WNBA 30th anniversary: All-Stars reflect on their first WNBA memories, past legends and the league's future
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- WNBA marked its 30th anniversary at All-Star Weekend in Chicago, with legends Teresa Weatherspoon and Cynthia Cooper serving as All-Star team general managers and Lisa Leslie and Rebecca Lobo honored on the court.
- Jonquel Jones, named All-Star Game MVP, recalled discovering the WNBA on TV at her grandmother's house while watching a Detroit Shock championship game, saying she initially thought she'd be 'the first girl to play in the NBA' before realizing 'we have a league.'
- Ten of this year's 22 All-Stars were born after the league's first game on June 21, 1997, and multiple players — Bridget Carleton, Natasha Howard, and Paige Bueckers among them — credited attending Detroit Shock or Minnesota Lynx games in childhood as the spark for their careers.
- Current players consistently named Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, Tamika Catchings, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Candace Parker, and Maya Moore as the legends they most wish they could have played alongside, with Parker's intensity and Moore's unpredictability drawing particular praise.
- The 15 WNBA teams are clustered across the West Coast, East Coast, and Midwest, leaving Atlanta as the only Southeast franchise; Connecticut is relocating to Houston next season, with Cleveland (2028), Detroit (2029), and Philadelphia (2030) expansion franchises already announced.
- All-Stars including Natasha Howard, Allisha Gray, and Aliyah Boston specifically lobbied for new Southern franchises, citing Florida, Columbia SC, and Charlotte — cities with WNBA history (the Orlando Miracle, the defunct Charlotte Sting) — as desirable next markets.
Why it matters: With Connecticut relocating to Houston and three expansion franchises locked in through 2030, the league's footprint is set to grow by more than 25% in the next five years — yet Atlanta's continued status as the lone Southeast team signals the WNBA still sees untapped Southern markets as its next frontier, a priority current players echoed at the anniversary milestone.
