Both WNBA “super teams” played this weekend in a double-header broadcast on CBS Sports Network and — somewhat surprisingly — neither all-star-studded team dominated.
The New York Liberty threw away a 17-point lead, falling to the Chicago Sky 86-82. The Las Vegas Aces needed a furious run over the final eight minutes of the game to secure an 84-80 win over the rebuilding Indiana Fever.
What transpired was gripping, high-level competition — and an argument for expanding the size of rosters as well as the number of teams in the league and the number of games in a season.
Currently, the WNBA has 144 players on active rosters, twelve players on each of twelve teams.
That makes it the most exclusive professional sports league in the world.
By comparison, the NBA has 450 players on the rosters of thirty teams with another 300 or so on the rosters of the 28 teams in its developmental league. The number of players who start for NBA teams is greater than the total number of players in the WNBA.
The W now is so exclusive that owners, abetted by a penurious salary cap, can afford to assemble “super teams,” where the talent level is unprecedented.
The Aces start five players who share 16 first-team all star awards. Four of the starters were number one overall draft picks out of college: Aja Wilson, Candace Parker, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young. The fifth, Chelsea Gray, was taken 11th overall. Three of the starters have been league or final MVP. Three won rookie of the year awards.
The Liberty starting five are younger but nearly as distinguished. The starers have 14 all-star selections among them. Two players, Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, were number one overall draft picks. Courtney Vandersloot and Jonquel Jones were third and sixth picks. Two have been league or final MVP.
Even with that high level of talent, the teams haven’t completely dominated the league, as evidenced by Sunday’s games.
The evidence of the quality of players in the league is clear in the draft numbers.
Thirty-six players were drafted in three rounds of the WNBA draft eight weeks ago. Just 15 made team rosters, and nine of those were top ten picks. (Stephanie Soares, a 6-6 center from Brazil who played at Iowa State and was drafted fourth is out for the season due to a knee injury).
Those numbers are consistent over the history of the WNBA. Since the inception of the league in 1997, 42% of drafted players never make a roster, according to a report in NOLA.com
The league began with eight teams in 1996 and peaked at sixteen in 2002. The last team added was the Atlanta Dream in 2008 and league officials have since proceeded with great caution when it comes to further expansion. Nor are league officials inclined to increase the number of players. “We think today our rosters are the right size,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert said before the last draft.
The advent of “super teams” might argue otherwise.