The WNBA Is Blowing It
Mike Leitao ~ 06/24/2025
Nobody wants the WNBA to fail more than WNBA players. They are constantly talking all over social media and podcasts about how the league deserves more respect than it gets and all that shit. Yet, at every opportunity the league has to grow the players are the ones who are sabotaging themselves. The league has seen immense growth over the last few years, thanks in large part to the power of social media, a weaker men’s college scene, and some star players coming through the ranks. This combination of events is basically a guarantee for a boom, yet the WNBA has simply not had the boom that it should have. Yes, it’s gone from what is basically a nothing league no one cares about to getting much more attention from media and fans alike, and that’s great. But it should be so much more, and it isn’t. The main reason for this isn’t the product on the court, or anything like sexist bullshit people will try to claim. It’s because the players are so damn unlikable and it makes people not want to support them, and honestly it makes sense. I also wouldn’t want to support a league where the players are miserable and disrespectful towards the fans all the time.
The two main reasons for the WNBA’s failure to grow are the players treatment of the fans and media and the players treatment of clear cut star and best player Caitlin Clark. Let’s start with the treatment of the fans and media. For years, the players have been yapping to the media about wanting respect. As the league has advanced and the media has started to show the players respect, the players have now gone from complaining about the lack of respect to now complaining about which players are getting respected. Since the media is putting a spotlight on the newer players who have actually brought fans to the sport (which makes sense), the old head players who have been around for a decade making minimum wage to play in front of 6 people are now mad that they aren’t being put up on a pedestal for being the pioneers of the league. These old heads who did nothing to help the league think they deserve all the credit, simply because they have been doing it the longest. Newsflash, that’s not how shit works. The media cares about the players who are putting asses in seats, and we got a lot of film showing who isn't in the league, so the media does not care about them. The players also are not good at respecting their own damn fans. Sports are a male dominated field, both for playing and for fans.
Yes, the WNBA certainly has a lot of female fans, but it also has a bunch of male fans. Those fans are all of equal importance, and to grow a league you need to show these fans respect so when they tell their friends about the league they are speaking positively of it to influence more views instead of negatively. I’m sure there are some weird fans out there, but if you want to grow a league into a worldwide sport, you unfortunately are going to have to deal with that. The amount of death threats and abuse most players in the major sports leagues in America and the world deal with is more than what WNBA players deal with. Yet, the players treat every fan like they are either a creep or a loser. Some fans were waiting for Kelsey Plum asking for signatures on some cards from her, and she proceeded to insult them, call them weird, tell them she’s turned off by them (wtf does that even mean), and then begrudgingly signed one card. The fact those guys didn’t go “ok fuck you then you bum” is shocking with the way she treated them. And now it’s all over the internet and it’s another awful look for the WNBA and their players making it harder for fans to get into the league.
So the above is a problem with getting fans invested in the league, but what about keeping the fans. If I’m watching the league trying to get into it, I want to see good action and no dumb shit that makes me change the channel. From a good action standpoint, they are doing fine. Angel Reese continues to impress shooting so inefficiently it almost is more impressive than insane efficiency. Other players are doing impressive things too, but Caitlin Clark is the one that is most fun to watch. Until the WNBA gets some insane athletes or lowers the rims so we can see dunks, Caitlin Clark’s insane 3 pointers are the most fun you will see in a game. The fact she can pull up from damn near the logo and splash that shit is super impressive. So with a star player like that who is not only overly talented but is also well liked in the media, the job right now by the league should be pushing her to the moon. I’m not saying the other players should be letting her do whatever they want, but they should be smart enough to know that she is clearly the one bringing in the revenue, meaning she is the one who is going to help them earn more money and respect. Yet one thing continues to get in the way for these players, jealousy. All these players want to be Caitlyn Clark, but they can’t be. So for them, the next best thing for some bizarre reason is to be the biggest dick to her and body check her and harass her all the damn time. Caitlyn Clark is almost always getting hit or slammed in every damn game by these jealous players who then go postgame and call her a flopping loser who is causing a negative result in the league. It’s crazy how quickly CTE has made its way to the WNBA.
These women are so incredibly stupid, they have been handed a golden opportunity to grow their league at an exponential pace. Like the NBA with Magic and Bird or the NHL with Gretzky and Lemieux, the WNBA has been given an opportunity to prove they belong. But unlike those leagues, they are blowing it. They are running out of time to capitalize, and if they don’t start treating fans, media, and their own star players with some more respect, they have a chance to ruin one of the greatest handouts ever received in the sporting world.
