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The WNBA is in a paradoxical position.
On the one hand, the league has never been more popular, with ratings surging and crowds piling up from Las Vegas to Indianapolis. On the other hand, the league also is in a state of vulnerability over what the future holds for the players.
The Oct.31 deadline for a new CBA agreement is almost here, with reports that a deal is likely not to be reached. Plus, it is uncertain if players will agree to the league’s proposed 30-day extension to prolong negotiations.
Either way, there could very likely be a work stoppage, with a player strike or lockout that could hold off the 2026 season. Nevertheless, the league jumped the gun by announcing that the WNBA All-Star Game will be held in Chicago in July 2026. So they are anticipating basketball to be played next summer.
Whatever happens from this point on, the WNBA should make the festivities in Chicago memorable.
And not just the usual pomp and circumstances that comes with the All-Star Weekend, but special events of a different sort. Think of this proposal as a way to break the tension between players and executives and stand together to marvel at universal greatness of this game and all of its players, past and present.
During that weekend, there should be a commemoration of two of the most influential teams in women’s basketball history that will respectively acknowledge their 50th and 30th anniversaries: The 1976 and 1996 US Olympic Teams.
In 1976, women’s basketball made its Olympic Games debut in Montreal, four years after Title IX, which revolutionized women’s sports. That team included future legends Nancy Lieberman, Luisa Harris, Ann Meyers Drysdale and Pat Summitt, and went on to win the silver medal. Though they came in second, they nevertheless planted the seeds for future Olympic success, as well as professional leagues. Their influence is commemorated in author Andrew Maraniss’s book Inaugural Ballers: The True Story of the First US Women’s Olympic Basketball Team.
Twenty years later, the fruits of Title IX and the 1976 team’s labor blossomed at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. After completing a 59-0 exhibition tour, the team sustained its dominance in Atlanta, winning the gold medal before a home crowd. That team, featuring Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, Rebecca Lobo and Teresa Edwards, was instrumental in the formation of the WNBA the following year. All of which is documented in the directed 30 for 30 documentary Dream On, directed by Kristen Lappas.
The WNBA must celebrate these two teams, with panel events featuring the players from both teams, basketball clinics, a multi-media tribute and more.
Additionally, next year marks the return of professional women’s basketball to Canada, as the Toronto Tempo will begin their inaugural season. No, it’s not Montreal, but Canada will become central to the women’s basketball landscape once again, 50 years later. Also, with the Atlanta Dream emerging as a perennial playoff team, the women’s game is woven into the fabric of the Peach State, 30 years after the 1996 Games.
Furthermore, such celebrations will be another golden opportunity for the current generation to mingle with the players who made what they are now doing possible. Their advocacy for a better future through the current CBA negotiations can be seen as a way of paying homage to those who came before them.
In essence, the Liebermans and Leslies will witness firsthand the impact of their respective legacies.
It also would be a passing of the torch—pun intended—in the lead-up to the highly anticipated 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, the first American-hosted games since Atlanta. It is during those games where the likes of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers and perhaps burgeoning LA legend JuJu Watkins will suit up for Team USA and continue one of the most fantastic and dynastic runs in sports history.
