WNBA: Reasons for caution heading into WNBA season

The WNBA season is fast approaching and while there is plenty to be excited about, there are some things to be cautious of as well.

Here are three things to keep an eye on heading into this year of WNBA action:

Is there such a thing as too much basketball?

The number of regular season games has increased throughout the 2020s. In 2022, it jumped to 36 games, followed by 40 games in 2023 and 2024. Now in 2025, it will be the first 44-game season in WNBA history.

More basketball is great, but this might be too brutal to be sustainable with the crammed summer calendar. Contracts are still not where they need to be, and while that (hopefully) will be a different story when there is a new CBA, it feels like there are currently too many games during the summer.

Is the Commissioner’s Cup necessary?

The good thing about the WNBA is that players compete at a high level on a nightly basis. However, that means the Commissioner’s Cup feels a bit flat. In the NBA, the NBA Cup works because players play with less intensity during the regular season. Therefore, the in-season competition lights a fire and makes things interesting.

The WNBA season is far shorter, making almost every game competitive. In turn, Commissioner’s Cup games feel more like a “fun fact” than a factor in the quality of play we see. Sure, we often get cool Finals preview like the New York Liberty against the Minnesota Lynx last year, but it still doesn’t feel like a tournament the league or its fans have fully embraced.

Can we all get along?

With an increase in popularity has come a rise in toxicity. Some of this is unavoidable. There are more people watching the WNBA, and not every person will align with your values.

While some light trolling is fine and even fair, the racial undertones and hostility by some fans have gone well beyond what should be deemed as acceptable.

I hope the community, along with the WNBA itself, can find ways to prevent some of this toxicity and make this sport a safe space where everyone feels welcomed. Unfortunately, I think there will be more problematic moments before we achieve some kind of resolution or solution.