For over two decades, giants owned WNBA courts.
Height had nothing to do with it. For the better part of 20 years, players such as Sue Bird, Maya Moore, Candace Parker, Sylvia Fowles and Diana Taurasi dominated. They cornered the WNBA title market, accounting for 13 championships between 2004, when Bird won her first with the Storm, and 2021, when Parker led the Sky past Taurasi’s Mercury.
Over the last six years, their swan songs came in succession.
Unofficially, Moore was first after she chose to step away from the game in 2019 before officially retiring in 2023. Next came Bird’s and Fowles’ retirement tour in 2022. In 2024, Parker broke her retirement news with a goodbye letter to the game she posted on social media the day training camp started.
On Tuesday, Taurasi bid the game farewell, officially signaling a new era for the league.
“I don’t think anything changes for us,” said Alyssa Thomas, the Mercury’s newest forward.
For players such as Thomas, who have been nipping at the heels of the aforementioned greats — making history of their own in the process — the 2025 season is just another in pursuit of the ultimate goal. But the league will now rest firmly in their hands.
That might not change anything for them, but it changes everything for the WNBA.
Thomas — who played in the last six semifinals or Finals — is just one of the league’s new torchbearers in Taurasi’s absence. The last three WNBA Finals offer the best glimpse at who else is leading the league into its new era.
Young stars such as 2024 Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark and the Sky’s Angel Reese are spearheading the WNBA’s launch into the mainstream. But there’s still a class above them at the helm.
Three-time MVP A’ja Wilson — drafted with the first pick in 2018 — led the Aces to back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, they edged Thomas’ Sun. In 2023, after signing Parker in free agency, the Aces beat the Liberty, led by two-time MVP Breanna Stewart, in four games. It was Parker’s final season.
In 2024, Stewart helped deliver the Liberty their first WNBA title, narrowly making it past Napheesa Collier’s Lynx.
Heading into the 2025 season, Collier — who finished second to Wilson in MVP voting last year — looks poised to lead her team back to the Finals. Considering the Liberty return their entire postseason starting five, a rematch could be in the cards.
In Phoenix, Thomas’ addition in free agency puts the Mercury in the conversation when combined with their acquisition of two-time All-Star Satou Sabally. As long as the Aces have Wilson, they have a shot.
Then, there’s the Fever, who, with Clark and fellow No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston, have built a behemoth with 2023 Coach of the Year Stephanie White in charge.
The WNBA has never been in a better position talent- and business-wise. The 2024 WNBA Draft was the most-viewed ever. The regular season was the same across ESPN platforms. The 2024 WNBA Finals’ 1.6 million viewers were the most in 25 years. Halfway through the season, the league announced a historic 11-year media-rights deal with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon valued at $200 million per season.
As a result, the WNBPA opted out of its collective-bargaining agreement and is in the midst of negotiations for a new one that will need to be ratified before 2026 to avoid a lockout.
All of this is a direct result of the careers of players such as Bird, Moore, Fowles, Parker and Taurasi. Now that they’re gone, the current stars have a similar goal.
“To leave it better than you found it,” WNBA champion and Olympic gold medalist Ariel Atkins said. “Across the board as a W player, part of the sisterhood, the goal is to grow it and make it better for the next generation.”
Part of those viewership statistics are a credit to the accessibility of games. Disney platforms featured 25 games, including nine on ABC and 14 on ESPN. CBS and Paramount+ telecast eight games, CBS Sports Network had 12 and NBA TV carried 43.
The Fever had 36 of their 40 games featured on national broadcasts. Unrivaled, a new three-on-three league co-founded by Collier and Stewart, inked a multiyear partnership with TNT Sports, which features over 45 prime-time games and made all games available on streaming service Max.
The star power of the league’s pioneers eclipsed the era in which they played. Because of them, this new era can shine brighter.
Still, it’s hard not to consider how the mainstream visibility the women’s game is finally receiving would have elevated the profile of past WNBA heavyweights.
“There are so many people, if they would have had the eyes, the things that Clark is doing now, we would have already seen it,” Lynx guard Courtney Williams said. “Once you put a camera in front of everyone’s face, we’re getting the coverage we know we’ve been needing. You’re seeing everybody that loves basketball locking in.
“Now that we have people’s attention, the cameras are on, that’s what you’re seeing. The people showing up and the people supporting.”