The Wrongful Villainization of the WNBA Pt1
Isn’t it frustrating when people miss your point for reasons that have nothing to do with your argument? That is the exact situation as to why many refuse to support women’s basketball. Over the years, the connotations involved with the WNBA have been fogging the truth of the sport. But pushing aside the politics, the only reason to truly not enjoy women’s basketball is if one doesn’t like sports in general. There are many issues the public has taken up with the WNBA, but one solution can really level the playing field for everyone.
Before addressing what is in this paper, what isn’t argued must firstly be stated; this paper is not about salary. Perhaps the loudest and most sensitive political subject around the WNBA is the athletes being insanely underpaid compared to the men’s league. But through basic economics that argument is not strong when observing how much money each league makes per year. The NBA brought in just over 10 billion dollars last season (Gough, 2023), contrary to the WNBA that made only 60 million in 2019 (McCormick, 2023). In conclusion to that, the WNBA cannot afford to pay their players similar contracts. In fact, the league has been failing to turn a profit every year due to a lack of reputation. But that is exactly why the league needs some clarity for the other reasons why people look down on them.
A major problem people keep having with the WNBA is the athletes with outspoken opinions and actions they may disagree with. It goes back to simple politics being known in an environment where people aren’t looking for a political stance. People claim they don’t watch the WNBA because of people like Britney Griner, not wanting to have the national anthem played before games (Cluff, 2022). But as you could guess, we hold other leagues to such slack and still watch and cheer on our favorite teams. The NFL has been a huge topic in the case of the national anthem and what to do during it. And still, it is the most profitable league in America earning over 17 billion last season (Gough, 2023). In another sense of being unpatriotic, the man on the mountain top of the NBA, Lebron James, calls President Trump a bum over the topic of a White House invite (Twitter, 2017). Which despite anyone’s opinion of Trump, these thoughts are just as politically aligned as Griner’s statements, but people still watch Lebron, and prices for Lakers tickets can show. People like to act like they care about athlete’s character when discussing disinterest in women’s basketball. But in the grand scheme of things people couldn’t care less. Ray Lewis faced murder allegations, and we still watched. Karl Malone got a thirteen-year-old girl pregnant, he’s still regarded as a Jazz Legend (Pujari, 2022). Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, is banned from Pittsburgh bars from walking out on huge tabs, is a horrible teammate, and faced rape allegations in 2008, and yet we will be watching him make his Hall of Fame speech in four years time (Jacobs, 2022). It appears in these other leagues, being good enough at playing ball can have you get away with murder...literally. There are a few bad apples in every group, a black sheep in every family. The point is stating the character flaws to discriminate against one group and dismissing the whole concept to instead enjoy another is a poor excuse in and of itself.
The argument that is most relevant to the topic of women's basketball is also equally as invalidated through anyone who bothers to research it; the actual gameplay. The biggest critique in women’s basketball is that it fails to be exciting, is not as good as men’s basketball, and is straight up no good. But it is almost laughable when comparing actual game stat averages. Although the average PPG in the WNBA is not as high as the NBA, that’s only one of a few differences the two leagues hold when it comes to the numbers. Considering shooting percentages, the averages are near the same. 2-point percentages for the men are 47.3%, and for the women it is 44.2%. 3-point percentage for the men is 36% while the women are right there with 34.6%. And as for defense, The NBA average for steals is 7.3 a game while the WNBA average 7.5. Blocks per game are just one whole number apart with 4.7 to the NBA and 3.7 to the WNBA (Basketball Reference, 2023).
Now of course, one could still nitpick and state how the women’s stats are often lower than the men overall. But with numbers that close per game the in-game experience is virtually no different. People casually come up with unfair assessments like how the WNBA doesn’t dunk, but that case cannot being strongly taken seriously since the second most famous current ball player in the world is Stephen Curry, a man known for his three-point shooting. And most of these claims come from people who have never watched a women’s basketball game and have only seen compilations of bad plays in the women’s leagues made by those who think alike...as if nobody could put together a video of all the times Michael Jordan missed a shot.
In conclusion, there will always be gripes over the WNBA, but it can be so much easier if the common sports fan gives it a real chance. This current offseason for the WNBA has been a wild one. Breanna Stewart is going to the Liberty joining Sabrina Ionescu which can be compared to Kawhi Leonard going to Toronto. Or Candace Parker recently signing with the Las Vegas Aces is like Kevin Durant going to the Warriors. With storylines just as dramatic as the NBA, it shouldn’t take much to get invested because there is only one solution that can breed into fixing everyone’s headspace, watching the sport. Once people start watching women’s basketball, there will be many who become fans. And many fans will invest in their favorite teams, thus creating revenue for the league. This means players get paid, this means there’s less political drama, and every perspective can be enlightened in a positive direction.
