Tiffany Hayes is retiring from the WNBA, she announced on a new episode of the “Counted Me Out” podcast. But the 2017 All-Star still plans to play in international leagues.

“You could still catch me overseas,” Hayes said. “I just figured I’d focus on one thing and then summer time I could turn up my business. I could turn up life with my family and just live life like that.”

The 2023 WNBA season ran from May through September, while most international leagues operate on the opposite seasonal schedule, running from the fall through the spring. Hayes is playing for Shanghai in the Chinese Women’s Basketball Association this offseason.

“I don’t want to play two seasons anymore. I’m really at a crossroads right now. Which one do I play?” Hayes told The Athletic while playing in Turkey last offseason.

After playing 10 seasons with the Atlanta Dream, the 34-year-old guard signed a one-year deal with the Connecticut Sun in 2023. She averaged 12.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists.

“It’s a lot of things,” Hayes said about her decision to step away from the WNBA. “I really feel like I’m older now. I got a lot of stuff that I really always want to get into but I’m so busy ’cause I’m playing year-round. Plus, my body, playing 11 seasons straight with no breaks, every year, two seasons in a year every time, that’s a lot.”

Hayes won two NCAA championships with UConn in 2009 and 2010, then became the No. 14 pick in the 2012 WNBA Draft. Hayes made her only All-Star appearance in 2017, and she was named to the All-WNBA First Team in 2018.

NBA star Kawhi Leonard is picking up what WNBA players are putting down.

The Los Angeles Clippers forward has incorporated the step-through move, which involves legally picking up the pivot foot and stepping around a defender to drive to the basket, into his game. When asked about the move, Leonard said he first noticed the move in the WNBA.

“A lot of WNBA players do it. I thought it was just a WNBA rule at first, but I realized that you could pick up that back foot,” he said.

DeWanna Bonner, one of the leading scorers for the Connecticut Sun, has made it her signature move.

A’ja Wilson also used the deceptive move effectively for the Las Vegas Aces during the WNBA Finals against the New York Liberty.

The Las Vegas Aces clinched a second consecutive title, winning the battle of the superteams against the New York Liberty in the 2023 WNBA Finals.

The defending WNBA champions, the Aces locked down the No. 1 seed in the playoffs for the second consecutive season. They dominated the Chicago Sky in the first round, then swept the Dallas Wings in the semifinals. The Liberty defeated the Washington Mystics and then the Connecticut Sun to reach the championship series.

The Aces became the first team to win back-to-back titles since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001 and 2002. The Liberty failed to disrupt their plans, despite entering the playoffs with a 3-2 advantage in the season series against Las Vegas. Both teams entered the playoffs as clear favorites to reach the Finals.

Just Women’s Sports has the full breakdown of the bracket, schedule and results from the Aces’ title run.

2023 WNBA playoffs: Full results

First round

  • (1) Las Vegas Aces eliminated (8) Chicago Sky, 2-0
    • Game 1: Aces 87, Sky 59
    • Game 2: Aces 92, Sky 70
  • (2) New York Liberty eliminated (7) Washington Mystics, 2-0
    • Game 1: Liberty 90, Mystics 75
    • Game 2: Liberty 90, Mystics 85 (OT)
  • (3) Connecticut Sun eliminated (6) Minnesota Lynx, 2-1
    • Game 1: Sun 90, Lynx 60
    • Game 2: Sun 75, Lynx 82
    • Game 3: Sun 90, Lynx 75
  • (4) Dallas Wings eliminated (5) Atlanta Dream, 2-0
    • Game 1: Wings 94, Dream 82
    • Game 2: Wings 101, Dream 74

Semifinals

  • (1) Las Vegas Aces eliminated (4) Dallas Wings, 3-0
    • Game 1: Aces 97, Wings 83
    • Game 2: Aces 91, Wings 84
    • Game 3: Aces 64, Wings 61
  • (2) New York Liberty eliminated (3) Connecticut Sun, 3-1
    • Game 1: Sun 78, Liberty 63
    • Game 2: Liberty 84, Sun 77
    • Game 3: Liberty 92, Sun 81
    • Game 4: Liberty 87, Sun 84

Finals

  • (1) Las Vegas Aces lead (2) New York Liberty, 2-1
    • Game 1: Aces 99, Liberty 82
    • Game 2: Aces 104, Liberty 76
    • Game 3: Liberty 87, Aces 73
    • Game 4: Aces 70, Liberty 69

Natisha Hiedeman is backing up her comments on WNBA referees, even after receiving a fine from the league.

After the Connecticut Sun’s series loss to the New York Liberty in the 2023 WNBA playoffs, Hiedeman took to social media, where she called out the officiating throughout the season.

“Now that we don’t got no more checks coming in the refs have been terrible from both sides…not even in this series but the whole season,” she wrote. “Ppl gon get hurt. I hope for the finals it can just be FAIR!!”

As it turns out, there was still one more paycheck the WNBA could draw from: Her playoff bonus. Players on teams eliminated in the semifinal round are set to receive merit bonuses of $3,123 each.

On Tuesday, Hiedeman posted a screenshot of a text message thread indicating that she would be getting a fine from the WNBA for her comments on the referees. She included a tongue-in-cheek response on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, writing: “Now that I’ve had time to think about it the officials are actually doing a great job.”

In the text message thread, though, she stood by her comments, writing: “It needed to be said.”

Hiedeman isn’t the first person to receive a fine from the WNBA for comments about officiating, with a number of players and coaches having called out referees throughout the season.

The drama surrounding WNBA officiating has extended into the 2023 playoffs.

Connecticut Sun guard Natisha Hiedeman sounded off on the referees after her team’s elimination at the hands of the New York Liberty in Game 4 of the WNBA semifinals.

“Now that we don’t got no more checks coming in the refs have been terrible from both sides…not even in this series but the whole season,” she wrote on social media. “Ppl gon get hurt. I hope for the finals it can just be FAIR!!”

During Sunday’s Game 4, referees called 23 personal fouls on the Sun and 11 on the Liberty.

All season long, players and coaches have called out the league’s officiating. Dallas Wings star Arike Ogunbowale questioned the referees after receiving her second ejection of the season in August, and Washington Mystics stars Elena Delle Donne and Natasha Cloud also have made their voices heard.

“I don’t care what pipeline refs we have coming through. I don’t care,” Cloud said in July. “We have to do our job every single night. You need to do yours. This is bull—t. This is f–king bull–t.”

Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon tweeted out side-by-side images of instances from Sunday’s Liberty-Sun contest in which fouls were not called on offensive players. They were accompanied by a quote of analyst Rebecca Lobo speaking during broadcast about the officiating.

“If you are a player, note to self, you can run over someone in the post with your physicality, if you are the offensive player,” Lobo said, “and you’re not going to get the foul called.”

The New York Liberty have advanced to their first WNBA Finals since 2002, where they will go up against their superteam rival in the Las Vegas Aces.

With the 87-84 win over the Connecticut Sun in Game 4 of the WNBA semifinals, the Liberty clinched a 3-1 series victory. Three of their starters scored 20 points or more to lead New York: Breanna Stewart (27), Jonquel Jones (25) and Betnijah Laney (21).

While the Liberty have four previous WNBA Finals appearances, the last one came in 2002. New York is one of the WNBA’s eight founding franchises, but it has never won a championship.

From the start of the 2023 season, though, the Liberty and the defending champion Aces were the betting favorites to compete in the Finals. Heading into the postseason, FanDuel set -210 odds for a battle of the superteams, followed by +500 for an Aces-Sun meeting.

New York transformed into a contender with a blockbuster offseason, headlined by the signing of the premier free agent in Stewart and the trade for 2021 MVP Jones. Jones finished Sunday’s win with a double-double, posting 15 rebounds in addition to her 25 points. She also had four blocks, including an emphatic stop of Connecticut’s DeWanna Bonner in the final seconds of the first half.

Yet while the Liberty won the day (and the series), Sun forward Alyssa Thomas turned in the most memorable performance.

The 31-year-old star collided with Jones in the fourth quarter, and then she remained on the ground, grimacing in pain. But after spending several minutes in the locker room, she returned to complete the 11th triple-double of her career.

Thomas finished with a team-high 17 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists. She leads the WNBA in career triple-doubles; no other player has more than three. She also has a record three postseason triple-doubles, after recording two in the 2022 WNBA Finals. All other players in league history have combined for two.

The New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces will start the WNBA Finals next Sunday, Oct. 8, with Game 1 set for a 3 p.m. ET tip-off on ABC.

Alyssa Thomas is leading the triple-double revolution.

Triple-doubles were a rare occurrence through most of WNBA history. Then came the year of the triple-double, with nine recorded during the 2022 season. And the pace has not slowed in 2023, with 11 as of Oct. 1.

Give credit to Thomas for the explosion. The Connecticut Sun forward recorded the first of her career on July 22, 2022, but finished that season with four — breaking the WNBA career record. And on Oct. 1, she recorded her seventh of 2023.

Thomas is the only WNBA player with more than two triple-doubles in a single season.

“Even myself as a coach, you have to intentionally tell yourself to not take these moments for granted,” Sun head coach Stephanie White said. “Like it just seems so routine that Alyssa Thomas gets a triple-double or close to a triple-double or a double-double. … It’s not routine, it’s exceptional.”

Five other players have recorded multiple triple-doubles: Candace Parker (3), Sabrina Ionescu (3), Sheryl Swoopes (2), Courtney Vandersloot (2) and Chelsea Gray (2).

“I think the game is changing,” Parker said following her third career triple-double in June 2022. “I think we’re gonna very soon see this on a nightly basis. We’re going to see those playmakers who have the ball in their hands.”

How many triple-doubles have been recorded in WNBA history?

In total, 31 triple-doubles have been recorded across the league’s 27 seasons, with 26 during the regular season and five during the playoffs. The 31 triple-doubles have come from 14 total players.

Swoopes recorded the first playoff triple-double in 2005, while Vandersloot did so in 2021. Thomas joined the club with two in the 2022 WNBA Finals, and then added another in the 2023 semifinals.

Sheryl Swoopes (2)

Swoopes recorded the league’s first-ever triple-double on July 27, 1999, while playing for the Houston Comets. She recorded 14 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. She would later get her second triple-double on September 3, 2005, with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

Margo Dydek

While with the Utah Starzz, Dydek had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks on June 7, 2001. Dydek remains the only WNBA player to have recorded a triple-double through blocks and not assists.

Lisa Leslie

Leslie set a new bar on September 9, 2004, recording 29 points, 15 rebounds and 10 blocks for the Los Angeles Sparks. That stood as the record for most points in a triple-double until Ionescu broke it in 2022.

Deanna Nolan

On May 21, 2005, Nolan recorded the first of two triple-doubles that year. That 2005 season became the first with multiple triple-doubles. She had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists for the Detroit Shock.

Temeka Johnson

As a member of the Seattle Storm, Johnson recorded 13 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists on July 24, 2014.

Candace Parker (3)

It took nine seasons for Parker to record her first triple-double. On July 28, 2017, she had 11 points, 17 rebounds and 15 assists for the Los Angeles Sparks.

Her other two came with the Chicago Sky in 2022, with Parker recording the first triple-double of the year on May 22, with 16 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. While she became the oldest player to record a triple-double in WNBA history in that game, she later became the first player to record three triple-doubles in league history with another on June 23 (10 points, 10 rebounds, 14 assists).

Courtney Vandersloot (2)

Vandersloot recorded the first of her two triple-doubles on July 20, 2018, with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists. She registered her second triple-double during the 2021 postseason, notching 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

Chelsea Gray (2)

As a member of the Los Angeles Sparks, Gray recorded a triple-double on July 7, 2019. She had 13 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists.

In 2023, she notched the second of her career with the Aces in a rivalry win over the Liberty. She finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.

Sabrina Ionescu (3)

Ionescu’s first triple-double came on May 18, 2021, when she recorded 26 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists — the highest point total since Leslie’s triple-double in 2004.

She bested that number with a 27-point, 13-rebound and 12-assist performance on June 12, 2022. Then, against the Aces on July 7, Ionescu set the record for points in a triple-double with 31 — the first 30-plus-point triple-double. She added 13 rebounds and 10 assists in that game.

Moriah Jefferson

Jefferson added her name to the list on June 28, 2022, with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the first triple-double in Minnesota Lynx history.

Courtney Williams

On June 30, 2023, Williams contributed 12 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists for the Chicago Sky in a win over the Los Angeles Sparks.

Satou Sabally

The Dallas Wings’ Satou Sabally recorded her first triple-double on July 28, 2023, putting up 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in the Dallas Wings’ win over the Washington Mystics.

She is the second player in Wings history to achieve a triple-double, joining Deanna Nolan. Nolan had one in 2005 when the franchise was in Detroit.

Sug Sutton

The final pick of the 2020 WNBA Draft at No. 36 overall, Sutton has bounced around the league over the last four seasons, but she inked her name in the history books with her first triple-double on Sept. 8, 2023. The 24-year-old guard had 18 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for the Phoenix Mercury in a 94-73 loss to the Las Vegas Aces.

Alyssa Thomas (11)

Thomas recorded the first triple-double of her career and the first in Connecticut Sun history on July 22, 2022. The star forward tallied 15 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.

Less than two weeks later, on Aug. 2, 2022, Thomas posted 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists to become just the third player in WNBA history to record multiple triple-doubles in a single season — joining Parker and Ionescu, who also did so in 2022.

She added yet another — and the first in WNBA Finals history — on Sept. 15, with 16 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists in a Game 3 win against the Las Vegas Aces. Then she followed it up with still another in the team’s series-clinching loss to Las Vegas, notching 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds to become the first WNBA player to post back-to-back triple-doubles.

On June 20, 2023, Thomas posted her fifth career triple-double, with 13 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists. Her sixth came just five days later on June 25, in a 14-point, 11-rebound and 12-assist performance. Then, just two days after that, Thomas recorded her third triple-double in eight days, with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

Her eighth came on July 30, 2023, with Thomas putting up 17 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists. And her ninth came on Aug. 1, with 21 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists.

Thomas kept it rolling, with her 10th coming on Sept. 5, 2023. She recorded 27 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds, as well as 6 steals. She’s the first player in WNBA history with 25 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 5 steals in a game.

“I’m doing something that’s never been done in the league before,” Thomas said following that performance. “And I’m making it look easy. And by no means are triple-doubles easy. Credit goes to my teammates.”

In the 2023 playoffs, she posted the 11th triple-double of her career in the WNBA semifinals, with 17 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists.

Rebecca Allen continues to be a difference-maker for the Connecticut Sun in the 2023 WNBA playoffs.

The 30-year-old guard from Australia missed Friday’s Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals due to illness, but she returned with a bang for the Sun to start Sunday’s Game 4 against the New York Liberty. With a 3-pointer late in the first quarter, she put her team up five points, though the Liberty battled back to take a 45-44 lead into the halftime break.

While Allen started 13 games for Sun in 2023 regular season, she played in all 40, and she moved into the starting lineup in the second half of the season. She had started every playoff game before Game 3 of the semifinals.

Allen averaged 6.4 points and 2.8 rebounds in regular season, but she had averaged 10.2 points and 6.4 rebonds in the playoffs heading into Sunday’s Game 4. She contributed 18 points and 7 rebounds in Game 1 of the semifinals, a 78-63 win for Connecticut at New York’s Barclays Center, though the Liberty won the next two games in the best-of-five series.

For the first seven seasons of Allen’s career, she played with the Liberty, but she was traded to the Sun in the offseason as part of the trade that sent 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones to New York.

The WNBA is growing in visibility, and no team is more popular than the Connecticut Sun, according to a map created by by Vivid Seats using ticket sales data.

The Sun, led by stars Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner and Brionna Jones, are the most popular team in Connecticut but also Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Their pull in the region is similar to that of the legendary UConn women’s basketball program.

The Dallas Wings and the Seattle Storm are the next most popular teams, according to the map data. The interactive map features the most popular WNBA team in all 50 states.

For all of the interest around the Sun, the team is in a precarious position: Their season will be on the line Sunday against the New York Liberty, which lead the WNBA semifinal series 2-1.

Thomas scored 23 points and recorded 14 rebounds and nine assists in the team’s 92-81 loss to the Liberty on Friday as New York outscored Connecticut by 21 points in the first quarter.

The Liberty, according to the map data, are the most popular team in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

A special visitor was in the house for Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals between the Connecticut Sun and New York Liberty.

Geno Auriemma, longtime coach of the UConn Huskies, sat courtside for the Liberty’s victory, alongside his wife, Kathy, UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey and former Huskies star Jennifer Rizzotti, now the president of the Sun.

With former players on both teams, Auriemma had a vested interest in the affair.

“It’s always great seeing them, especially when they come out and they come support,” Sun center Olivia Nelson-Ododa, a former Husky, told CT Insider after the game. “I just love seeing them, the team, everybody. And it’s special to me too for them to all show up like that and be able to watch me, especially at this level now too.”

Nelson-Ododa and Tiffany Hayes are the former UConn players on Connecticut, with Breanna Stewart and Stefanie Dolson representing Auriemma’s program for New York. Morgan Tuck, the Sun’s director of franchise development, is also a former Huskie.

Auriemma watched as the Liberty rolled to a 92-81 victory thanks in part to outsourcing the Sun by 21 points in the first quarter. At one point, Nelson-Ododa got into a yelling match with teammate DiJonai Carrington that was separated by DeWanna Bonner.

The 2023-24 UConn team was also in attendance, including star guard Paige Bueckers, but sat further away in the sold out arena. After the game, Auriemma met Stewart’s two-year-old daughter, Ruby.