The WNBA season has begun and it’s better than ever.
The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of 12 teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women’s counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA), and league play started in 1997. The regular season is played from May to September, with the All Star game being played midway through the season in July and the WNBA Finals at the end of September until the beginning of October.
The WNBA began with eight teams: the Charlotte Sting, Cleveland Rockers, Houston Comets, and New York Liberty in the Eastern Conference; and the Los Angeles Sparks, Phoenix Mercury, Sacramento Monarchs, and Utah Starzz in the Western Conference. As of the league’s most recent 2022 full season, the Las Vegas Aces (formerly the Utah Starzz and San Antonio (Silver) Stars), Los Angeles Sparks, New York Liberty, and Phoenix Mercury are the only remaining franchises that were founded in 1997.
The WNBA began its first season on June 21, 1997, starting soon after the gold medal run by the 1996 USA Basketball Women’s National Team at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. The first WNBA game featured the New York Liberty facing the Los Angeles Sparks in Los Angeles. At the end of the first season, the Houston Comets defeated Lobo’s New York Liberty in the first WNBA Championship game. On May 23, 2000, the Houston Comets became the first WNBA team to be invited to the White House Rose Garden. Before this invitation, only men’s sports teams had traveled to the White House.
With the 2023 season underway, learn more about the current teams, stats and schedules at: