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Does anybody have a Shavonte Zellous or a Seimone Augustus jersey they'll like to get rid of?

Anyone know if audio of games are streamed anywhere? Either online channels with play by play or YouTube play by play (like Quita loves Sports, but covering playoff games?) Thanks!

I have become a fan this season.- Yes it started with Clark and the NCAAW tournament. But I've stuck around and am very excited about the future of the league. I have become an advocate for the league in my day-to-day. I work with people of all backgrounds - people talk sports all day, so you gotta use that 15 minute sidebar with some UMPH.

I am a 29 year old man. Raised by a struggling single mom in the rust belt. Let me tell you, that woman is tough as nails. Gritty. She loves sports. Always has. But she grew up with 2 brothers in a football family in the 70's - she wasn't allowed to get excited about anything visibly. She had to go to secretarial school (although she secretly enrolled in college prep courses).

I've introduced her to the league and she's become a huge fan. She's never gotten to enjoy womens sports with a group. Now she talks about it at HER office. It's been very healing to watch.

It's brought us closer together and been a reprieve from the stresses of 2024.

Very thankful to the athletes, teams, fans that have built this! It's brightened my life and brought me joy

Despite being a centerpiece for the offense, Cardoso took the second-fewest shots (​​7.6) of any starting center in the league. Her scoring lagged as a result, diminishing another offensive threat for the Sky as they struggled to keep pace offensively.

Part of the issue was execution. Cardoso finished in the top 10 of all centers in shooting efficiency (52.1%). But she lagged behind in finishing, shooting 57.2% at the rim while most top-level centers — Brittney Griner, Jones, A’ja Wilson, Stef Dolson, Aliyah Boston — averaged at least 60%.

“That’s something that bothers me a lot — my shooting percentage,” Cardoso said.

But the inability to maximize Cardoso’s skills on offense reflects a wider issue with the Sky’s tactics. For most players on the roster, the biggest complaint about the system was how much it relied on slowing the game down. In theory, this was the byproduct of feeding the ball through bigs Cardoso and fellow rookie Angel Reese.

Cardoso already is committed to taking a significant leap. She’ll take a short hiatus in Brazil to visit her mother and sister after missing out on a trip home over the Olympic break due to flight cancellations. Then, Cardoso will join the Shanghai Swordfish in the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association, which she selected as her offseason destination because of its heavy emphasis on post players.

Improving her shot is the central focus for Cardoso — and not just at the rim. Cardoso shot 60% in the midrange but took only 10 shots from outside the paint. (She did not attempt a 3-pointer, preserving her combined collegiate and professional percentage intact at a perfect 1-for-1.)

“As y’all can see, I can shoot the midrange — when I want to,” Cardoso joked.

Outside of finishing through contact and developing a midrange shot, Cardoso said she still plans to hone her defense in Shanghai, focusing on improving her switchability and shot-blocking timing.

Cardoso still hasn’t had time for a break — at least not a real one. The Swordfish kick off their season in mid-October. By the time she returns to Sky training camp next spring, she will not have gone more than a few months without playing a competitive basketball game for nearly 18 months.

But even amid that nonstop grind, Cardoso still found gratitude for her growth in the WNBA.

“Just being able to be in the league and live my dream,” Cardoso said. “It was a dream since I was 13, so I’m just so happy that I was able to be here and experience everything.”

READ MORE

https://sports.yahoo.com/kamilla-cardoso-found-her-rookie-110000724.html

Jonquel Jones has a resume that’s stacked with accolades: she’s a WNBA MVP and a five-time All-Star. She’s won WNBA Most Improved Player, Sixth Woman of the Year, and was named WNBA Commissioner’s Cup MVP when her New York Liberty won the in-season tournament in 2023. In 2019 she lead the league in rebounding and blocks. The accolades alone show evidence of just how versatile a player Jones is, stretching her game way beyond what is expected of a 6’6” center. But the one thing that has eluded Jones throughout the course of her eight seasons in the league is a WNBA Championship.

Jones has also been in the league long enough to really appreciate how much has really changed this season. “Before, you were going to WNBA posts and you would see crazy stuff, like, ‘Oh, get back in the kitchen and make me a sandwich,’” she says. “Now you're missing out if you're not watching the WNBA game. I do want to give credit to the Caitlin Clarks and the Angel Reeses for being themselves and bringing that fan base with them, to the point where WNBA is being spoken about every night. But it feels good as a player that has been one of the players that's bringing it every night.”

Being in the larger market of New York City has also allowed Jones to become the kind of face she has long deserved to be, for a franchise that was recently estimated to be the third most valuable in the WNBA. She guesses that the amount of money she made last year—even before this season’s spike in viewership and hype—was double or even triple what she made as a pro athlete in Connecticut.

“A lot of the things that I've gotten haven't necessarily been personal sponsorships, but sponsorships through our team,” Jones says. “I really appreciate the New York Liberty fulfilling that promise of being able to allow me to build my brand in that way.”

Jones has also been notably vocal about how difficult it has been for her to get the kinds of sponsorships that someone with her talent should be getting. She’s also pulled no punches in calling out the fact that being a masculine-presenting, Black lesbian likely plays a role in preventing her from securing brand deals, tweeting in 2022 that “the seats disappearing from the table as I speak” because of her identity.

The WNBA has seen more eyeballs and more money pouring into it than ever before, with players securing deals at a record clip. “I feel like I'm still fighting for those deals, as… a basketball player that has done so much and continues to do so much,” she says. “I don't know if the opportunities are necessarily there for me, like by myself as a player, but I do know that the New York Liberty (have put me in place to ensure I'm) getting the things that I deserve.”

As the WNBA itself still fails to allow true gender diversity to be on display in its campaigns—the league’s campaign with Skims, Kim Kardashian’s line of intimates, received criticism earlier this season for only featuring feminine-presenting athletes—a franchise that steps in to ensure that its players are supported can make all the difference.

“I still feel like we can create more spaces for everybody to tell their stories,” she says. “I think sometimes we take for granted how hard it is to be in the WNBA and what it takes to get to the WNBA, and the fact that it's a very small group of people that are in the league. When you only showcase the top 10 players every year, [you don’t] allow all the players that have given their time to this league to be seen, heard, and understood.”

And while Jones and the Liberty hope to bring home the title, she is at a point in her career where she has a different view of success than she may have had when she was younger.

“A lot of us judge our success on whether or not we win championships, but when you've been in the league long enough, you understand that at the end of the year, it's only going to be one team that wins it,” says Jones. “Sometimes you have to really just look in the mirror and understand that there's other ways to gauge the success that you've had.”

Read More

https://www.complex.com/sports/a/frankie-de-la-cretaz/the-evolution-and-persistence-of-jonquel-jones

Obviously I’d rather be watching the games live, but sometimes I’m waiting to watch later in the WNBA app. (This involves walking around the world plugging my ears if someone brings up the game, like I’m the guy in Fever Pitch.) The idea of Hide Scores is awesome but unfortunately doesn’t quite work, as others have mentioned. For example, if you go to the “games” tab to find your way to the link to watch the full replay, the app blocks out the score but still shows how many games each team has won in the series, spoiling the outcome. Anyone have connections at the WNBA or Deloitte (who apparently makes the app) to spruce this up? (Although on second thought if you have connections at the WNBA probably use them for more important things. 😁) Thanks and looking forward to watching the Sun rise in Connecticut tonight! ☀️

Before the WNBA and the new age of Womens BBall, there was Cheryl. She was the Babe Ruth Wayne Gretzky, Wilt Chamberlain of her sport. She knows the unique position Clark is in. They seemed to have great camaraderie and chemistry at the all star game. She is universally respected and her brother is an Indiana legend ( as an aside as a Knicks fan I hate him).

it would electrify the league. The living legend and CC. The revenue and spotlight on the sport would explode.

https://preview.redd.it/x7sa1oo75ssd1.png?width=2088&format=png&auto=webp&s=6a7eb3feab2218ce3bdf0645d746353c2993dc1b

Tiffany Hayes led the group with 38 votes, and Leonie Fiebich was close behind with 21 votes!!

Also, as noted by Khristina Williams @ Khristina on Twitter, the Criteria for being selected for Sixth Player of the Year that was provided by the W said: This award is designed to honor a player for their contributions in a reserve role. In order to be eligible for this award, a player must come off the bench for more games than they start.

So players like Marina for example, were not eligible to win, because she started in 27 games this season.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Irwkx8WQ4D4?si=dsutXoUPpRXgx-GL

WNBA players need to be making more money so that they don’t have to play overseas or even make more money abroad. I think this injury would not have happened if players were making at least $600k per year or so. I also think the ladies definitely deserve it.

I am hoping the new media deal can help make that happen.

What does everyone think?

I'm new to all of this, but does anyone have any clue when they might announce the start time for Sunday's play off games? I am fortunate enough to have tickets to the Sun v. Lynx game, but it's killing me not knowing what time it will be.