The WNBA continues to discover new ways to shoot itself in the foot.
It is the league’s 30th anniversary season, and the latest self-inflicted wound is a poster celebrating that historic milestone.
On the surface, it looks harmless. The poster looks like something that might hang in a 10-year-old’s bedroom or a college kid’s dorm. Dawn Staley’s awesome teal and purple Charlotte Sting jersey pops in the middle of it and she’s surrounded by a handful of recognizable faces from the past and present: Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese, to name a few.
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But a closer look shows a few things the WNBA is guilty of far too often: incompetence, a lack of oversight and a void of creativity.
For starters, this poster is $30 and looks like something that could’ve been designed in PhotoShop 15 years ago. It is simply a collection of logos and stock images of players. It seemingly wants to take inspiration from one of those throwback Sports Illustrated covers the magazine rolled out during March Madness, a “Where’s Waldo” style collage meant to evoke excitement for the NCAA Tournament.
Except, there are only 20 players here.
All this poster did on Wednesday when the WNBA shared it on its X account was inspire anger, disbelief and confusion. The post has been viewed more than one million times and has more than 1,000 comments.
The loudest voices came from those pointing to the exclusion of Caitlin Clark, easily the most recognizable player in the league. The Indiana Fever guard’s entrance into the WNBA in 2024 brought countless new eyeballs to the sport and, in turn, influenced the latest media rights deal and collective bargaining agreement.
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When you make a poster intended to represent the greatness of the WNBA’s past and present, and you include Sophie Cunningham, Marina Mabrey and Aneesah Morrow, but not Clark — the 2024 Rookie of the Year, the WNBA’s single-season record holder for assists, the fastest player to reach 100 3-pointers made and a player who just unveiled her signature shoe — how was that outrage not predictable? Who looked over that poster and gave it the green light? How nervous was the social media manager who posted it on X, knowing the WNBA’s mentions were about to light up?
But let’s set Clark aside for a moment.
Again, this poster says “WNBA THIRTY” on it in big, bold letters. It is intended to highlight today’s stars and honor the players who came before them.
With that in mind, the absences here are wildly egregious.
The WNBA’s all-time leader in assists and games played, Sue Bird? Not on this poster.
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The WNBA’s all-time leading scorer who also owns three championships and six Olympic gold medals, Diana Taurasi? Not on this poster.
The only player to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season, Candace Parker? Not on this poster.
Four-time champion, six-time All-Star and Hall of Famer Maya Moore? Not on this poster.
The WNBA’s first 50-40-90 player who dragged the Washington Mystics to a championship with herniated discs in her back, Elena Delle Donne? Not on this poster.
Where’s Tamika Catchings, Brittney Griner, Sylvia Fowles, Cynthia Cooper, Yolanda Griffith, Lauren Jackson and Nneka Ogwumike?
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If this was the style of poster that was going to be created to commemorate the league’s 30th season, why not make the tent bigger and put more players on it? Why not have 30 players for the 30th season? Why open the WNBA up for more criticism?
The WNBA did not immediately respond to an inquiry from USA TODAY Sports asking how the players on the poster were selected.
Let’s assume for a moment the hurdle here in getting some of these marquee players on the poster was a licensing agreement for their likenesses. Perhaps Clark, Taurasi and others have not inked deals with WinCraft and Fanatics — the makers of this poster. Clark, for example, is noticeably absent from the 2026 Indiana Fever calendar made by Turner Licensing.
If this was the case for the WNBA with this poster, couldn’t it have done something better and more unique for such a big milestone?
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Something the WNBA could have done instead, just spitballing an idea here:
Take four players from the past and four from the present — for this exercise, let’s pick from who is actually on the poster: Dawn Staley, Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon for our legends, then Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese, A’ja Wilson and Napheesa Collier for our stars of today. Put the legends in their throwback gear, Staley in her Sting jersey, Coop in a Comets warmup jacket, T-Spoon and Leslie donning the old looks of the Liberty and Sparks. Put the stars of today in those iconic orange WNBA hoodies that became so popular. Then, hire a great photographer and assemble them the way that SLAM Magazine used to for its draft class photo shoots.
That could have been special. In the era of AI, fans could have appreciated the original artistic ability required to create such a poster. Does it solve the Clark and Taurasi problem? No, but at least fans will know that actual effort was put in. That the WNBA cared enough about celebrating its 30th season to actually orchestrate and choreograph something that had potential to be memorable.
All that was apparently too much work.
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Once again, the WNBA took a shortcut, messed up and rightfully got dunked on for it.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Caitlin Clark snub isn’t the only problem with WNBA’s 30th anniversary poster
