WNBA expanding to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia over next five years
Cleveland will begin play in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia the season after, assuming they get approval from the NBA and WNBA Board of Governors. Toronto and Portland will enter the league next year.
Advertisement
'The demand for women's basketball has never been higher, and we are thrilled to welcome Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia to the WNBA family,' WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. 'This historic expansion is a powerful reflection of our league's extraordinary momentum, the depth of talent across the game, and the surging demand for investment in women's professional basketball.'
All three new teams announced Monday have NBA ownership groups. Each paid a $250 million expansion fee, which is about five times as much as Golden State dished out for a team a few years ago. All three teams will also be investing more money through building practice facilities and other such amenities.
'It's such a natural fit that when you already have this basketball-related infrastructure, these strategies, cultures that you find to be successful, combinations of personnel that you find to be successful,' said Nic Barlage, CEO of Rock Entertainment Group and the Cavaliers. 'Extending that into the WNBA, is just a natural next progression, especially if you have a desire to grow like we do.'
Both Cleveland and Detroit had WNBA teams in the past and Philadelphia was the home for an ABL team.
Advertisement
'This is a huge win for Detroit and the WNBA,' Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores said. 'Today marks the long-hoped-for return of the WNBA to a city with deep basketball roots and a championship tradition. Detroit played a key role in the league's early growth, and we're proud to reignite that legacy as the WNBA ascends to new heights. Our plans will bring new energy, investment and infrastructure to our city and the WNBA, and additional resources to our community.'
Detroit sports stars Grant Hill, Chris Webber and Jared Goff will have minority ownership stakes in the team.
The Cleveland and Detroit ownership groups said the Rockers and Shock — the names of the previous teams — would be considered but they'd do their due diligence before deciding on what the franchises will be called.
'Rockers will be a part of the mix for sure, but we are at this point, we're not going to commit to a brand identity because we want to really get into it with our fans, do some research, be very thorough and thoughtful in that process,' Barlage said.
Advertisement
The Detroit and Cleveland teams will play at the NBA arenas that currently exist, while Philadelphia is planning on a new building that will be completed hopefully by 2030.
'We tell the city it's going to open in 2031. We're hoping for 2030,' said Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment Managing Partner and co-founder Josh Harris, who owns the 76ers. 'So we're trying to underpromise and overdeliver. But, right now it's 2031, so that we have a year gap, you know. We've got the Xfinity center, the Wells Fargo, they'll play there.'
Adding these three teams will give the league more natural rivalries with another team on the East Coast and Detroit and Cleveland near each other.
'I think there's some great historical rivalries in the NBA among these cities and, I think that will carry over to the WNBA,' Detroit Pistons vice president Arn Tellem said. 'I would love nothing more to have a rivalry like we do in the NBA with Cleveland and Indiana, Philadelphia and New York and all these great cities and, and I think we will.'
Advertisement
Other cities that bid on teams that didn't get them include St. Louis; Kansas City, Mo.; Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; Houston; Miami; Denver; and Charlotte, N.C.
'We didn't know the demand would be where the demand ended up when we ran the process last fall into the winter,' Engelbert said. 'Given the very high demand and supply, we wanted to evaluate, too, because we're very careful about, you know, making sure we're balancing the number of roster spots, the number of teams.
'But one thing I'm very struck by as we get into a new media deal, as the media market evolves, you know, being in these three big basketball cities is going to help from a media perspective, a corporate partners perspective.'
All the metrics, such as attendance, television ratings and sponsorships, have been on the rise the last few seasons.
Advertisement
'You're seeing the key performance indicators around the business, but then also just the communal impact of having a women's professional sports team,' Barlage said. 'The largest growing segment of our Cavs youth academy, which serves 60,000 kids across the state of Ohio and upstate New York, the fastest growing segment is girls. You know, it's growing at a 30% clip year over year in participation rates. And so for us to be able to create role models, to be able to create symbols of progress, to create having ambassadors within the community representing all of these things.'
___
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
Doug Feinberg, The Associated Press
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New York Post
38 minutes ago
- New York Post
Bucks land Myles Turner on $107 million deal, waive Damian Lillard in NBA free agency stunner
The Bucks are doing what they can to keep Giannis Antetokounmpo from wanting to leave — and that includes kicking a former prized trade acquisition to the curb. Milwaukee is signing former Pacers center Myles Turner to a four-year, $107 million contract that includes a player option and full 15 percent trade kicker, according to ESPN. The franchise is waiving injured guard Damian Lillard — sidelined with a torn Achilles tendon — and stretching his contract over the next five seasons to make the contract work, per the outlet. However, in a twist, the Bucks' franchise player is not pleased with the team moving on from Lillard, per Chris Haynes. This transaction is perhaps the wildest since NBA free agency opened Monday. Turner, 29, just completed his 10th NBA season, all with the Pacers, and reportedly wanted to return to the only franchise he's known after the run to Game 7 of the Finals. 4 Myles Turner dunking in the NBA finals against the Thunder. AP His reps let Indiana know his feelings with his two-year, $40.9 million deal expiring, per ESPN, but the Pacers had some reservations regarding the luxury tax, especially with star guard Tyrese Haliburton potentially missing the entire 2025-26 season after tearing his Achilles in Game 7. Follow The Post's live updates for the latest NBA free agency signings, news and rumors. In swooped Milwaukee, which is dealing with trade rumors regarding Antetokounmpo. There have been rumblings about whether Antetokounmpo would want to stay in Milwaukee after a third straight first-round exit and with concerns about the team's future, especially with Lillard sidelined. 4 Giannis Antetokounmpo dribbling against Turner in 2025. AP Milwaukee got creative, though, by moving on from Lillard. The Bucks acquired Lillard before the 2023-24 season but the team won zero playoff series while teaming him with Antetokounmpo. 4 Damian Lillard spent two years with the Bucks. Getty Images Lillard, who turns 35 this month, had two years and roughly $122.6 million left on his deal. If this deal truly angers Antetokounmpo, it could create a messy problem for the franchise. In landing Turner, the Bucks are acquiring a big man who has improved as he has grown older. 4 Myles Turner in a game against the Celtics in 2022 AP His best season came in 2023 when he averaged 18 points per game on top of 7.5 rebounds per game, while he tallied 15.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last season. He led the entire NBA in blocks in the 2019 and 2021 seasons.


CNN
40 minutes ago
- CNN
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander agrees to massive 4-year extension with NBA champion Thunder, AP source says
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed on a record-setting four-year, $285-million extension that would give him the highest single-season average salary in NBA history, a person with knowledge of the agreement said Tuesday. The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been publicly announced and likely won't be until the league's moratorium on most offseason signings is lifted on Sunday. ESPN first reported on the agreement. News of the deal comes on Canada Day, a fitting coincidence for the 26-year-old from Ontario who is coming off a season like few others in NBA history. Not only did Gilgeous-Alexander lead the Thunder to their first NBA championship and the league's best record, he swept most major individual awards – winning regular-season and NBA Finals MVP honors and the scoring title. The supermax extension was not unexpected. It was a question of timing; he could have taken a deal with an even higher total value next summer. Based on the NBA's most recent salary cap projections – the exact numbers will not be finalized until June 2027 – Gilgeous-Alexander would make somewhere around $63 million in the first season and nearly $79 million during the 2030-31 season. That would put him at an average payout of about $1 million per regular-season game and would be the highest single-season salary in NBA history. Gilgeous-Alexander didn't enter the league with superstar expectations. He was the 11th overall pick in the 2018 draft, and he was traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Thunder after his rookie year. He has been on an upward trajectory ever since, and Thunder general manager Sam Presti believes that will continue. 'He's gotten better every single year,' Presti said. 'His mindset has allowed him to take these steps and also not – I don't feel like his progress is, like, volatile. I don't know if that makes sense, but I don't feel like it's built on things that can't be repeated and built up again.' Presti referred to Gilgeous-Alexander as a 'basketball artist' because he has the emotional intelligence to know when to call upon his various gifts. 'I just think he's got left and right brain working, and I think when you think about people that are extremely successful in what they do, they can't operate all on one side or the other,' Presti said. 'People have to have – to me, the great people in life, business, sports, any industry, have to be able to access both sides, a creative side and then also a very objective side.' The Thunder are set to be contenders for years. Their best player is in place long-term, all their major players are under contract through at least next season and Presti has a slew of draft picks stashed from previous trades. 'We definitely still have room to grow,' Gilgeous-Alexander said after the Game 7 win over the Indiana Pacers. 'That's the fun part of this. So many of us can still get better. There's not very many of us on the team that are 'in our prime' or even close to it.'


USA Today
40 minutes ago
- USA Today
After SGA's contract extension, here are highest-paid NBA players
It can pay handsomely to be a professional athlete, and these days the biggest contracts are going to basketball and baseball players. Oklahoma City Thunder guard and NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander agreed to a four-year, $285 million contract extension on Tuesday, making him the highest-paid player in the league with an average salary of $71.3 million per season when the deal kicks in the 2027-28 season. By comparison, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is making $60 million per season, Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl is making an average of $14 million as the National Hockey League's highest paid player, and Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani makes $70 million a season, but $680 million of that total is being deferred, and scheduled to paid out starting in 2034. Here are the biggest contracts in NBA history, in terms of value and annual salary: Highest-paid NBA players, by total contract value Highest-paid NBA players by annual average salary Richest contracts in North American sports history