The 2025 WNBA season officially tips off on Friday, and every team will be in action this weekend to start what should be an important season in the league’s history. The pressure is on for the league to follow up on what was a historic 2024. We’ll have plenty of predictions this week on who will win it all, and who will take home individual trophies, but we have a few other predictions — some wild, some not — of what will happen this WNBA season.
At least one team will change ownership
While owning a WNBA team is about supporting the growth of women’s sports, it’s also an investment. Most people want to make money off of their investments, and most WNBA owners got into the game for a fairly low fee. Considering the popularity of the game, growing attendance numbers and television ratings, this would be a smart time for an owner who doesn’t want to deal with the demands of running a professional sports team to get out.
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For example, Michael Alter, the owner of the Chicago Sky, bought the team for a reported $10 million. A valuation of the Sky in 2023 put them at $85 million. The Connecticut Sun were purchased in 2007 for a similar amount by the Mohegan tribe. Now The growth of the WNBA means that players expect better facilities and resources, and the smart move for some owners is to turn over the keys.
The all-time WNBA attendance record will be broken
In 2024, the Washington Mystics and Indiana Fever broke the WNBA regular season attendance record in a September game at Capital One Arena. However, the all-time record is still held by the Detroit Shock/Tulsa Shock/Dallas Wings for a 2003 Finals game between the Shock and the Los Angeles Sparks at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Deanna Nolan/Swin Cash-led team won the title in three games, and 22,076 fans were there to see the Shock win.
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Currently, there are no WNBA arenas with a capacity higher than 20,000, which is the capacity of the Target Center in Minnesota. But teams have moved games to bigger arenas when the demand is there, and that trend will continue this season. There aren’t any NBA arenas that have the capacity to break the record, but perhaps we’ll see the Fever move a game or two to Lucas Oil Field, which has hosted the NCAA tournament and can hold 70,000 for basketball.
Sonia Citron will break Sabrina Ionescu’s 3-point contest record
Sabrina Ionescu’s performance at the 2023 All-Star Game 3-point contest was jaw-droppingly good, as she hit 35 of 37 shots. But every record that is made can be broken, and Washington Mystics rookie Sonia Citron, who hit 37.2% of her 3-pointers in her final college season, has the kind of shot that could make huge waves in the 3-point contest at the All-Star Game in Indiana this summer. She’ll likely be going up against Caitlin Clark, who said she would participate this year, but Citron showed time and time again at Notre Dame that she can handle pressure, and she will likely have plenty of fans in the stands from her time in South Bend. Get after it, Sonia.
Dunks will become a more common occurrence
Though slam dunks are seen as a flashy way to score two points, they are also a way for an offensive player to ensure the defensive player can’t block their shot. As the men’s game evolved — and rules banning dunks were rescinded — dunks became a more common tool for offensive players.
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WNBA defenses have evolved, and players like A’ja Wilson, Ezi Magbegor and Brittney Griner find ways to swat the ball left and right. Throw in that there are more players who can dunk, like Griner and Magbegor’s new teammate Dominique Malonga? It’s a recipe for more dunks, and an easy answer to silly people who think the WNBA needs to lower the rims.
The WNBA and WNBPA will avoid a work stoppage
OK, maybe this is more of a hope than a prediction. The players opted out of the collective bargaining agreement the day after the Liberty won the WNBA title in 2024, and they have several issues that need to be settled. With the league signing new television rights deals, the players want their fair share of the new revenue. They are also concerned about retired players’ pensions, facilities and better deals for foreign players.
The word the players’ union keeps using is “transformational.” They expect a CBA that will reward them for the time and effort they have put into building the league into its current state. While the current CBA expires at the end of the 2025 season, the true deadline is the start of the 2026 season. Deadlines always inspire action, so it’s possible they could avoid a stoppage. But the players have indicated they’re preparing themselves for the possibility.
