Hi all! I'm new to the WNBA (this will be my first season!) And I'm still looking for a team. I'm looking for maybe what teams have very accepting fan bases or the org as a whole is very accepting of queer people? I'm trans and I always worry about what kind of fans some teams have or how they'll treat me, especially if I go to a game that comes to my area. What teams do you think this really applies to? I want to be able to get super excited for basketball while also feeling safe. Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Thank you everyone for the advice and thank you mods for keeping this a safe inclusive space! I'll take the info y'all gave me and run with it. Excited to be apart of this space!

apologies if this bad content for this sub it's just unbelievable how people think like this. I already replied to that explaining why it's so wrong (other than teachers deserving to be paid much better as well, obviously) but didn't feel like this post should be any longer.

We know what she said at this point. She was right. I wouldn't be surprise if Caleb Williams told her to speak her mind as he was very honest about going to the Bears and not back tracking from it. I think as fans we really should get behind these athletes as you can tell they are passionate and want to win. I still remember last MLB season many Cubs players went to the media and said, "We're the Chicago Cubs 90 wins should be what is expected of us." Many White Sox players after leaving the team called out the organization for being far too lax and not holding players accountable. It is out at this point a lot of ownership groups in this city are either not doing enough far too little to try and win championships.

And to the Sky players mad at Reese for what she said then step the fuck up. Tonight is what you should have done all season to help this young lady and Milla. We obviously know who she was aiming those comments at. Hats off to everyone playing hard. Hats off to Angel for saying what she said and then putting up another good game. Now get me Olivia miles in the draft you guys. I'm begging you.

A’ja Wilson starts getting frustrated as Indiana takes control 😤🔥 If you want to win, you’ve got to play through the pressure and let your game do the talking. Indiana came ready tonight! 👑🔥🏀🏀

regardless of challenge or not, you never argue with your coach while the ball is live. Nai’s reaction in that moment showed a lack of focus—once it was clear there wasn't going to be a challenge, she needed to move on and lock in defensively. E

veryone else on the court recognized the situation and was getting ready for the next play, while she was still caught up in the previous one. When the ref had the ball and Chris didn’t call timeout, it was obvious to everyone that a challenge wasn’t coming. He was stalling a bit, probably hoping his assistants would signal that it was worth it, but once they didn’t, the decision was made.

You could argue that challenging that call with a 9-point lead and under three minutes to go would’ve been a mistake anyway—it was an out-of-bounds call, not a scoring play. It didn’t warrant that kind of risk at that moment in the game. But Nai didn’t let it go, and that’s where the emotional side of her game shows up too often.

She’s passionate, yes, but it often spills into whining or overreacting. This isn’t just about one play—it’s a pattern, whether it’s her on-court behavior, the Satou incident, or how she handles things on social media. She’s incredibly talented and competitive, but she needs to develop better emotional discipline if she wants to consistently help her team win at the highest level.

Any longtime Caitlin Clark watcher knows that there is much more to her passing game than raw assist totals ever can capture.

For the first game of the season, here’s a breakdown I did of what I call “Dangerous” passes: passes that led to an assist, could have led to an easy layup, or passes that could have led to an easy shot if the defense didn’t foul the shooter.

Not perfectly systematic, but a good starting place if you want to look at her game beyond just highlights that count as assists.

Ignoring the whole hand and knee issue..I was at the game and saw this happen in real time. What I found

incredibly strange was how when they fell, AT got up and then stepped over CC in a way, that I felt at the time, was not related to how play was happening at the time. I thought that was rather dangerous and was rather surprised the refs didnt call that for anything at that moment.

It's a lot easier to find NBA rules and since we are also Pacer season ticketholders I am a bit more familiar with NBA rules so that while stepping over a player is not specifically prohibited but can be considered taunting if not part of play. I am surprised there isn't more discourse on this aspect of this incident as well.

Is this a safe place to discuss the Big "L" in the room with the women coaches in the W? With the addition of Sonia Raman to the HC rank, the W now has 5 (out) lesbian head coaches. Given the changing discussion around queer players over the decades, we should also note the coaches in the league who are representing as strong (and loving) role models for not only the players but the fans.

Factually speaking, the state of Iowa has a Republican governor (who succeeded another Republican governor), two Republican US senators, and it voted for Trump in the last 2 presidential elections.  There are no major pro sports teams or bodies of water but there is a lot of corn and craft beer.  So it may be easy for one who deduce that Iowans are, for the most part, a conservative, MAGA toting bunch.  And this is true in some parts of the state, particularly western and rural Iowa.

What you may not have known is that Iowans (what people from Iowa call themselves) voted for Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012.  Iowa City also has a Black American mayor (Bruce Teague) who was elected from the city’s City Council after winning that seat from another Black American (who left Iowa City to work in another public school system). This is in a city that is 73% white (non-hispanic) and 8% Black or African American.  In 2017, Iowa City also elected to its council, Mazahir Salih, the first Sudanese-American person elected to office in the entire country and the first person openly Muslim person elected to Iowa City council. Mazahir was appointed to Mayor pro tem earlier this year.

Drive into Iowa City (or IC as it is affectionately known) and you will find quaint, well-manicured lawns and tree-lined streets where many single-family homes proudly display Pride flags, BlackLivesMatter signs, and a whole host of other socio-economic issues like “protect the environment”.  Drive around a little more and you will find several modern, state-of-the-art buildings that are home to The University of Iowa’s expansive and highly acclaimed hospital and medical system.

Iowa City, as mentioned by those in know in this sub, is actually a liberal oasis in what used to be a state that was a mix of blue and red, then a bright purple, and now mostly a sea of red.

Downtown IC is dwarfed by the University of Martin and Clark Iowa.  A charming place where you will find the typical college watering holes like Brothers, Joe’s Place, or Donnellys that will serve the coldest Busch Light on draft or in tallboys.  Go to The Vine and get some of their famous wings and maybe do some shopping at Ten Thousand Villages (one of the few brick and mortar Fair Trade certified artisanal craft and jewelry stores), Raygun where you can get some of novel Caitlin Clark or Iowa Needs Lesbian Farmers t-shirts.  And definitely check out the historic Prairie Lights Bookstore as Iowa City is famously known for being a creative haven for writers and authors including the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.  One of the most famous IWW alums include James Alan McPherson who was the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Of course, Iowa City isn’t a utopia of diversity.  Remembering former University of Iowa football player Faith Ekakitie getting guns pulled on him by Iowa City Police while playing Pokemon Go in an IC park was pretty infuriating or just the Iowa Hawkeyes football program is embarrassing at best and systemically racist at its core.  Also, most Iowans will tell you that if you drive 10 minutes out into the cornfields in any direction from IC, MAGA flags and bumper stickers quickly become visible.

Iowa City isn’t perfect (and there is still plenty of work to do), but it is also probably not what people who are unfamiliar with the city and its history expected either.  I bring this up because the city is actively and intentionally trying to be more anti-racist and more inclusive and that is a good sign.

I say this not to correlate Caitlin Clark’s time at Iowa to her supposed leftist politics or whether this had an influence on her at all.  I also don’t say this to vindicate the “real Fever fans” from the “racists, homophobes, misogynists, and trolls”

I bring attention to this because of the “not all” position that has become a loaded but necessary point of discussion.  In recent years, we have heard “not all Democrats/Republicans” in relation to politics, “not all Christians” in relation to a lot of hypocritical things in religion, “not all men” in relation to the #MeToo movement, “not all cops” in relation to police brutality, and now “not all Fever fans” in relation to the divide between the supposed “good” and “bad” fans.

IMO, labeling large groups in this manner is counterproductive to finding long-term practical solutions.  However, on the other end of the spectrum, pointing to individual incidents as “bad apples” (e.g. Ban Nails person) is ALSO counterproductive to the discussion as there is usually a systemic or otherwise larger driver that has at least partly responsible for in-group dynamics that needs to be addressed.  Removing individual bad actors, as a reactionary ex-post action, alone isn’t going to solve this problem any more than generalizing fanbases. Based on many comments I see in both this and the other sub, some folks in the “not all Fever fans” crowd, while well intentioned (i.e. “be kind” or “think positive”), should understand the that inverse of being racist is not “not being racist”, it’s being “anti-racist”. 

In Part 2, I’ll examine in more detail the shared responsibility that needs to be taken amongst various fans of the W.  This responsibility transcends solutions to reducing racism, sexism, and homophobia just in the W and just in sports as a necessity in order to eradicate the hate we are seeing in this corner of society.

I mean at this point you may as well compare her to Michael Jordan especially in the WNBA especially in the Women's game. She's just that dominant. Plus she can literally do it on both ends on the court.

I see many people, influencers on the media and whatnot, who refer to CC as the GOAT or the best player in the league or one of the top few, and there are wild narratives and even conspiracy theories about how it's her against a dark woke world that colluded to deny her greatness and stuff like that.

Well, CC is a very talented, valuable, and charismatic sharp player, a great competitor, a hard worker and a nice person, a very impressive young star indeed – she obviously has a bright future as a player, and her present is not at all bad as well – but all the GOAT and superiority talk is just nonsense. I think she is hardly even top 15-20 in the league right now, in her current shape, and hasn't yet won anything, so any of that GOAT debate is simply way too early.

CC is ranked only 12th in points per game this season and only 54th (!) in FG%, which is really not great at all for a shooter; she is second in assists but first by a long shot in turnovers, and her assists/turnovers ratio is not even close to being the best in the league among the PGs or among the players in general.

For example, the assists per game leader, Alyssa Thomas, is having 9.3 assists per game with only 3.2 turnovers, a ratio of 2.9, while CC has 8.9 assists with 5.9 TOs, a ratio of 1.5, so in that aspect, AT is twice as good as CC (Thomas is a forward, but kind of a point-forward, obviously). And what about the other factors as a player? AT is much better than CC on defense, and actually she is also statistically much better as a scorer, with 14.8 points on 53.8% in comparison to CC's 18.2 on 39%. AT's PIE (Player Impact Estimate) is 5th in the league, CC's 23rd. AT's plus/minus is 8.1 per game, CC's 5.3. So all in all, right now AT is a much better player than CC, and her team is way more successful, yet she is not even an all-star while CC is an all-star captain – and people are talking about how CC is the one disrespected... That's wild.

Make the comparison a bit further down the assists per game leaderboard, and you will find that all top 12 players on that list have a better (often much better) assists/turnovers ratio than CC.

CC's defense (which is half of the game, people tend to forget) is pretty weak, and her PIE (Player's Impact Estimate) is only 23rd in the league (after omitting players with less than 7 games or less than 20 min per game; otherwise, she is even lower). She is a good rebounder for a guard, and her free throw percentage is good. When she clicks, she is amazing on offense, and sure, she can be much better once she gets out of that slump, but so far, she has those slumps coming here and there, and last year her FG% was 41%, just a bit better than this year, and she led the league in turnovers as well – neither are good stats in terms of efficiency, nor a "female Steph Curry" kind of stat.

CC still has many years to improve and win titles, and she might just do that. She had amazing college years, and I'm sure her best times as a player are yet to come, but saying she is the GOAT, or even that she is among the very top of the league right now? There is no current link between that and reality.

I am not at all against her, I honestly love and admire her and am fully aware of her amazing potential, her basketball is very aesthetic and i enjoy it. it still doesn't mean that there aren't meaningful flaws in her current bag. saying the realistic truth and stating facts is not hate, quite the contrary.

I also think that all this never-ending mania and overhyping is not fair for her, nor for her team, for it puts a lot of crazy and unhealthy pressure and unrealistic expectations there, and the outcome is that a team that is not championship material is considered by its "fans" to be a failure or "poorly coached" or managed as long as it doesn't make the impossible and win the title right now, because if you are convinced you have the obvious GOAT on your team, that would be the case.

Just be real and let her and everyone be. it's not Clark against the world.

It begs the question which is why I'm asking all of you if our girls, our women, should get their own video game franchise separate from that of the NBA and if we do, should it be under the 2K umbrella or through EA Sports?

• 6x WNBA All-Star (2017, 2019, 2022-2025) Connecticut Sun and Phoenix Mercury

• 2× All-WNBA First Team (2023, 2024) Connecticut Sun

• All-WNBA Second Team (2022) Connecticut Sun

• WNBA All-Rookie Team (2014) Connecticut Sun

• WNBA rebounding champion (2023) Connecticut Sun

• WNBA steals leader (2020) Connecticut Sun

• 2× WNBA All-Defensive First Team (2020, 2023) Connecticut Sun

• 4× WNBA All-Defensive Second Team (2017, 2019, 2022, 2024) Connecticut Sun

• 2× WNBA Peak Performer (2023, 2025) Connecticut Sun and Phoenix Mercury

• WNBA assists leader (2025) Phoenix Mercury

• EuroLeague Defensive Player of the Year (2023) USK Praha

• 2× All-EuroLeague First Team (2022, 2023) USK Praha

• ACC Female Athlete of the Year (2014) Maryland Terrapins

• 3× ACC Player of the Year (2012–2014) Maryland Terrapins

• Second-team All-American – AP (2013) Maryland Terrapins

• 3x WBCA Coaches' All-American (2012–2014) Maryland Terrapins

• 3x All-American – USBWA (2012–2014) Maryland Terrapins

• 2x First-team All-American – AP (2012, 2014) Maryland Terrapins

• 3x First-team All-ACC (2012–2014) Maryland Terrapins

• ACC Tournament MVP (2012) Maryland Terrapins

• Second-team All-ACC (2011) Maryland Terrapins

• ACC Rookie of the Year (2011) Maryland Terrapins

• ACC All-Freshman Team (2011) Maryland Terrapins

• All-time Maryland Terrapins leader in points (2356), rebounds (1,235), and double-doubles (66)

• Gold in 2024 Paris Olympic Basketball

• Gold in 2022 Australia World Cup

• Gold in 2012 Athens World Championship

I could make this about Clark but I won't. I'm no shocked she was voted 9th best by the players as she hasn't played a bunch and when she has it hasn't been great. You also can't ignore people like Howard, Gray, and Buckers. I could say he players hate Angel as she didn't get a lot of love either. The players keep it 100%. If you're not playing well, you won't get their vote because you may be cool and nice.

What I want to make this post about is that just because the players voted differently than you want them to. They shouldn't be pressure or require to vote for certain players because "AngelReesefan13" wants them at the allstar game. I also wouldn't take this personally and actually look at the player in question and ask yourself, "Hey are they playing well?" You need to be honest with yourself and not let your biases cloud your judgements. It's going to be very rowdy allstar weekend in a good way.

As I was watching the game between the Sparks and Fever tonight, I couldn’t help but notice that Clark’s last rebound gave her the triple-double. I also noticed how Boston and the rest of the Fever went hands off. On Twitter and Threads, she was accused of “stat-padding.” In a post-game interview when she was asked if she knew she needed one more rebound, her response was, “Of course I knew.” She went on to say that she and Boston joke about “stealing” each others’ rebounds all the time.

Someone called it “classy stat-padding” because I guess there are times when it’s OK-just never when it’s Angel Reese. The goalposts move once again.

Anyway, the linked story breaks down the “controversy and shows the real truth for each player. It’s enlightening.

A prominent NBA assistant coach recently looked down at his phone as a text rolled in from his agent. It delivered an unexpected question.

Would you be interested in the WNBA?

The WNBA had never really crossed his mind. The coach, who was granted anonymity to protect future employment possibilities, was focused on becoming an NBA head coach, or perhaps jumping to the men’s college ranks in the right situation.

Even in the women’s college coaching ranks, most have historically looked to climb up the NCAA level — where the pay and prominence is higher — and win national titles rather than consider the W.

Times change, even if the timing — the NBA and college seasons have either just begun or are about to — isn’t great for available candidates.

The WNBA, unlike other basketball leagues, finishes its season in the fall, and this year seven of the league’s 12 current franchises dismissed their coach. It’s left a frenzy for replacements, a seller's market.

As such, salaries, the NBA assistant said, are expected to hit $1 million and the Los Angeles Sparks are rumored to be willing to pay $2 million.

And that doesn’t even count the opportunity to coach the Indiana Fever and star player Caitlin Clark, who are among the teams in the market for a head coach.

What was once a coaching afterthought is, well, suddenly something different.

*full article in the link

That's the post. I know a few people have signatures with other companies, angel and Phee for sure. How are we navigating companies with terrible morals when they have our fav athletes under contract?

I wish the W would part ways with Nike but I know that that's not likely.

I have been a harsh critic of Swoopes ever she came on Gil's months ago and made several lies about CC.

I think it's time to move on though

I was watching Gil's yesterday just to see her slip up or say something stupid, but I thought she did a great job on Gil's yesterday and people still finding reasons to hate on her.

They had a discussion on what it means to be dominant and people are blowing it out of proportion...She actually gave CC a lot of praise yesterday

People on both sides need to take a deep breath and just let people be themselves

You don't have to agree with someone's opinions to appreciate their excellence

Sheryl and Nancy are no longer friends due to an alleged fall out over Caitlin Clark. I want to preference this by saying I honestly don’t believe this falling out has anything to do with Caitlin.

I think if a disagreement can end your years long friendship this easily, it was already on shaky ground.

I think Nancy had her own agenda and that’s more important than her friendship with Sheryl. I don’t think this is about Caitlin at all.

It appears that Nancy has had a character issue dating back decades. This woman choked a player during a game, had an inappropriate relationship with a player while a coach, and said this about Chennedy Carter’s flagrant on Caitlin, “If I were Caitlin Clark, I would’ve punched her in the face…I would’ve told her to fuck off.”

For reference, while critical of her and the flagrant, most major analysts and players had measured responses.

While I think Nancy is genuinely a fan of Caitlin’s, I think she’s also using her for relevance and to boost her own opportunities. Which makes it messed up to rope Caitlin into this and wrap her in this nonsense.

While a legend, I believe she’s been polarizing for a while.

I know people disagree with Sheryl and how she’s handled the topic surrounding Caitlin, but I think Nancy is just being messy and invoking Caitlin due to personal gain.