The FIBA World Cup is a very big deal in women’s basketball, and it only comes around every four years, so you’d like for it to work smoothly. That is hardly the case for the event that begins on Friday in Berlin.
The timing, as it relates to the WNBA, is absurd. Here we have a nine-day tournament that finds the WNBA suddenly going dark near the end of its regular season, then resuming with only four games remaining per team.
The Valkyries‘ season goes on pause on Sunday (against Portland) and doesn’t restart until Sept. 18. That’s nearly a three-week break for the league’s hottest team – all the while uncertain about their playoff opponent, with the seedings still to be determined.
They’ll have four players engaged in the World Cup: Gabby Williams and Janelle Salaün (France), Cecilia Zandalasini (Italy) and Miela Sowah, a development player who has appeared in just five Valkyries games but was recently added to the Australian team.
Conveniently, the WNBA’s eight-team playoff group is locked in, so that’s one inconvenience out of the way. Certain teams and players could certainly use a break, but the league is understandably worried about injuries and, especially in the Valkyries’ case, hard-earned momentum gone stale.
“I trust my teammates,” Williams told reporters this week. “I think we’ll be back like nothing happened.”
The league required a lengthy pause during the 2024 Paris Olympics, but that schedule made a lot more sense; the All-Star break essentially divided the season in two, and the defending champion New York Liberty still had 15 games to play.
There is hope for future World Cups. Apparently getting the message, FIBA won’t launch the 2030 event until the last week of November.
Rising above
If you don’t follow the WNBA, perhaps you buy into reports that recent distractions have turned the league into a “disaster,” or “on the edge of a cliff,” or being “hijacked” by all the pathetic noise coming its way. If you’re engaged in this runaway success of a league, you can hardly believe such blather.
America is the disaster. Not the WNBA.
This is the first time we’ve had a high-profile women’s sports league in this country: playing nightly for months, before huge crowds, with television networks scrambling to get involved and the players earning millions.
So here comes America, suddenly paying attention, complete with the racism, misogyny and hate-spewing ignorance that has existed forever and perhaps always will. What a field day for the weak: a league that is predominantly Black, celebrates outspoken women, and embraces same-sex relationships on the court and in the stands.
So here comes some dope throwing a sex toy onto the court. There’s a dumb-as-rocks politician deciding that a respected coach (Indiana’s Stephanie White) should be fired. Social media, hellish province of the cowardly, fills up with vicious takes – “and unfortunately,” league icon Candace Parker noted, “that’s the climate in our country right now.”
Transgender “debates” are all the rage, a topic for another day given that the WNBA has never had a transgender athlete assigned male at birth. But that hasn’t stopped former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom from making a complete idiot of himself.
Noting that the league has no specific guidelines for transgender qualification, Kanter decided to mock the ambiguity by declaring his eligibility for the upcoming draft. Already ridiculed for his lame-brain social media posts, then appearing at a recent game to wave his arms and talk trash to players, he has managed to insult every woman on all sides of the argument. (“A stupid piece of s-” is what former Stanford star Cameron Brink called him, to rounds of applause.)
Is it complicated? Of course. But this is the media’s problem: If you’re covering the league on a daily basis, you’re reacting to the dregs of humanity and calling it news. Studio shows and game-night TV crews ignore most of the “chaos” completely, because the league’s on-court showcase is so far above the gutter.
Watch any game – and around the 3-Dot, we watch them all in some form – and you get great athletes playing glorious basketball. Caitlin Clark is back to her unstoppable self out there, but she is no longer the story, not when Paige Bueckers, Olivia Miles, A’ja Wilson, Angel Reese, Kelsey Mitchell, Dominique Malonga, Williams and Veronica Burton have significant impact, and all eight playoff teams are the kind you’d rather not face.
Our Ann Killion said it perfectly in a recent column, dismissing the low-life commotion with a reminder that the WNBA’s true essence is “Ballhalla,” the Valkyries’ inclusive, safe and heartwarming haven of Chase Center. Not to mention home to one of the most selfless, cohesive Bay Area teams in memory.
These are the things worth talking about, not always welcomed in some parts of the country. White has had to deal with so much hate-filled vitriol surrounding her Fever team, she took to pounding the podium table in a room full of reporters, shouting, “We will win!”
She’s right. When it comes to delivering something great, the WNBA has already won.
A thriving sport
• Another sign that women’s pro basketball continues to soar in popularity: Celebrities and sports icons can’t wait to spend big money on Unrivaled, the popular 3-on-3 tournament that focuses on lucrative salaries and growing exposure for the world’s best players. Surpassing even the gaudiest expectations, the league is now valued at $650 million.
• White has done a masterful job at Indiana, guiding an exciting title contender through arduous circumstances, and Cheryl Reeve knew exactly how to let Miles take over the Minnesota Lynx with Napheesa Collier out. But the Coach of the Year has to be Natalie Nakase. Time and again, elite opponents become almost unrecognizable against the Valkyries’ league-best defense, and the team’s joyous sisterhood is a constant. This past week’s victories against Minnesota and New York probably sealed the deal.
• Burton came up with the best way to describe teammate Tiffany Hayes: “Seriously insane.” About to turn 37, Hayes comes off the bench and is instantly the most active, passionate attacker on the floor. She certainly deserves the satisfaction of retirement, but the Valkyries and their fans pray she’ll be back for another season.
• Las Vegas lost no sleep over releasing Chennedy Carter, whose internal disruptions became intolerable and now finds herself back in China, where she played last season. Mai Yamamoto, a deadly outside shooter who will be showcased on Japan’s World Cup team, has been a revelation since joining the Aces on July 17.
• Ten of the 15 WNBA franchises are averaging 10,000-plus fans per game, and among the other five, four of them have had five-figure crowds. Television ratings are routinely on the rise. Do you think these fans believe the league is falling apart?
Bruce Jenkins writes the 3-Dot Lounge for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: jenksurf@gmail.com; Twitter: @Bruce_Jenkins1
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This article originally published at WNBA might break for World Cup, but media firestorm won’t pause its success.