WNBA

The Women's National Basketball Association or WNBA is an organization governing a professional basketball league for women in the United States. The WNBA was formed in 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association, and league play began in 1997. more...

Home
Atlanta Hawks
Boston Celtics
Charlotte Bobcats
Charlotte Hornets
Chicago Bulls
Cleveland Cavaliers
Dallas Mavericks
Defunct Teams
Denver Nuggets
Detroit Pistons
Golden State Warriors
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Lakers
Memphis Grizzlies
Miami Heat
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
NBA Autographs Original
NBA Championship Items
New Jersey Nets
New Orleans Hornets
New York Knicks
Orlando Magic
Other
Other NBA Items
Philadelphia 76ers
Phoenix Suns
Portland Trailblazers
Sacramento Kings
San Antonio Spurs
Seattle Supersonics
Toronto Raptors
Utah Jazz
Vancouver Grizzlies
WNBA
WNBA Autographs Original
Washington Wizards

The regular WNBA season is May-August (North American spring and summer). Most WNBA teams play at the same venue as their NBA counterparts.

Organization

Regular season

The league is divided into two conferences. As of 2006, there are 7 teams in the Eastern Conference and 7 teams in the Western Conference. Each team plays a 34-game regular season schedule, beginning in May (after the NBA season during the North American winter) and ending in August. The four teams in each conference with the best winning records go on to compete in the WNBA playoffs during September.

All-Star Game

In the middle of July, regular play stops temporarily for the WNBA All-Star Game. All-Stars is part of a weekend-long event, held in a WNBA city selected each year. The actual game is played on selected WNBA team's home court. The All-Star Game features star players from the Western Conference facing star players from the Eastern Conference. During the season fans get to vote for the players they would like to see start the game.

WNBA Playoffs Series

The top four teams in each conference compete in the WNBA Playoffs, held in September, after the regular season. Each conference has two conference semi-final series, pitting the team with the best record in each conference against the team with the 4th best record in the conference. The team with the 3rd best record in each conference faces the team with the 2nd best record in the same conference. The winning teams from each of these series face each other in the conference final, with the winning team in each conference facing the other team in the WNBA Finals.

First and second round playoff games series are best-of-three playoff games series. The first game of the series is played on the home court of the team with the lower seed, while the last two games are played on the home court of the higher ranked team. The WNBA Finals is a best-of-five playoff games series.

History

We Got Next

Officially approved by the NBA Board of Governors on April 24, 1996, the creation of the WNBA was first announced at a press conference with Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes in attendance. While not the first major women's professional basketball league in the United States (a distinction held by the defunct WBL), the WNBA is the only league to receive full backing of the NBA, the world's most competitive professional basketball league. The WNBA logo, "Logo Woman" seen above, paralleled the NBA logo and was selected out of 50 different designs.

On the heels of a much-publicized gold medal run by the USA Women's Basketball team at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, the WNBA began its first season in June 1997 to much fanfare. The league began with eight teams; the first WNBA game featured the New York Liberty facing the Los Angeles Sparks in Los Angeles. The game was televised nationally in the United States on the NBC television network. At the start of the 1997 season, the WNBA had television deals in place with NBC (NBA rights holder), and the Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation joint venture channels, ESPN and Lifetime Television Network, respectively. Penny Toler was the first woman to score a point in the league.

Read more at Wikipedia.org