Check in on the latest news, numbers and more from the WNBA and the wider women’s basketball world:
Update on the WNBA’s investigation into Aces-LVCVA deal
Over at The IX, Howard Megdal provides an update on the changing nature of the WNBA’s investigation into the increasingly murky arrangement between the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCA) and Las Vegas Aces’ players. At the beginning of the season, the LVCVA presented a $100,000 sponsorship to all team members for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
According to Megdal’s reporting, the initial perception that the LVCVA had worked out the deals with players’ agents was false. His reporting additionally suggests that the proposed arrangement was a surprise to the organization. And yet, a camera crew was present to film the announcement. Medgal writes:
Clearly, it all gets complicated, fast, while making much of the initially claimed arrangement somewhere between demonstrably false and extremely hazy. If the LVCVA had no contact about this arrangement whatsoever with the franchise — because any collusion on it would violate the WNBA collective bargaining agreement — and no agreement was made with the agents, exactly how did the LVCVA come to present this $1.2 million per year for the next two years (with many of the players under contract in 2024 not signed for 2025) in the Las Vegas locker room on May 17?
On the apparent speciousness of the arrangement, a WNBA executive said to Megdal, “The idea that the LVCVA would just decide to spend some serious money, unilaterally, doesn’t pass the laugh test,” while other league sources emphasized the close relationship between Steve Hill, CEO of the LVCVA, and Aces owner Mark Davis; the pair worked together to build Allegiant Stadium and bring Super Bowl LVIII to Vegas. The crux of the WNBA’s investigation likely rests on any discoverable evidence of collaboration between Hill and Davis.
Megdal notes that the LVCVA is a public entity, and thereby subject to public disclosure laws. The WNBA should be able to obtain any relevant records, a step that also would show other organizations that the league is taking this investigation seriously. Except, Megdal also has learned that LVCVA has asked R&R Partners, a private entity, to facilitate the deal, which could stymie the league’s efforts to conduct a thorough investigation.
In short, it seems safer to expect more twists and turns, rather than a quick resolution, to the investigation. Read all the details from Megdal’s reporting here.
WNBA All-Star voting is open
Voting for WNBA All-Star 2024—where WNBA All-Stars will take on Team USA—opened on Thursday and continues through Saturday, June 29 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Throughout the voting period, fans can submit one full ballot of 10 players (four backcourt, six frontcourt) each day at WNBA.com and on the WNBA App. There are three “2-for-1 Days” where votes count twice: June 16, June 22 and June 27. In determining the selection of All-Stars, fan votes will count 50 percent, with votes by current players and a national media panel both counting 25 percent.
All top 10 vote-getters will be automatic participants in the game, with those who are not on the USA Basketball Women’s National Team for the 2024 Olympics assigned to Team WNBA. The league’s 12 head coaches then will determine the rest of Team WNBA’s 12-player roster, voting from a ballot that includes the top 36 vote-getters.
Rosters will be announced on Tuesday, July 2. The already sold-out game will take place on Saturday, July 20 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, AZ. The game will be broadcast on ABC at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Attendance, viewership records for the W
May was a banner month for the WNBA, attracting the most viewers across all networks in league history and the highest game attendance in 26 years. In the month of May, around 400,000 fans attended games, with half of all games selling out, while games broadcast on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and CBS averaged 1.32 million viewers.
It’s up!
The W Opened the 2024 Season with HIGHEST Attendance in 26 Years & Most-Watched Games Ever on National TV!
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 10, 2024
Arike withdrew from USA Basketball pool for 2024 Olympics
While USA Basketball’s decision not to name a certain guard to the USA Basketball Women’s National Team for the 2024 Olympics has generated an excess of headlines, the exclusion of another guard—Arike Ogunbowale—arguably deserved more scrutiny.
However, in a Thursday appearance on the podcast “Nightcap,” which features Shannon Sharpe, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson and Gilbert Arenas, Ogunbowale revealed that she removed her name from the pool, explaining:
Me being me, I just felt the vibes. When it comes to (the Olympic trials), it really doesn’t have much to do with your game. It’s really about who they feel fits with the team … So I actually took my name out of the pool months ago.
USA Basketball’s history—which includes the snubbing of Candace Parker in 2016 and Nneka Ogwumike in 2020—makes it difficult to dispute Ogunbowale’s contention. Yet, one could argue that Ogunbowale’s playing style—high-volume shooting with subpar efficiency —would not be the best fit with the star-laden national team. Although, Ogunbowale’s clutch bonafides certainly could have been valuable in a close contest.
Chimezie Metu, a Nigerian-American NBA player who plays for the Detroit Pistons, took to X/Twitter to urge Ogunbowale, who is also of Nigerian heritage, to suit up for the Nigerian national team, posting, “Arike. It’s time.”
Arike. It’s time.
— Chimezie Metu™ (@Chimezie_Metu) June 8, 2024
For the 2020 Olympics, Ogwumike petitioned to play for the Nigerians, but was denied by FIBA due to her extensive, prior experiences with Team USA. There is no indication that Ogunbowale intends to pursue this potential option.
Sparks extend Hamby
In the midst of a career year, Dearica Hamby has signed a one-year, fully-protected contract extension with the Los Angeles Sparks for $202,000.
The most-recent Western Conference Player of the Week, Hamby currently leads the league in double-doubles with 11. She also ranks seventh in the league in scoring, averaging 19.7 points per game, and second in rebounding with 11.4 boards per game. Both marks are career highs.
On extending with the Sparks, Hamby said:
I’m grateful for finding a home in LA with an ownership group and organization that believes in me and has been nothing but supportive since the day I got here. I look forward to continuing to build with my teammates and getting the Sparks back to the standard that has been historically set.
Elzy joins The Sisterhood
Former Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy has joined Kara Lawson’s staff at Duke. Elzy and Lawson overlapped as teammates for three seasons at Tennessee (1999-2001).
Lawson said of Elzy, “She is one of the best relationship-builders I’ve been around. She’s been an elite player and coach. I look forward to pursuing championships together again.”