The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league composed of 12 teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA), and league play started in 1997. The regular season is played from May to September, with the All Star game being played midway through the season in July and the WNBA Finals at the end of September until the beginning of October.
Diana Lorena Taurasi is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and is considered to be one of the greatest players in WNBA history. She was drafted by Phoenix first overall in the 2004 WNBA draft. Taurasi has won the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award (2004), three WNBA championships, a historic five Olympic gold medals, one WNBA Most Valuable Player Award (2009), two WNBA Finals MVP Awards, five scoring titles, and three FIBA World Cups. She has also been selected to ten WNBA All-Star teams and fourteen All-WNBA teams. In 2011, she was voted by fans as one of the WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time, and was named by the league to its 20th and 25th anniversary teams, respectively the WNBA Top 20@20 in 2016 and The W25 in 2021. Also in 2021, she was selected by fans as the league's greatest player of all time. On June 18, 2017, Taurasi became the WNBA all-time leading scorer and on June 27, 2021, became the first player to surpass 9,000 points. On August 3, 2023, Taurasi became the first player to score 10,000 career points. Her penchant for scoring in crucial situations has earned her the nickname "White Mamba", coined by Kobe Bryant. Taurasi is one of 11 women to win an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA Championship, a FIBA World Cup, and a WNBA Championship.
Suzanne Brigit Bird is an American former professional basketball player who played her entire career with the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Bird was drafted by the Storm first overall in the 2002 WNBA draft and is considered to be one of the greatest players in WNBA history. As of 2021, Bird is the only WNBA player to win titles in three different decades. She held a front office position for the NBA's Denver Nuggets as their Basketball Operations Associate. She has also played for three teams in Russia, and also has dual citizenship with both U.S. and Israel.
Swintayla Marie "Swin" Cash Canal is an American former professional basketball player who played professionally for 15 seasons in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She currently serves as vice president of basketball operations and team development for the New Orleans Pelicans. A prolific scorer and rebounder, as well as a capable ball handler and defender, she helped lead the University of Connecticut women's basketball team to national titles in 2000 and 2002. In her second WNBA season, she led the Detroit Shock to their first ever WNBA title. In 2015, she was named a studio analyst for MSG Networks covering the New York Knicks pre-games and post-games as well as the weekly coaches show. In 2017, Cash was named the Director of franchise development for the New York Liberty. Cash was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September 9, 2022.
Suzy Batkovic is an Australian professional basketball player and politician. Suzy played her junior basketball with the Port Hunter Basketball Club in Newcastle. She has played basketball for several European clubs including the French Valenciennes, the Spanish side Ros Casares, the Russian side UMMC Ekaterinburg, and Italian side Cras Basket. In the United States, she has played for the Seattle Storm after having been selected as a first round draft pick in 2003. She has played professional basketball domestically for the Australian Institute of Sport in 1996–1999, the Sydney Uni Flames from 1999–2001, and 2009–2010, the Townsville Fire in 2001–2002, the Canberra Capitals in 2010–2011, and the Adelaide Lightning in 2011–2013; she returned to the Fire for the 2013–14 season. She has been a member of the Australia women's national basketball team, being named to the team for the first time in 1999. She won a silver medal with the team at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Candice Dupree is an American professional basketball coach and former player. She was selected sixth in the 2006 WNBA draft by the Chicago Sky. Dupree has won a WNBA Championship (2014) with the Phoenix Mercury. She has also played professional basketball in Europe and Asia. Dupree has two world cup gold medals with Team USA.
Iziane "Izi" Castro Marques is a retired Brazilian professional basketball player. Castro Marques played for the Brazil women's national basketball team and played for the Miami Sol, Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm, Atlanta Dream, Washington Mystics and the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Castro Marques also played overseas in France, Brazil, Spain, Latvia, Turkey, Poland and Russia. Following her retirement, Castro Marques became the technical director of Sampaio Basquete of the Brazilian Women's Basketball League.
Angel Lajuane McCoughtry is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. McCoughtry completed her college career at the University of Louisville in 2009. She was selected first overall by the Atlanta Dream in the 2009 WNBA draft and was considered its franchise player during her tenure with the team. McCoughtry has also played overseas in Turkey, Slovakia, Lebanon, Hungary and Russia.
Tina Alexandria Charles is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Originally from Jamaica, Queens, New York City, Charles was drafted first overall in the 2010 WNBA draft by the Connecticut Sun. In 2009 and 2010, she and teammate Maya Moore led the Connecticut Huskies to two undefeated national championships. She has won three Olympic gold medals with Team USA.
Breanna Mackenzie Stewart is an American professional basketball player for the New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and Fenerbahçe of the Women's Basketball Super League, Euroleague Women.
Morgan Tuck is an American former professional basketball player. She played her first four WNBA seasons with the Connecticut Sun. She won 4 consecutive NCAA championships with the University of Connecticut. She completed her high school career at Bolingbrook High School in Bolingbrook, Illinois. She played on the USA Basketball U17, U18 and U19 teams, where she helped each team win a gold medal.
Lauren Elizabeth Jackson is an Australian professional basketball player. The daughter of two national basketball team players, Jackson was awarded a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 1997, when she was 16. In 1998, she led the AIS team that won the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) championship. Jackson joined the Canberra Capitals for the 1999 season when she turned 18 and played with the team off and on until 2006, winning four more WNBL championships. From 2010 to 2016, Jackson played with the Canberra Capitals, which she did during the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) offseason during the time she continued WNBA play.
Chinenye "Chiney" Ogwumike is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In 2020, she became the first Black woman and the first WNBA player to host a national radio show for ESPN. She was one of the first and youngest commentators ever to be named an NBA analyst for the network covering the NBA, WNBA, and variety of sports, while simultaneously playing in the WNBA. Chiney is a graduate of Stanford University, where she majored in International relations. She played in three Final Fours and finished as the conference leader in scoring and rebounding as of January 3, 2014. As of 2016, Ogwumike was elected Vice-President of the WNBA Players Association, and signed an endorsement deal with Adidas. In May 2018, Ogwumike signed a multi-year contract with ESPN to become a full-time basketball analyst.
Rebecca "Spida" Allen is an Australian basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Emma Meesseman is a Belgian professional basketball player for Fenerbahçe of the Women's Basketball Super League and EuroLeague Women. After playing basketball in Belgium, Meesseman was drafted by the Washington Mystics with the 19th overall pick in the second round of the 2013 WNBA draft. She has also played for the Belgian national team and several European professional teams. She was named the 2011 FIBA Europe Young Women's Player of the Year and the 2019 WNBA Finals MVP. Meesseman studied physical education at Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
Stephanie Talbot is an Australian professional basketball player.
Samantha Allison Whitcomb is an American-Australian professional basketball player for the Townsville Fire of the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). She is also contracted with the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball for the Washington Huskies before making a name for herself in Australia with the Rockingham Flames in the State Basketball League (SBL) and the Perth Lynx in the WNBL. She made her debut in the WNBA in 2017 and won championships with the Seattle Storm in 2018 and 2020. She became an Australian citizen in 2018 and made her debut for the Australian Opals.
Ramu Tokashiki is a Japanese professional basketball player for the JX-Eneos Sunflowers of the Women's Japan Basketball League (WJBL).
Joyner Michelle Holmes is an American professional basketball player for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She has played for the New York Liberty and the Las Vegas Aces. She played college basketball for the Texas Longhorns.
Teana Muldrow is an American professional basketball player. She was drafted by the Seattle Storm in the 2018 WNBA Draft and played for the Storm and the Dallas Wings in her career. She played college basketball at West Virginia.
