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The WNBA’s Disappointing Response to an NSFW Issue

This post is a part of WNBA Week+.  During this stretch, I will release several blog posts related to the WNBA, including news stories, player discussions, and teams’ seasons.   Due to timing and how many other things have gone on in basketball, I have not written anywhere near enough about the WNBA.   There have been a lot of good things that have happened this year, including the games themselves, a fun All-Star Weekend (the game was what it was due to injuries, but the events and selections were awesome), an interesting CBA negotiations (as a brief clarification, the issue comes down to the revenue sharing, as the most recent CBA had the players getting 9% of revenue, which is tiny even compared to UFC, which has a reputation for not paying their athletes), and an exciting playoff race, especially starting with the two-seed.   That said, there are also several negative aspects, most notably the injuries, continued sexist rhetoric, and the league’s continued po...
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2025 WNBA Trade Deadline Grades

This post is a part of WNBA Week+.  During this stretch, I will release several blog posts related to the WNBA, including news stories, player discussions, and teams’ seasons.   The WNBA Trade Deadline is usually a quiet event for a number of reasons, the biggest one being that the salary cap is a hard cap (unlike that of the NBA), which limits the number of teams that have enough cap space to make a trade.   Historically, very few teams make moves that include players who are in rotations (in fact, last season was an oddity when a player as notable as Marina Mabrey was traded at the deadline).   This year, there were 3 trade deadline moves, each of them are notable and include a player going to each team who will be in the rotation.   I gave my grades for each of these trades, ordered by how notable each trade.   Brittney Sykes Seattle receives :   Brittney Sykes Washington receives :   Alysha Clark, Zia Cooke, 2026 1 st round pick (...
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2025 NBA Draft Grades

Now that I finally have figured out where almost everyone is going, I have my draft grades for this year!  The grades are completed by team, and while my evaluation of a player does play a role, I also grade based on fit, role, and how high the draft pick is.  Free agency moves were not included in my grades, as I finished several before the start of free agency.    Atlanta Hawks Drafted Asa Newell (23) Acquired Kristaps Porzingis 2026 1 st round pick (Best of MIL/NOP) Future 2 nd Round Pick Traded 13 th pick (Derik Queen) 22 nd pick (Drake Powell) Georges Niang Terance Mann Future 2 nd round pick Atlanta has had a busy time leading up to the end of draft night, but I kind of like what they did.  Prior to the draft, they took on Kristaps Porzingis in a trade where they gave up the 22 nd pick, Terance Mann, and Georges Niang while also swapping picks.  When healthy, Porzingis is an awesome and versatile offensive talent who can score from anywhere on t...
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2025 NBA Finals: How They Got Here Through Transactions

In lieu of my Game 7 notes (my big ones were that OKC played natural with their style, I feel horrible for Tyrese Haliburton, and the tosses on the jump balls were not good), my final post related to the 2025 NBA Finals is one of my favorite annual posts that I do:  a dive on how the Finals teams constructed their current rosters.  I will give the caveat that I didn’t go quite as far with certain things as some others did with certain trades (for instance, I didn’t go all the way back to the Rashard Lewis trade exception that eventually led to the draft pick where Serge Ibaka was selected, resulting in a series of trades that created OKC’s current core).  Both teams have had several interesting moves, especially including a major trade between the two teams that involved a superstar.   Oklahoma City Thunder June 7, 2007 – Oklahoma City hired Sam Presti to be their General Manager.  It was an interesting move since they demoted multiple individuals to give Prest...
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