WNBA at 30: 30 Moments That Made the League (Part 1)

WNBA 30th Anniversary: Top Moments in League History (Part 1)

As the WNBA approaches the All-Star Game as part of its 30th anniversary season, we look back at the past three decades of women's basketball in the league to determine the top moments that made the league what it is today.

RotoWire established a seven-person panel for the project that features Sabreena Merchant of The Athletic, along with RotoWire contributors Jacqui Kouassi, Jared Kimble, Jojo Kremer, Jason Shebilske, Joe Mayo and Kirien Sprecher Katzmarek.

Each contributor participated in a survey that included over 50 defining moments in WNBA history. The contributors compared moments head-to-head, judging each on several categories, including:

• Competitive Impact (on-court influence)
• Business Impact (including attendance, sponsorship and TV deals)
• Cultural Impact (encompassing media, fashion, politics and social causes)
• Labor/Structural Impact (highlighting impacts of the CBA, business model of the league and player empowerment)

The contributors were free to weigh each category as they saw fit, and the survey resulted in a personal top 30 for each contributor. The final standings were compiled using a Borda count method and reflect the aggregate score across all ballots.

The full rankings will be released in the weeks leading up to WNBA All-Star 2026, with the first 10 moments listed below:

30. WNBA Stabilizes at 12 Teams

After periods of expansion and contraction over the first decade-plus of the WNBA, the league stabilized at 12 teams during the 2010 season. This structure held for over a decade until the Golden State Valkyries joined in 2025, followed by the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire in 2026, with several other teams expected to join the league in the coming years.

29. Los Angeles Sparks vs. Minnesota Lynx — Game 5 Finals

Game 5 of the 2016 WNBA Finals, considered by some to be the greatest game in WNBA history, saw the Los Angeles Sparks win their first championship since 2002 by taking down the Minnesota Lynx by a score of 77-76. Nneka Ogwumike hit a go-ahead jumper with 3.1 seconds left, while Candace Parker secured her first WNBA title.

28. Tina Thompson Retires as All-Time Leading Scorer

Thompson was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1997 WNBA Draft, the first college draft pick in league history. She helped the Houston Comets establish the league's first dynasty by winning championships in four consecutive seasons to begin the WNBA's existence. With 7,488 career points, she retired as the WNBA's all-time leading scorer in 2013 and helped pass the torch from the league's inaugural stars to the modern-day talent.

27. Sue Bird Drafted First Overall

After the league's initial crop of talent that included Tina Thompson, Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, Lisa Leslie and more, Sue Bird's selection by the Storm at No. 1 overall in the 2002 WNBA Draft helped usher in a new era of talent for the league. During her 21-year career -- all of which was spent in Seattle -- Bird became a 13-time All-Star and four-time WNBA champion.

26. WNBA Announces Expansion Strategy

After spending over a decade with a base of 12 teams, the WNBA experienced a surge in popularity during the post-COVID era, fueled in part by young stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. In an effort to meet the moment, the league began a phased expansion plan in 2022 that eventually developed into a June 2025 announcement of plans to grow to 18 teams by 2030.

25. WNBA Players Opt Out of CBA

The WNBPA has produced significant advancements for the players in the league across the past decade, and that process was sparked in part by the players' association opting out of the collective bargaining agreement in 2018. In an article for The Players' Tribune penned by WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike, she advocated for the league's players to bet on themselves in part because "women's basketball's potential is infinite."

24. Las Vegas Aces Become First Repeat Champions Since the Sparks

After an early period of dynasties that saw the Houston Comets win the league's first four championships followed by a pair of titles for the Los Angeles Sparks, the WNBA went two decades without another repeat champion. However, the Las Vegas Aces led the charge in the league's present-day era of superteams and won back-to-back titles with a group that included A'ja Wilson, Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum, Chelsea Gray and head coach Becky Hammon.

23. Maya Moore Steps Away to Fight for Jonathan Irons

Moore quickly established herself as a superstar after being drafted first overall by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2011 WNBA Draft. She helped lead the Lynx to four WNBA championships while also winning Rookie of the Year in 2011 and MVP in 2014. However, Moore put her promising career on hold in 2019 to advocate for Jonathan Irons, who had been wrongly imprisoned for over two decades. Moore successfully helped to advocate for Irons' release and officially announced her retirement in 2023.

22. First Non-NBA-Owned Franchises Permitted

Until the end of the 2002 season, the WNBA was collectively owned by the NBA, and the WNBA's 16 teams were all affiliated with NBA counterparts. However, the NBA Board of Governors voted after the 2002 campaign to allow individual team ownership, which allowed non-NBA owners and non-NBA markets to contend for teams. This new structure has helped contribute to enhanced investments in teams around the league, including quality-of-life improvements and revamped facilities.

21. ABL Folds; Talent Consolidation into the W

When the WNBA was founded in 1997, college players had two U.S.-based choices to continue their careers at the professional level, as the American Basketball League had launched several months earlier. However, the ABL abruptly declared bankruptcy and folded in December of 1998, and the league's players were included in the 1999 WNBA Draft, helping to deepen the talent pool around the league.