Thirty Years In, the WNBA Is Having Its Moment

Last night, Ezra and I did something neither of us had ever done before. We attended our first WNBA game, watching the Seattle Storm take on Toronto. I went into the night excited to experience something new with my son. I walked out of the arena thinking about something much bigger than basketball.

The WNBA is celebrating 30 years, and seeing what the league has become in person was incredible.

The first thing that struck me was the crowd. The arena was packed. There was energy everywhere. Fans were wearing jerseys, cheering for their favorite players and reacting to every big possession. This did not feel like people showing up simply to support women’s basketball. They were there because they genuinely cared about the game, the players and the outcome.

That distinction matters.

For years, conversations surrounding women’s sports seemed to focus on whether people would watch, whether fans would attend and whether there was a large enough audience to support professional leagues. Sitting inside a packed arena in Seattle, those questions felt incredibly outdated. The audience is here. The passion is here. And perhaps most importantly, another generation is growing up believing this is completely normal.

That might have been my favorite part of the entire experience.

There were little girls throughout the arena wearing jerseys and looking at these players the same way generations of boys have looked at Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and countless other NBA stars. They have heroes. They have players whose shoes they want to wear, whose moves they want to imitate and whose names they want on the backs of their jerseys.

Thirty years ago, when the WNBA began, that opportunity barely existed.

Today, a young girl can turn on the television and watch women compete at the highest level of professional basketball. She can attend a packed arena and hear thousands of people cheering for them. She can dream about playing college basketball and eventually hearing her name called in the WNBA Draft. She can see a legitimate path in front of her.

That is growth that cannot simply be measured by ratings, attendance figures or television contracts.

It is measured by the little girl sitting in the stands staring at the court and believing that someday it could be her.

As someone who has spent a lifetime loving sports, I am happy to see where women’s basketball is today. The WNBA has fought through plenty of criticism and skepticism over its first three decades, but the league has endured, evolved and built something meaningful. The explosion of interest surrounding women’s basketball in recent years feels less like a temporary moment and more like the beginning of an entirely new chapter.

And after experiencing it firsthand, I understand the excitement.

Ezra and I have attended plenty of sporting events together over the years, but there was something special about this one. It was our first WNBA game, but I can confidently say it will not be our last.

Thirty years into the WNBA, women’s basketball is not asking people to pay attention anymore.

People are paying attention.

And judging by what I saw in Seattle, the next 30 years could be even bigger.