Two hoops and one basketball on a court is all it takes for millions — or maybe only hundreds — of people to watch.
An average of around 20,000 people show up to each NBA game, while WNBA games average around half of that (depends on the team). The Indiana Fever average about equal to the NBA, with around 17,000 fans, but smaller teams like the Atlanta Dream average around 5,000 fans in attendance.
If I started a conversation with anyone about Steph Curry, an amazing NBA player, or Michael Jordan, one of the best basketball players in history, anyone would know who I’m talking about. Or if I asked anyone about WNBA stars Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese, they would probably know exactly who I was talking about.
But if I were to talk to someone about Breanna Stewart, one of the top WNBA players (ranked No. 3 by ESPN), not many people outside of Connectict would have an idea about who I was talking about. If I were to start talking about Kevin Durant, who is her NBA equivalent, though, tons of people would know who he is.
Whenever I hear people talking about the WNBA, it usually is negative because of the “awful” playing, but I don’t think people really watch their games. I have core memories from summer of watching women’s basketball games with my uncle and grandpa and having conversations about each player. If you really watch the games, they can be just as competitive and fun to watch as any other basketball league.
The WNBA got much more popular for the 2024 summer season after many extremely good college players, including Clark and Reese, entered the WNBA. Reese is very popular, but also very disliked and made fun of often online. They both are great players, but Clark is seen as much better and gets mocked less by women’s basketball fans. Even people like me who despise Clark can admit that she not only is amazing at basketball but also made the WNBA way more popular than it was — but she isn’t the only player that deserves the attention she gets.
Many players aren’t acknowledged even though they’re just as good as some NBA players, including:
Aliyah Boston
Boston may be a relatively popular player, but she’s not popular enough to be talked about outside WNBA fans. She plays for the Indiana Fever with Clark, but I think Boston should get just as much hype as her teammate.
Boston started her career young and became big at the University of South Carolina as a freshman. She was the first freshman at her school to get a triple-double, which is achieved by getting double digits in three stats (points, assists, rebounds) and she ended up getting eight double-doubles that season.
As a freshman, she was named consensus Freshman of the Year, and in 2023 she was named WNBA Rookie of the Year. Boston has achieved tons of great things in her basketball career and I definitely think she deserves more recognition.
Courtney Vandersloot
Vandersloot is an older player and she’s been playing professional basketball for 12 years. She was competitive in many sports in high school, and in her WNBA offseason, she plays in pro leagues in other countries including Turkey, Poland, and Russia.
With all Vandersloot’s dedication to basketball, she achieved great things such as being selected as an All-Star and named Rookie of the Year in her debut WNBA season.
Vandersloot was disadvantaged with her smaller size, but she persevered and has a long list of awards from college and her pro career. She has assist records in the WNBA, and continues to break them by putting in a ton of effort. Ultimately, Vandersloot deserves lots of recognition and popularity for her basketball greatness.
Ezi Magbegor
Magbegor was born in Australia, and has been playing for the Seattle Storm for four seasons. She has a long list of career accomplishments and great stats since the first year she started playing.
She excels at blocking, which led her to being the Storm franchise record holder for blocks in a season with 82 blocks, and she is one out of five players in WNBA history to have more than 70 blocks in back-to-back seasons. As a basketball player, I think the stats that are usually recognized are great, but there is more to basketball than just shots, assists, and rebounds. Things like blocks that usually go unnoticed are a huge part of a game and can be really important.
Magbegor has also played during the offseason, including playing in the 2020 and 2024 Olympics for Australia. At the 2024 Olympics, she was named MVP for the Opals and they received a bronze medal. She played in many Europe leagues and deserves to be recognized for all her accomplishments.
This is the opinion of Eliza Butkus, a freshman basketball player at Nonnewaug and a reporter for the Chief Advocate.
