'It really had all come to life': Leslie, Lobo and...
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- WNBA launched on June 21, 1997 (Summer Solstice) at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California, where the New York Liberty beat the Los Angeles Sparks 67-57 before a crowd of 14,284 that included Magic Johnson and actor/director Penny Marshall.
- Lisa Leslie, who had spent nearly a year away from competitive basketball focused on modeling and acting, won the opening tip but finished 6-of-17 from the field for 16 points and told ESPN she "was not ready" for her first WNBA season.
- Val Ackerman, the WNBA's first president who held the role through 2004, recalled that the 10 months between the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and opening day were "a sprint" to assemble teams, arenas, TV contracts, and uniforms — and with recording artist Jeffrey Osborne stuck in traffic, the national anthem was played from a "scratchy recording."
- Rebecca Lobo and her Liberty teammates had trained together for only two to three weeks before tipoff, and the opening contest was a sloppily played affair with both teams combining for 44 turnovers and shooting 43.3% (Liberty) and 30.9% (Sparks) from the field.
- Sparks guard Penny Toler scored the first basket in WNBA history, while Liberty's Kym Hampton volunteered to guard Leslie so Lobo could focus on offense — a moment Lobo said captured the veteran leadership that defined the roster.
- The league is now celebrating its 30th season, having added three expansion teams in the past two years with three more on the way by 2030, and is experiencing what ESPN calls "exponential growth in viewership, attendance and media deals."
Why it matters: The WNBA enters its 30th season with three expansion teams added in the past two years and three more planned by 2030, experiencing exponential growth in viewership, attendance, and media deals — a present-day scale built directly on the scrappy, improvised Day 1 these pioneers are now recounting.
Ask SkimNews
