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Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA was founded on April 24, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA); league play began in 1997. The regular season runs from May to September, with each team playing 44 games. The top eight teams (regardless of conference) qualify for the playoffs, culminating in the WNBA Finals, which is played in October. The WNBA All-Star Game, All-Star Game occurs midway through the season in July. The league hosts an annual mid-season competition, the WNBA Commissioner's Cup, Commissioner's Cup. The WNBA is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB), which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) as the Sport governing body, governing body for basketball in the United States. History League foun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Women's Basketball Association
The National Women's Basketball Association (NWBA) was an American women's basketball league that intended to play its first full regular season in 1986–87. Headquartered in Lake Wylie, South Carolina—a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina—and owned by Howard Hanson, the league planned to start with eight teams, primarily in the Southeastern United States. It struggled to sign marquee players because of concerns about its amateur status and consequent effects on Olympic eligibility, and ticket sales were slow. While several exhibitions were held, a key financial backer failed to fulfill his commitment, and no regular-season games were played. The league, indebted, formally canceled the season by the end of 1986. Announcement The formation of the league was unveiled in April 1986. Its owner, Howard Hanson, declared that the league would avoid the financial pitfalls that doomed two prior attempts—the Women's American Basketball Association and Women's Basketball League—b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2025 WNBA Season
The 2025 WNBA season is the ongoing 29th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The regular season began on May 16, 2025, and is scheduled to end on September 11. The fifth edition of the WNBA Commissioner's Cup will be held from June 1 to July 1. The 2025 WNBA All-Star Game will be held on July 19, 2025, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The playoffs is then scheduled to be played from September 11, and conclude with the WNBA Finals in October. For the first time, the Finals will use a best-of-seven format. The league expanded from 12 to 13 teams with the addition of the Golden State Valkyries, who were first announced in 2023. The Valkyries were the league's first expansion team since the Atlanta Dream in 2008 WNBA season, 2008. For the first time in league history, all 15 preseason games were televised nationally or streamed online via NBA League Pass#WNBA League Pass, League Pass. Drafts 2024 WNBA expansion draft The 2024 WNBA expansion dra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Basketball League (1996–98) (ABA)
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American Basketball League (ABL) is a name that has been used by four defunct basketball leagues in the US: * American Basketball League (1925–1955), the first major professional basketball league * American Basketball League (1961–1962), a league that only played a single full season * American Basketball League (1996–1998), a women's basketball league * American Basketball League (2013–2015), a semi-professional men's basketball league See also * American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheryl Swoopes
Sheryl Denise Swoopes (born March 25, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player. She was the first player to be signed in the WNBA, is a three-time WNBA MVP, and was named one of the league's Top 15 Players of All Time at the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game. Swoopes has won three Olympic gold medals and is one of eleven women's basketball players to have won an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA Championship, a FIBA World Cup gold, and a WNBA title. She was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. In 2017, she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. Early life Born in Brownfield, Texas, Swoopes was raised by her mother, Louise Swoopes, and played basketball with her three older brothers.Porter p 464 She began competing at age seven in a local children's league called Little Dribblers. She played basketball at Brownfield High School. College career Initially recruited by the University of Texas, Swoopes left the school shortly after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lisa Leslie
Lisa Deshaun Leslie (born July 7, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player. She is formerly the head coach for Triplets (basketball), Triplets in the BIG3 professional basketball league, as well as a studio analyst for Orlando Magic broadcasts on Fox Sports Florida, FanDuel Sports Network Florida. In 2002, Leslie made history as the first player to dunk during a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) game. Leslie was ranked 5th on ESPN.com's 2021 list of the WNBA's greatest players of all time. Leslie played in the WNBA for the Los Angeles Sparks from 1997 to 2009. She is a three-time WNBA WNBA Most Valuable Player Award, MVP and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner. The number-seven pick in the 1997 inaugural WNBA draft, she followed her career at the University of Southern California with eight WNBA All-Star selections and two WNBA Championship, WNBA championships over the course of 11 seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks, before retiring in 2009. In 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rebecca Lobo
Rebecca Rose Lobo-Rushin (born October 6, 1973) is an American television basketball analyst and former professional women's basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 to 2003. Lobo, at 6'4", played the center (basketball), center position for much of her career. She played college basketball at the Connecticut Huskies women's basketball, University of Connecticut, where she was a member of the team that won the 1995 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, 1995 national championship, going 35–0 on the season in the process. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. In April 2017, she was one of the members of the 2017 class of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, alongside Tracy McGrady and Muffet McGraw. Early life Lobo was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the youngest daughter of RuthAnn (née Hardy) and Dennis Joseph Lobo. Her father is of Cuban descent, while her mother was of German people, Germa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sport Governing Body
A sports governing body is a sports organisation that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sports governing bodies come in various forms and have a variety of regulatory functions, including disciplinary action for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport that they govern. Governing bodies have different scopes. They may cover a range of sport at an internationally acceptable level, such as the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, or only a single sport at a national level, such as the Rugby Football League. National bodies will largely have to be affiliated with international bodies for the same sport. The first international federations were formed at the end of the 19th century. Types of sports governing bodies Every sport has a different governing body that can define the way that the sport operates through its affiliated clubs and societies. This is because sports have different levels of difficulty and skil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Basketball Federation
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the equipment and facilities required, organizes international competitions, regulates the transfer of athletes across countries, and controls the appointment of international referees. A total of 212 national federations are members, organized since 1989 into five zones: Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. FIBA organizes both the men's and women's FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament and the Summer Olympics Basketball Tournament, which are sanctioned by the IOC. The FIBA Basketball World Cup is a world tournament for men's national teams held every four years. Teams compete for the Naismith Trophy, named in honor of basketball's Canadian-American creator James Naismith. The tournament structure is similar but not identical to that of the FIFA World Cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
USA Basketball
USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA, and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Its chairman of the board is retired General Martin Dempsey. The organization was founded in 1974 as the Amateur Basketball Association of the United States of America (ABAUSA). It was then renamed USA Basketball on October 12, 1989, after FIBA modified its rules to allow NBA basketball players to compete in international competitions (professionals from Europe and South America were always allowed to compete). USA Basketball is responsible for the selection and training of the men's and women's national teams that represent the United States in international tournaments, including the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men, the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, Games of the Olympiad and the men's and women ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WNBA All-Star Game
The Women's National Basketball Association All-Star Game, commonly referred to as the WNBA All-Star Game, is an annual exhibition basketball game played in the United States between the best players of the Western and Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Structure Each conference is represented by a team of 12 players who are currently having the best seasons performance-wise around the league. The starters are determined by fans voting through internet ballots. The rest of the players are selected by league personnel including head coaches as well as media personalities. At the end of the game, an all-star game Most Valuable Player (MVP) is named, as decided by a panel of media members. History In 2004, the game was not played in its usual format due to the WNBA players competing in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. That year, the USA national team defeated a team of WNBA All-Stars 74–58 at Radio City Music Hall. This ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WNBA Finals
The WNBA Finals is the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. The series is played between the winners of the playoff semifinals. At the conclusion of the championship round, the winner of the WNBA Finals is presented the championship trophy. The WNBA Finals has been played at the conclusion of every WNBA season in history, the first being held in 1997. Since 2005, the winner of the WNBA Finals has been determined through a 2–2–1 format. The first, second, and fifth games of the series are played at the arena of the team who earned home court advantage by having the better record during the regular season. Beginning in 2025, the Finals will switch to a best-of-seven series with a 2–2–1–1–1 format similar to that of the NBA Finals. History The WNBA's playoff format has changed several times in the league's history. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional basketball league in the world. The league is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The NBA was created on August 3, 1949, with the merger of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League (NBL). The league later adopted the BAA's history and considers its founding on June 6, 1946, as its own. In 1976, the NBA and the American Basketball Association (ABA) ABA–NBA merger, merged, adding four franchises to the NBA. The NBA's regular season runs from October to April, with each team playing 82 games. The NBA playoffs, league's playoff tournament extends into June, culminating with the NBA Finals championship series. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
