liberty vs sparks sits inside a bigger 30-year shift: the WNBA launched in 1997 and is now marking its 30th anniversary as a thriving league. What started in survival mode has become a global fixture backed by record attendance, rising salaries and unprecedented media attention.
A’ja Wilson is part of that latest wave. After her fadeaway jumper over Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner in Game 3 of the 2025 WNBA Finals at Mortgage Matchup Center tied the score at 88 with five seconds left in regulation, she said, "To see that I’m now a huge print on this league, it’s just been surreal" and, "How can I be great? How can I continue to lay the path down for the next generation".
Cynthia Cooper on the foundation
Cynthia Cooper said the early years were about building something that could last. "I knew that we had to lay a solid foundation in order for the WNBA and little girls to be able to dream of playing professional basketball, and now, we’re here," she said.
That foundation came from Sheryl Swoopes, Cooper, Rebecca Lobo and Lisa Leslie, who helped legitimize the league from the start. Cooper also helped the Houston Comets win the first four league titles, a stretch that set the first standard the rest of the league had to chase.
Diana Taurasi and the standard
The next layer came from Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Sue Bird and Tamika Catchings, who elevated the standard of excellence. The league’s growth did not happen by accident; it was built through one era of stars making the next era more visible, more skilled and harder to ignore.
That pattern is visible again now. Breanna Stewart, Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers are pushing the game to new heights, while the 2024 WNBA Draft class helped drive growth and interest in women's college basketball and the WNBA. Clark’s all-time NCAA scoring record for men and women and her logo 3-pointers fed that attention, with Angel Reese also part of the class that widened the audience.
The WNBA after 1997
Cynthia Cooper said she is thinking well beyond the anniversary year. "I’m like, 'Yes, I was a part of this right from the beginning,' and to see it flourish and the new CBA agreement, I’m just over the moon. I’m super excited, not just for 30 years of (the) WNBA, but the next 30 years. The next 30 years is what I’m super excited about," she said.
That leaves the league in a very different place from 1997, but with the same burden: keep converting star power into long-term growth. Wilson’s quote from Game 3 carries that forward, because the next generation is already asking the same question she did — how to be great, and how to keep the path open for whoever comes next.
