Welcome to the W: WNBA Expansion Teams Announced
Sports Editor Will Lyons takes a look at what the latest expansion means for WNBA fans.
WNBA Commisioner Cathy Engelbert’s promise of expansion has come true, with the first phase of the expansion landing Golden State and Portland teams. This is the W’s first expansion since the league added the Atlanta Dream in 2008. Players, executives and fans alike have been begging for league expansion after seeing talented players be cut simply due to financial and roster constraints year after year.
The Bay’s team is owned by the same ownership group as the Golden State Warriors making them the 6th team in WNBA history to be owned by an NBA team. An interesting fact that should guarantee the success of that franchise as the Warriors are a worldwide brand and the support of future Hall of Fame player Steph Curry as a fan of the W. And the Portland franchise will surely have support from the Blazers franchise as well as some appearances from Nike royalty as well.
What does the expansion mean? More spots for deserving athletes and an expansion draft. The last time there was an expansion draft was in 2008 for the Atlanta Dream. Teams were allowed to protect 6 players from being selected by the new team (s) every other player is fair game. The only thing more interesting than new teams is seeing which players teams choose to protect. All league/All-Stars are no-brainers but it gets interesting after that.
