tennessee Summitt ownership group is planning to sweeten the deal by building a dedicated training facility that would also "serve as a hub for youth basketball" in the area. Additionally, Bridgestone Arena, the current home of the NHL's Nashville Predators, will host the proposed team's games.
The WNBA dropped its 2025 schedule on Monday, with the league's 29th season set to tip off on May 16th and run through September 11th.
With the Golden State Valkyries debuting as the league’s first expansion franchise since 2008, all 13 teams will now play 44 games (22 home, 22 away), up from 40 in 2024. Despite the additional games, the season's calendar has not increased, as 2025 will not require an extended international break like last summer's Paris Olympics necessitated.
The fifth-annual Commissioner's Cup competition will begin in June, when the six Eastern Conference teams and seven Western Conference squads will play five and six round-robin games, respectively, to determine the two conference leaders who will contend for the in-season tournament's title — and the $500,000 purse — on July 1st.
Also on the 2025 WNBA schedule is the 21st annual All-Star Game, which will take over the Indiana Fever's Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 19th.
"We look forward to... continuing to build on the success of last season, when the WNBA delivered its most-watched Draft and All-Star Game, and set records for viewership, attendance, digital consumption, and merchandise sales," commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in Monday's release.
2025 WNBA season to tip off with all teams
All 13 teams will play on opening weekend, with the Valkyries logging their first minutes when they host an in-state battle against the LA Sparks on Friday, May 16th.
Other season-opener highlights include the Friday bout between 2024 runners-up Minnesota and Dallas, who are expected to debut UConn star Paige Bueckers as their 2025 No. 1 Draft pick, and Saturday's battle between the last two league champions — 2023 title-winners Las Vegas and reigning champs New York.
Indiana will also kick off their campaign against Chicago on May 17th, with both teams adding new head coaches to their rosters last month. Home to the the last two Rookies of the Year, Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark, the Fever will face a Sky side made stronger by Angel Reese's return from injury in the first of five 2025 regular-season meetings.
Fans eager for a 2024 Finals rematch between the reigning champions Liberty and the Lynx will have their patience tested by the 2025 schedule. Unless they meet again in the July 1st Commissioner's Cup championship, the pair won't face off until the first of their four regular-season battles on July 30th.
The WNBA's next steps
The road to the first-ever seven-game WNBA Finals series next fall begins on May 16th, but the league has a significant to-do list to tackle before stepping to the 2025 season's starting line. The WNBA must handle February's free agency signing period, April's draft, and the ongoing process of filling the league's multiple coaching vacancies — all while concurrently negotiating a new CBA with the WNBPA.
While the 2025 game calendar is set, the league's broadcast scheduled is still being hammered out and will be announced at a later date.
The WNBA's first step, however, is Friday’s expansion draft, when Golden State will begin to fill their inaugural roster by selecting players from the league's other 12 rosters live on ESPN at 6:30 PM ET.
On Wednesday morning, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced that the WNBA would be adding a 15th team to its roster, with the league awarding Portland, Oregon its own expansion franchise.
Portland joins Golden State and Toronto as the latest WNBA additions, as the league capitalizes on this season's surging popularity. Golden State will begin play next season, with Toronto and Portland set to tip off in 2026.
The Rose City was an obvious choice to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who said, "Portland has been an epicenter of the women’s sports movement and is home to a passionate community of basketball fans."
Notably, this is not Portland's first WNBA team. The city originally hosted the Fire, which competed for three seasons before folding in 2002.
The expansion team will be primarily owned by the Bhathal family, who also recently purchased the NWSL's Portland Thorns.
A'ja Wilson adds WNBA rebound record to 2024 stats
Aces superstar A'ja Wilson added yet another feat to her 2024 WNBA MVP campaign on Tuesday, breaking sidelined Chicago rookie Angel Reese's single-season rebounds record in Las Vegas's 85-72 win over Seattle.
Wilson, who didn't know she'd claimed the record until asked about it in the post-game press conference, reacted with nonchalance. "That's cool," she told reporters. "I don't hunt rebounds, so it's not something that's always on my mind... I'm focused on putting the ball in the hoop."
Her explanation had head coach Becky Hammon visibly rolling her eyes, saying she's had to remind Wilson that "the other half of [her] job is to freaking rebound."
Ultimately, Wilson acknowledged that the record is "a blessing," saying "this league is tough, so if my name can be in the record books in some sort of way, it's a blessing."
Rebound record is Wilson's third WNBA feat in one week
Wilson's written her name in the WNBA record books three times in the last six days. Her latest rebound accomplishment comes just two days after Wilson became the first-ever WNBA player to score 1,000+ points in one season, and less than one week after she shattered the league's single-season scoring record.
Tuesday's win also handed the defending back-to-back champion Aces at least the fourth playoff seed. That top-four spot secures them home court advantage for their first postseason round.
Earlier this week, the WNBA Players Union (WNBPA) spoke up against controversial comments made by league commissioner Cathy Engelbert on CNBC's Power Lunch on Monday.
When asked to address concerning social media exchanges regarding superstar rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese "where race... where sexuality is sometimes introduced into the conversation," Engelbert dodged the question, choosing instead to frame what she described as a "rivalry" in a positive light.
"The one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry," said the commissioner, comparing Reese and Clark to Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. "That's what makes people watch. They want to watch games of consequence between rivals. They don't want everybody being nice to one another."
WNBPA calls out subjects WNBA comm'r Engelbert dodged
After players began calling Engelbert out online, the WNBPA issued a statement denouncing racism, homophobia, and misogyny.
"Here is the answer that the Commissioner should have provided to the very clear question regarding the racism, misogyny, and harassment experienced by the Players," the statement read.
There is absolutely no place in sport — or in life — for the vile hate, racist language, homophobic comments, and the misogynistic attacks our players are facing on social media.... Fandom should lift up the game, not tear down the very people who bring it to life."
WNBA stars address Engelbert's CNBC comments
Some of the league's top players took to the press to reinforce the WNBPA's words, including Aces forward Alysha Clark.
"It's taken a darker turn in terms of the types of comments and the vitriol that's coming through to the players, and it's not okay," Clark told ESPN. "I wish [Engelbert] would have just said that — 'It's not okay.'"
Liberty star Breanna Stewart echoed Clark's sentiments, saying "The way that the fans have surged, and especially behind Caitlin and Angel coming to this league, but also bringing a race aspect to a different level — you know, there's no place for that in our sport."
Engelbert later responded to the Players Union's statement in a post on X, writing "there is absolutely no place for hate or racism of any kind in the WNBA or anywhere else."
The WNBA is officially expanding to Toronto, with the league announcing its 14th franchise early Thursday.
Kilmer Sports Ventures has been awarded the team, said WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert at a press conference attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and others.
"Growing internationally, I’ve been trying to think through next steps on a global platform," Engelbert told the Associated Press ahead of the official announcement. "It helps us reach new audiences and bring in new partners. The thing I love about going to another country is that the young girls and boys get to see professional basketball for women is important, too."
The CBC was the first to report on the expansion franchise back on May 10th.
With the Golden State Valkyries set to begin play next year, the Toronto franchise will begin play in 2026. The goal, per the WNBA, is to then add two more franchises by 2028 for a total of 16.
Toronto will play at Coca-Cola Coliseum, which holds 8,700 seats. On occasion, the team will play games in Scotiabank Arena. The WNBA has previously hosted sold-out preseason games at Scotiabank Arena and Edmonton’s Rogers Place. There are also plans to play games in Vancouver and Montreal, according to majority owner Larry Tanenbaum.
This will be the first WNBA franchise outside of the United States, and joins PWHL Toronto as just the second professional women’s sports team in the city.
"Our Toronto sports franchises are thriving but, we have been missing one critical piece — women’s professional sports," Tanenbaum told the AP. "The world is finally taking notice of something that’s been there all along — the immense talent, passion and competition in women’s sports.
"I saw an opportunity and knew we were in the right place at the right time to bring Canada’s first WNBA team to Toronto. And now we have, making sports history."
Similar to Golden State, the Toronto franchise paid a $50 million expansion fee. They’ve also committed to building a dedicated practice facility, but will train at the University of Toronto’s Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport in the meantime.
"Women’s sports is good business," Tanenbaum said. "Just look around — it’s not a moment, but a movement and it’s just the beginning."
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert admitted to a "faulty rollout" of the new charter travel initiative on Thursday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Ahead of Tuesday's season opener, it was announced that the only teams flying private this week would be Indiana and Minnesota. The announcement came mere days after the league made a new charter flight program for all WNBA teams public. At the time, they said it would be implemented "as soon as we have the planes."
But as two teams out of 12 chartered to their first games of the season, others like the Atlanta Dream and Chicago Sky were forced to fly commercial.
A town hall meeting between Engelbert and the players was held in response to the confusion. Everything from the league's new media rights deal to private travel was covered in the meeting, with players submitting their questions ahead of time. Sky center Elizabeth Williams told Sun-Times reporter Annie Costabile afterwards that cross-country flights were prioritized.
"Flights that are across the country like [the Lynx] going to Seattle, crossing multiple time zones, or flights that usually require a connection, those were the priorities," Williams said. "That’s why New York didn’t go to DC with a charter, but Minny goes to Seattle."
What’s unclear under that metric is that the Atlanta Dream played the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday, which could technically be classified as a cross-country flight.
On Tuesday, rookie forward Angel Reese shared a photo on her Instagram story lamenting the league's use of commercial flights.
"Just praying that this is one of the last commercial flights the Sky has to fly," Reese posted. The team still has at least three commercial flights awaiting them in the near future.
"Obviously, I think all teams should be able to get chartered," Reese told the Sun-Times. "But I know moving forward... going in the right direction, being able to have some teams [chartering] is cool. Within the next weeks, everybody will be flying charter, which will be really good."
On Thursday, Lindsay Schnell of USAToday Sports confirmed that the league intends to have all teams on charter flights by May 21st.
A group led by Toronto billionaire Larry Tanenbaum will bring a new WNBA franchise to Canada, CBC Sports reported early this morning.
Set to begin play in 2026, the team will be owned and operated by Tanenbaum's Kilmer Sports Inc. Tanenbaum is a minority owner and chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Raptors, Toronto FC, Argos, and Marlies. He originally explored an expansion team via MLSE, but was turned down by other members of the board.
The Toronto addition will be the WNBA's 14th team. It follows the Bay Area's WNBA Golden State, which will debut in 2025.
An official announcement is expected May 23rd in Toronto, according to reports.
"We continue to engage in productive conversations with interested ownership groups in a number of markets but have no news to report at this time," a WNBA spokesperson said in a statement. Tanenbaum's Kilmer Sports group, meanwhile, told CBC Sports that his organization has “no update at this time.”
In April, commissioner Cathy Engelbert said that Toronto was among the cities being considered for WNBA expansion.
The WNBA has a growing footprint in Canada, as the league's held wildly successful exhibition games north of the US border for the last two seasons.
In 2023, a preseason matchup between Chicago and Minnesota sold out Toronto’s 19,800-capacity Scotiabank Arena. This past Saturday, the league drew more than 16,000 fans to Edmonton for a preseason showdown between LA and Seattle.
The Toronto team will reportedly play at Coca-Cola Coliseum, an 8,000-seat arena which is currently home to the Marlies as well as Toronto’s PWHL franchise.
Charter flights are on the horizon for the WNBA, with commissioner Cathy Engelbert saying on Tuesday that the league will provide teams with full-time private travel services beginning as soon as this season.
The move is set to address years of player safety concerns, among other issues. Engelbert told AP Sports Editors that the league aims to launch the program "as soon as we can logistically get planes in place."
The initiative is projected to cost around $25 million per year over the next two seasons.
The WNBA has previously provided charter flights on a limited basis, including during the postseason and when teams were scheduled to play back-to-back regular season games. Individual owners seeking to independently provide their teams with private travel — such as the New York Liberty’s Joe and Clara Wu Tsai back in 2022 — faced significant fines for using unauthorized charters.
While players and team staff have been calling for league-wide charters even before Caitlin Clark and other high profile rookies joined the league, Engelbert has routinely cited steep year-to-year costs as the reasoning behind sticking to commercial flights.
However, the WNBA's surging popularity means increased visibility, and a subsequent uptick in security concerns — especially when it comes to big name newcomers like Clark — has Englebert reconsidering her previous decision.
WNBA Players Association president Nneka Ogwumike called the move "transformational," and credited the WNBPA as well as the league for its implementation.
"Our league is growing, the demand for women's basketball is growing," Ogwumike told ESPN. "That means more eyes on us, which is what we want, but that means more protection from the organization that we play for, the whole W that we play for.
"Chartering flights not only is a safety measure, the biggest thing, and then obviously what it means to be able to play a game and go home and rest and recover and be the elite athletes that we try to be every single night when we step out onto this court."
Aces coach Becky Hammon called the immediate response to the charter announcement "great" but noted that there are still kinks to be worked out.
"What it all looks like, we’re still gathering information, we don’t know," she said Tuesday.
Several players emphasized the importance of safety, highlighting how last season the Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner was harassed in an airport while traveling commercial.
"All these players and these faces are becoming so popular that it really is about that as much as it as about recovery," Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier said.
"Above everything else, I think it's the safety of our players," Mercury player Natasha Cloud added. "We have a prime example with BG on our team that needs to be safe. At airports, it's like a madhouse. You see Caitlin Clark walking through airports, people following her, people trying to touch her, get pictures with her. It's just a safety measure, through and through. You would never have an NBA team walk through an airport."
Prior to Tuesday's announcement, the league had said it would charter flights for the playoffs and back-to-back games via a program introduced last year. The latest news, however, promises that teams will also be provided charters to and from all regular season games.
"Our safety is being taken seriously now, finally. In no world should our security not be a priority," Griner told ESPN. "If we want to be the league that we want to be and have the respect that we have, it comes with some risks. Sometimes people want to get close to you and it's not people you want, so I'm just glad that we don't have to deal with that anymore."