One other NBA participant is exploring WNBA growth — this time in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE — Hornets ahead Grant Williams needs to see a WNBA growth crew in Charlotte.

And, he needs to see it achieved proper.

“I’ve been attempting to convey a crew to Charlotte for the previous 2.5, 3 years, however that’s as much as [WNBA Commissioner] Cathy [Engelbert] and them,” Williams mentioned at Hornets shootaround in Charlotte final week. “Nothing we are able to say or do about that. The WNBA is in control of that, they employed a third-party agency to do all that. I really feel prefer it’s a aggressive panorama now.”

To say the panorama is aggressive is an understatement. Williams is way from the one skilled athlete — or individual for that matter — hoping to become involved with bringing a WNBA crew to their hometown or metropolis.

His former Celtics teammate, Jayson Tatum, has been linked to a bid in his hometown of St. Louis, whereas Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has expressed curiosity in a crew in Kansas Metropolis, the place he’s develop into a legend.

And, there’s a plethora of former athletes and different traders exploring vying for a crew within the fast-growing league.

It’s all occurred so quick.

The WNBA was comprised 12 groups within the 2024 season, and is slated for 3 extra to hitch over the subsequent two seasons: the Golden State Valkyries in 2025 and groups in Toronto and Portland in 2026. The league is vying for a sixteenth crew to even issues out by 2027, and there are greater than a dozen suitors, together with in Miami, Milwaukee, Denver, St. Louis, and Philadelphia, amongst others. Some groups hope to latch onto a thriving current sports activities scene, others attributable to a connection within the

Grant Williams needs to see new WNBA possession teams really make investments

Williams mentioned he wasn’t capable of speak about any particular involvement he had within the Charlotte bid, and famous that there are a ton of different groups concerned within the course of.

“Earlier than, nobody was tremendous motivated, after which hastily, there’s been this wave,” Williams mentioned.

He’s not improper — the proliferation has been current, and intense. This previous season, the WNBA broke a slew of viewership and attendance file, with a file 22 regular-season video games averaging no less than 1 million views. The recognition of the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark — who was the Rookie of the 12 months — performed a important half within the WNBA’s rising views, as did the rise of different rookies within the class.

However, Williams urged for these thinking about buying a WNBA crew to view it as greater than only a monetary funding.

“It may’t simply be fleeting — it may possibly’t be one thing that’s seen as a cash alternative,” Williams mentioned. “It’s one thing that you just [have to] truly care, promote the sport of girls’s basketball… they deserve plenty of the identical advertising and marketing and alternatives that we do.”

It’s not the primary time that Grant Williams has spoken out in assist of the ladies’s recreation. Shortly after the U.S. girls beat Australia to advance to the gold medal recreation within the Paris Olympics, Williams turned to X to name consideration to the dearth of media protection on the video games.

“The distinction between the lads’s vs girls’s postgame is disrespectful, and the ladies deserve higher,” Williams mentioned.

Now, with the league persevering with to look towards growth, Williams hopes that Charlotte may be in consideration. It’d be his first time being concerned with an initiative of this nature.

“I’m not supposed to speak about most of that, however usually, they’ve most likely 12 franchises now which might be going after bids,” Williams mentioned. “It’s a aggressive market.”

This previous season, various possession teams have been criticized for an absence of constant funding of their groups, together with the Connecticut Solar and the Chicago, neither of which had their very own apply services for gamers (although the Sky are starting the development of 1).

The Solar notoriously needed to share a apply facility with a toddler’s birthday celebration through the WNBA Finals, one thing that Solar star Alyssa Thomas deemed as “the final word disrespect.”

Williams will not be alone in calling for higher requirements throughout the board — it’s one thing that the gamers’ union has known as for as effectively — however making certain that new franchises are dedicated to offering groups with the assets they want from the leap is paramount.

“You don’t need those that simply are available and don’t actually have interaction within the crew — [you have to] make certain they’ve all of the assets they want,” Williams mentioned. “They must do a deep dive to verify they bring about the correct companions in. That’s the primary factor.”

As well as, Williams needs to see the league enhance organizationally and throughout the board — echoing an more and more frequent from various stakeholders — whereas acknowledging its relative youth. The WNBA was based in 1997, whereas the NBA shaped a long time prior, in 1949. Williams has develop into extra intimately accustomed to the NBA’s governance by his place because the NBA Participant Union’s First Vice President, a task he’s held since February of 2021.

Picture by Chris Gardner/Getty Photos

“The group of the WNBA has to get higher as an entire, within the sense of caring for the working finances, ensuring that issues are being spent the place they’re presupposed to be, simply being run as in the event that they’re a Fortune 500 enterprise as effectively,” he mentioned. “They’ve been round for 25 years. They’ve some rising pains, identical to we did within the first 25 years earlier than.”

Grant Williams hopes that the league’s growth serves as a tipping level for additional development, and that it’s achieved with thought and intention.

He additionally hopes to see his hometown within the combine.

“Now, that is the time to capitalize on the chance that’s forward,” Williams mentioned. “It’s only a matter of placing individuals in place which have understanding of what they’re doing, and using that success to hopefully not simply assist the gamers, however assist possession as effectively.”