Which WNBA Team Should You Root For This Season?
I made you a guide, explaining what is gay and what is diabolical about each team. You're welcome!
Hello, there! We’re coming up on the two-year anniversary of my decision to turn on paid newsletter subscriptions, something that changed my whole life! They say I’ll see a whole lot of cancellations on year two, so to try to offset that, I’m offering a 20% discount on new annual subscriptions through the end of May. Will you consider a paid subscription if you don’t have one already?
The 2025 WNBA season officially kicks off this Friday, May 16th!!!
Everyone’s always asking me how to get into the league and who to root for, so I decided to simply make you a guide, explaining what’s gay, what’s cute, and what’s diabolical about each team. That way you can decide on your own. Please leave your own thoughts and feelings in the comments, especially if I missed any confirmed gay players. (No RPF TikToks, please!)
Depending on the game, you can watch the W on ABC, ESPN, NBA TV, CBS, ION, CBS Sports Network, ESPN3, ESPN+, WNBA League Pass, Disney+, and Prime Video.
Atlanta Dream
What's gay: Brittney Griner isn't just a future Hall of Famer who can still(!) drunk(!!); she's also the Pop of Baby Bash, who attends games sometimes with his brilliant and gorgeous mama, Cherelle Griner. Cherlle just made Marie Claire's 2025 Power Moms list. Baby Bash has teensy feets and wears giant noise-cancelling headphones and one time I saw him yawn on TV and I squealed. He is perfect. Guard Jordin Canada is an Atlanta Dream gay, and so is co-owner Renee Montgomery. If you watched Unrivaled this off-season, Renee Montgomery was the one in the TNT studio that Candace Parker was always looking at like, "Friend, I love women's basketball too, but you gotta calm down."
What's cute: Allisha Gray, who is coming off a year of domination! You only need to watch literally any interview to get pulled into her charming orbit. Her South Carolina accent is like burn cream for my weary Yankee-transplant soul. Rookie Te-Hina Paopao makes the cute list, too. She's also a South Carolina graduate who makes this face even when she's furious: 😁
What's diabolical: One of the weirdest things about watching Dream games on TV is that their arena is so small, you can basically see what's available at the concession stand while you're watching players shoot free throws. It kind of looks like a gym inside a megachurch.
Chicago Sky
What's gay: Courtney Vandersloot is back in Chicago after winning a championship with the New York Liberty last season. She and her wife, Allie Quigley, were on the Sky team that won the championship in 2021 — and they just had a tiny baby! This season could be Vandersloot's final run, so it's good to see her back in a city that loves her and really, really needs her point guard skills. It also appears that rookie Maddie Westbeld — who is a cusp draft pick that may or may not make the team — has come to town and hard launched her relationship with former Notre Dame teammate Olivia Miles. Olivia's been in Chicago with Maddie and their cat, Bean Miles-Westbeld, since Maddie got drafted. Bean has his own Instagram. (Thank you to my W group chat for not kicking me out the night they discovered this incredible cat news.)
What's cute: Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso! They used to be hardcore college rivals, beating the heck out of each other every game, and now they are best buddies who will never let you have a single rebound.
What's diabolical: This isn’t currently diabolical, but it’s one of my favorite things ever: When the Sky beat the Mercury in the 2021 Finals, Diana Taurasi went honk bonks on one of the doors in the visitor’s locker room. Busted the shit out of it. Well, and the Sky took down that door and put it on the float during their victory parade through Chicago.
Connecticut Sun
What's gay: I don't think there are any confirmed gay players on this team anymore, which is BANANAS. It's been the gayest team in the league for YEARS.
What's cute: The fact that the Sun think they've won their battle with Marina Mabrey, the only player from last season who wasn't able to get off the team when it imploded. She asked for a trade and the Sun released a statement saying "no!" and pretty much calling her a flake. I don't know why anyone would get into some kind of war with Marina Mabrey, but godspeed, you guys.
What's diabolical: Marina Mabrey. I don't even know how to describe her to you if you don't know her. You ever met a tornado? Or, like, tried to befriend a serial killer? She's kind of like that.
Dallas Wings
What's gay: Well, basically everything. Superstar guard and my personal favorite player Arike Ogunbowale, for one. She got engaged to her girlfriend last season. Then there's Dijonai Carrington and NaLyssa Smith, girlfriends and now teammates. Teaira McCowan casually came out as bisexual last season on an IG Live with Arike. Also assistant coach Nola Henry, who led the Roses to the Unrivaled championship in the league's inaugural season. No one else — that I know of — has confirmed that they're gay on the Dallas Wings, but I do think there's for sure some more queer players on this team.
What's cute: Again, basically everything. The Wings are like if Cowboy Carter was a basketball team. Their rookie class — including first rounders Paige Beuckers and Aziah James — is especially adorable. They wore cowboy hats in their first presser!
What's diabolical: In Notre Dame's 2018 national title run, Arike Ogunbowale hit back-to-back buzzer-beater game winners in the Final Four and National Championship games, and she's still doing that wizardry to this day. As a WNBA All-Star, she has personally beaten Team USA twice. Her stepback is the most fiendish thing in the WNBA, besides just… the entire existence of Arike's former teammate, Marina Mabrey.
Golden State Valkyries
What's gay: The Valkyries are the WNBA's newest team. And while it doesn't seem like they're gonna be great in their first season, they took Megan Rapinoe's words to heart: you cannot win a championship without gay players, that's science. So they did try to fill out their first roster with some queers, including Tiffany Hayes (last season's Sixth Player of the Year), Kate Martin (who you remember as the Aces player who got left by the bus at a steak house in her rookie season), and Cecilia Zandalasini.
What's cute: The whole Valkyries aesthetic. It's various purples and swords and shields. Very She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (complimentary).
What's diabolical: In the expansion draft, the Valkyries got to select one unprotected player from every team. When they got to the Storm, the guy at the podium goes, "And from the Seattle Storm, the Valkyries select… oh, wow. Okay. No one."
Indiana Fever
What's gay: It makes me slightly sick to say it, but Face of the League Sydney Colson joined The Fever in the off-season and she's like the gayest player in perhaps the entire history of the WNBA. The Fever also signed some other gays because they reaaallly want a shot at the title this year. They snagged veteran forward / one-half of the WNBA's most beloved power couple, DeWanna Bonner (her wife, Alyssa Thomas, plays for the Mercury). Also veteran forward Natasha Howard, who I one time saw do a full Ring of Keys gay conversion to a young fan who peeped her wallet chain and full three piece suit in the tunnel before a game. Coach Stephanie White? Also gay!
What's cute: Aliyah Boston, one of the top five sweetest smiles in the W.
What's diabolical: ALSO ALIYAH BOSTON. I don't know what she's saying or doing in the paint, but every game, she's got veteran players ready to take a swing at her. And the whole time, she's just smiling like Sunday School.
Las Vegas Aces
What's gay: I can't believe Syd Colson is not here on this list for this team. The Fever?! GOD WHY!!!! However, the Aces do boast several gays. There's superstar Olympians Chelsea Gray and Jewell Loyd, and there's divisive bench player Kierstan Bell. Chelsea and her wife Tipsea are one of the hottest couples ever, and they also have an adorable baby named Lennox. Every year A'ja buys the most unhinged rainbow cake for her gay teammates for Pride, and I am very excited to see what it's gonna be this June. If she released some kind of rainbow A'One colorway, I would simply die.
What's cute: Megan Gustafson's corgi, Pancake! He's always around, and sometimes he's even painted on her shoes!
What's diabolical: Last season, Jackie Young called Chelsea "Stud Butt" and Syd Colson tweeted it out and wow how that nickname has stuck. Also, the fact that A'ja Wilson somehow got EVEN BETTER this off-season? She's already won MVP three times! Now she's out here shooting threes without even thinking about it, and nailing turn-around jumpers with her non-dominant hand? A'JA PLEASE. These women have families to feed!
Los Angeles Sparks
What's gay: Emma Cannon — and she and her wife just had twins! However, this is, by far, the straightest team in the league. They're never going to win a chip like this, so I do hope they get it together soon. There's too many great players on the Sparks for them to continue to be mediocre. They are gonna retire Candace Parker’s jersey this season, so that’s a good start.
What's cute: Between Cam Brink, Rickea Jackson, and Rae Burrell, the Sparks are the Ultimate TikTok Team. Lots of dancin'.
What's diabolical: Sparky the Dog, the Sparks mascot, looks like his costume was found in the back of a JC Penny in 1999 and never even tossed in the washing machine. If Sparky was a real dog, I would suggest some omega-3 and omega-6 supplements, as well as regular grooming, to get his coat back in shape.
Minnesota Lynx
What's gay: Okay, first let me tell you what's not gay, and that's Lynx superstar / potential 2025 MVP Napheesa Collier calling Tessa Thompson "What’s her name? The girlfriend from Creed? Theresa Thompson?" Phee. PHEE. But what is gay is her teammates Natisha Hiedeman, Courtney Williams, and Kayla McBride. The three of them were so close to bringing another championship to Minnesota last season. We call Court "Middie King" in our house, because no one has a smoother midrange jumper than her.
What's cute: Courtney Williams' dad is the biggest Courtney Williams superfan on earth, which is saying something, because I personally know at least three femme lesbians who would let Courtney Williams ruin their lives. He's always got poster board signs and pep talks and endless Courtney Williams gear. V. adorable.
What's diabolical: Last season during the Finals, Courtney Williams' dad got into a FEUD with ELLIE THE ELEPHANT that spanned MULTIPLE GAMES.
New York Liberty
What's gay: Ellie the Elephant, Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, Natasha Cloud and Isabelle Harrison (girlfriends), and, um, some European rumors. Also, there's no bigger summer party in Brooklyn than the one at Barclay's Center. There's always so many gays on CeLiberty Row, including Audrey Plaza, who tore her freaking ACL last year playing HORSE at a WNBA game.
What's cute: Ellie the Elephant, the best mascot in sports. (Sorry, Gritty.)
What's diabolical: Ellie the Elephant, the biggest menace in sports. (Sorry, Marina Mabrey.)
Phoenix Mercury
What's gay: The Mercury realized they were losing a catastrophic amount of gayness when Diana Taurasi retired, so they went out and grabbed the following queers: Kahleah Copper, Natasha Mack, Sevgi Uzun, Kalani Brown, Alyssa Thomas, and Sami Whitcomb. It's a roster full of stars and queers! Whether or not they can bring it all together and make something awesome out of it remains to be seen. I hope so!
What's cute: The way half of all queer WNBA fans want to be run over by Alyssa Thomas.
What's diabolical: The way Alyssa Thomas would absolutely — and without remorse — pile-drive any of those fans if they stood in the way of her and the basket.
Seattle Storm
What's gay: The Storm lost their most famous gay when they sent Jewell Loyd to Las Vegas, and their second most loved gay when Jordan Horston tore her ACL in the off-season — but they did pick up Erica Wheeler and a variety of queer European rumors!
What's cute: The Storm's rookie draft pick, Dominique Malonga, is only 19 and she can dunk flat-footed. She was on the French Olympic team, if the name sounds familiar. She wore an impeccably tailored Louis Vuitton suit to the draft and has the friendliest face I have ever seen.
What's diabolical: Skylar Diggins, who whirls her finger around like a drunk helicopter calling for a coach’s challenge after every single referee call she doesn't like, which is one half of all referee calls. Last year I saw her nearly stab someone in the neck over a casual game of Guess Who? at media day.
Washington Mystics
What's gay: The Mystics are still trying to figure out who in the heck they are, but they've got a good gay start in Sug Sutton, Brittney Sykes, Emily Engstler, and Stefanie Dolson. In the off-season Elene Della Donne officially announced her retirement, but it seems like she's been hanging around the facilities a lot since the endless stream of Thibaults has finally run dry. The Mystics also have bottomless brunch games on weekends, which is pretty much the most homosexual thing I have ever heard.
What's cute: Stefanie Dolson is in looooove with her girlfriend, and she's all over Instagram about it all of the time. I love love, so I personally find the whole thing very nice.
What's diabolical: Kiki Iriafen, the rookie out of USC, picked up the WNBA’s only openly MAGA / anti-trans player, Sophie Cunningham, in a preseason game last week. Picked her up, off the ground, and launched her halfway across the court — and then smiled the most darling little smile about it. In the WNBA, everyone has a Welcome To The League moment where they get flattened like a stroopwafel; Kiki Iriafen is the first player I've ever seen welcome her own self to the league.
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“What's cute: They way half of all queer WNBA fans want to be run over by Alyssa Thomas.”
Ok one of my most embarrassing moments was when I tweeted that AT had “choke me, daddy energy” and Layshia Clarendon responded and then definitely showed AT the tweet. (They were Sun teammates at the time)
So comprehensive and amazing