25 Years, 25 Players

The WNBA season begins this week, and it's a historic one.  It's the WNBA's 25th season!  It really is a remarkable achievement when you think about it.  No women's professional league in North America has ever lasted nearly as long, yet the WNBA hasn't just reached the milestone, it's still going strong!  And we've even reached the point where the players in the league weren't even born yet during that inaugural season in the summer of 1997.

As a part of the celebration, they'll release a 25th Anniversary All-time Team at some point this season.  I'm curious to see who ends up on the final list.  Because there are definitely more than 25 players who are deserving!  But if I had a vote (which I obviously don't!), here's who I'd go with (the players are arranged alphabetically):

• Seimone Augustus: A four-time champion and eight-time All-Star, she's now in her 16th WNBA season.  She's tied for ninth on the WNBA's all-time scoring list.
• Sue Bird: Duh!  She's 40 and still going strong.  The No. 1 overall pick in 2002, Bird is the WNBA's all-time leader in assists.  She's been All-WNBA eight times and led Seattle to a fourth championship last season.
• Tamika Catchings: She played 15 seasons for the Indiana Fever and was named All-WNBA in 12 of them.  Catchings is a five-time Defensive Player of the Year and the league's all-time steals leader.  She was also a Rookie of the Year, MVP and Finals MVP during her career.
• Tina Charles: Charles is one of the few on my list who's never won a WNBA championship, mainly because she's spent most of her career playing for the Sun and Liberty.  That hasn't stopped her from being both a Rookie of the Year and an MVP, as well as an eight-time All-WNBA selection.
• Cynthia Cooper: The WNBA's first superstar, she led the Houston Comets to the first four league championships.  Cooper was Finals MVP each season and won the first two regular season MVP trophies.  She retired after the fourth title in 2000, then became coach of the Phoenix Mercury before returning to the Comets for a final cameo as a player in 2003.
• Elena Delle Donne: Delle Donne has been in the league eight seasons and been All-WNBA five times.  She's also a two-time MVP who led Washington to its first WNBA championship in 2019.  And there's still more to be written.
• Candice Dupree: There are two reasons why I selected Candice Dupree among my 25.  First is her longevity.  She's started 464 of 468 games played over 15 seasons.  Second is the fact that she's fifth all-time in scoring with 6728 career points.
• Sylvia Fowles: Name an award and Sylvia Fowles has probably won it.  Three-time Defensive Player of the Year, two-time Finals MVP, WNBA MVP in 2017.  More significantly, Fowles is the WNBA's all-time leading rebounder (3400).
• Yolanda Griffith: Another one of the WNBA's early stars, she averaged a double-double in each of her first three seasons.  Griffith was both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year during her rookie season of 1999 and was Finals MVP when Sacramento won the title in 2005.
• Brittney Griner: Her WNBA career isn't as accomplished as what she did at Baylor, but it's still pretty impressive.  Seven consecutive years leading the league in blocks while also leading in scoring twice.  A two-time Defensive Player of the Year and five-time All-WNBA performer.
• Becky Hammon: Hammon's made history as a coach, but her playing career was just as notable.  She went undrafted out of Colorado State...only to become a six-time All-Star and four-time All-WNBA selection.  Hammon ended up playing 16 years in the league and is sixth all-time in assists.
• Lauren Jackson: Without question, the greatest foreign-born player in WNBA history.  She was taken No. 1 overall by Seattle in 2001 and played 12 seasons for the Storm.  Jackson won two MVP awards and two championships, as well as a Defensive Player of the Year.
• Lisa Leslie: Lisa Leslie was responsible for so many WNBA firsts.  She dunked in 2002.  She had a triple-double in 2004.  She was the first to reach 3,000 and 4,000 points.  She won two championships, three MVPs and was MVP of the All-Star Game three times.  Leslie played 12 years and was All-WNBA each season.
• Angel McCoughtry: After a decade with the Atlanta Dream, she signed with the Las Vegas Aces last season and led them to their first WNBA Finals appearance.  McCoughtry is a two-time scoring champion who was also on the All-Defensive Team seven consecutive times.  She's been to the WNBA Finals four times, but still hasn't won a title.
• Maya Moore: Maya Moore put her career on hold in 2019 to take up the case of the wrongful conviction of the man she ended up marrying.  She really had nothing left to prove in the WNBA.  Minnesota won a championship in her rookie year of 2011, and did a reverse San Francisco Giants, winning every odd year until 2017.  Maya Moore is the best women's basketball player I've ever seen.
• Candace Parker: Fresh off her second straight NCAA championship at Tennessee, she was taken No. 1 overall by the Sparks in 2008 and was both Rookie of the Year and MVP that season.  Parker spent 13 years in LA, leading the Sparks to the 2016 title, and is now a member of the Chicago Sky.
• Ticha Penicheiro: While Lauren Jackson is the best foreign-born player in WNBA history, Ticha Penicheiro was the league's first foreign-born star.  She led the league in assists in each of her first six seasons and trails only Sue Bird on the all-time assists list.
• Cappie Pondexter: Pondexter won two championships in her first four seasons and was Finals MVP in 2007.  She made four straight All-WNBA teams (2009-12), was a seven-time All-Star, and currently ranks fourth on the WNBA all-time scoring list.
• Katie Smith: Smith actually signed with the ABL at first and didn't join the WNBA until that league folded.  She ended up spending 14 years in the WNBA and is sixth on the all-time scoring list (she's the all-time leader if her ABL points are included).  Smith led the Detroit Shock to a pair of titles in 2006 and 2008.
• Breanna Stewart: Stewie's still just a baby.  The 2020 season was just her fourth, and she's already a two-time champion and Finals MVP.  Stewart was also league MVP in 2018 and Rookie of the Year in 2016.  The awards will just keep accumulating for the current Face of the WNBA.
• Sheryl Swoopes: Swoopes made history as the first player to sign with the WNBA, fresh off that 1996 Olympic gold medal.  She was the first three-time MVP in WNBA history.  Swoopes is also a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, winning both awards in the same season twice, and she was on that Houston dynasty that won the first four league titles.
• Diana Taurasi: The WNBA's all-time leading scorer, she'll reach 9,000 career points this season.  Taurasi is just as good now as she was when she debuted in 2004.  Her 16-year career, all with the Phoenix Mercury, has included three WNBA championships, two Finals MVPs and 14 All-WNBA selections. 
• Tina Thompson: Thompson makes three members of the original Comets.  Do you understand why they won the first four championships now?  She was the WNBA's all-time leading scorer until Taurasi overtook her, and is still second all-time.  Thompson is also sixth all-time in rebounds.  She played in nine All-Star Games, winning All-Star MVP honors in 2000, and was an eight-time All-WNBA selection.
• Teresa Weatherspoon: Another New York Liberty point guard who has turned into a successful NBA assistant coach.  T-spoon spent seven years with the Liberty and started the first 220 games in franchise history.  She won back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1997-98 and led the Liberty to appearances in four of the first six WNBA Finals.
• Lindsay Whalen: Rounding out the list is Lindsay Whalen, who's last, but certainly not least.  She was the point guard on those Minnesota Lynx teams that won four championships in a seven-year span from 2011-17 (after playing in two Finals with the Connecticut Sun in her first two seasons).  Whalen's third all-time in assists, behind only Bird and Penicheiro and spent the 2018 season playing for the Lynx while also preparing to take over as head coach at the University of Minnesota.
  

A good number of these women will likely be on the actual WNBA 25th Anniversary Team.  A number of them will probably be on the Olympic team this summer, too, as the U.S. goes for its eighth consecutive gold medal.  That streak started in 1996...with the USA squad that was so successful it spawned not one, but two, professional leagues!  The WNBA is that legacy.  And what a legacy it is!