WNBA Playoffs Are Here!

Sunday marks the official start of the 2024 WNBA Playoffs, baby!

What an incredible season of many sold out games in various areas across the nation. Then there are some teams who sold out season tickets before the season even began. The Aces already sold out their memberships for the upcoming 2025 season!

Speaking of Aces: they are the new Houston Comets circa 1997-2000. A’ja Wilson had a multiple record-breaking season and is beyond determined to get that third MVP with a 3-peat. They will need to win at least four titles to be like the Comets, and I believe they can do it.

As happy as I was to see some newfound popularity with the league, it still brought some unwanted attention from some fuckheads. The infantilization of Caitlin Clark was the wildest shit, because she never asked for this weirdos to spew their rabid takes in the name of “protecting” her honor

All Clark wanted to do was ball and put up ROY numbers. Then one single like on Taylor Swift’s IG post endorsing Kamala Harris showed some of her fans’ true colors: racist. It was never about her versus Angel Reese, and rightly so. They don’t even play the same position!

I hope that this popularity will put more money in the players’ pockets, so they won’t have to travel overseas in their offseason to earn more money playing for an International team. Britney Griner’s story shed light on this, but I first learned about it from a 30 for 30 podcast on WNBA greats Sue Bird and Diana Turasi’s time in Russia. They played for a Russian billionaire who was also a KGB spy. He was murdered in 2009. The podcast is definitely worth the listen.

One thing I did not like at all: vilifying Sheryl Swoopes. She made a mistake with her stats she stated about Caitlin Clark on Gilbert Arenas’ podcast. She’s since corrected herself, apologized, shown screenshots of her exchange with Clark, but some folks wouldn’t let it go. Nancy Lieberman was one of ‘em, chirping on Stephen A. Smith’s show about how she tried to talk to Sheryl but has since dissolved their relationship over this silliness. This is the same woman who suggested Clark should punch Chennedy Carter in the face after Carter flagrantly fouled her.

Here’s a photo (above) of the first WNBA game I attended, last year at the Barclays Center. It was a freakin’ awesome game with the Liberty vs. Mystics on ABC, and went into double OT.

The excitement for the women’s hoops league has been there. It was present last year, the year before, and so on. There have been many dope ass eras in the WNBA, like Maya Moore’s domination during the 2010s (it was so nice to see her jersey retirement ceremony).

Needless to say, I am really looking forward to this season’s playoffs. I know I predicted the Aces to do a 3-peat, but it sure as heck won’t be easy as a 4th seed. They gotta play a just-as-hungry 5th seed, then advance to possibly face the No. 1 Liberty in the second round.

But A’ja and ‘nem ain’t worried about seeds when they’ve been planting them all season long.