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Last Sunday (October 20th), the 28th season of the Women’s National Basketball Association came to an exciting close. The New York Liberty, led by Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu, captured their franchise’s first title in an exhilarating 5 game series against the Minnesota Lynx. The final game of the tightly contested matchup was the most viewed WNBA Finals game in 25 years. Viewership across the entire series doubled in comparison to last year, which speaks volumes to growing popularity of not only the WNBA, but women sports in general.
The success of the Finals was just an extension of what took place during the regular season. A stacked rookie class including Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink and more, brought a large number of new eyes with them from their respective collegiate programs. Coupling the excitement of their arrivals with the established culture the W already possessed did wonders for the league. The season that just concluded ended up as the most-viewed regular season ever. Ironically enough, the most watched game of the regular season was between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky, the teams Clark and Reese play for.
Witnessing the two rookies revive their college rivalry (Clark and Reese played against each other four times in college) wasn’t the only reason fans tuned in this year. Coming into the season, the basketball world was eager to see if the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces could make it three in a row. Although they didn’t complete their mission, forward A’ja Wilson won her third MVP in dominant fashion. She became only the second player in league history to win the award unanimously (Houston Comets guard Cynthia Cooper did it in the WNBA’s inaugural season).
All of the factors mentioned above and many more led to a historic record-breaking season for the WNBA. How many records were actually shattered on the court though? After the Finals ended, the good people at Action Network collected all the records that were broken this season (including the playoffs and Finals). Check out the women who etched their names into the history books below. Congrats to all of them and the WNBA for a ground-breaking season!