WNBA

WNBA rookie Caitlin Clark joins Michael Jordan as the only athletes to collaborate with Wilson Sporting Goods, according to reports.

Caitlin Clark's college deal with Nike expired at the conclusion of the women's college basketball season last week. But the show brand apparently did not want to let her go.

Caitlin Clark went No. 1 overall in the WNBA draft, but the money she will earn now as a professional athlete has sparked a debate on social media.

NBA and WNBA stars Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu will face off in a highly anticipated 3-point contest during the upcoming All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis.

The 2024 WNBA All-Star Game is headed to Phoenix, setting up as a home game for Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi and a sendoff to the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team.

The league said in a statement it was looking into the team’s run-in with a “social media figure” whose “actions were inappropriate and unfortunate.”

Brittney Griner won the opening tip and ran to her familiar spot in the low post. There was nowhere else the ball was going to go on the Phoenix Mercury’s opening possession of the season — not after what Griner had gone through to get here.

Phoenix Mercury's Brittney Griner, who has been free from Russian detention since December 2022, opened her first WNBA season since her detention.

Brittney Griner returned to game action for the first time since a nearly 10-month detainment in Russia on drug-related charges ended with a prisoner swap in December.

The 6-foot-9 center last played for the Mercury in 2021 and helped the team reach the WNBA Finals. She averaged 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds that season.

Brittney Griner was back in Arizona, choosing to skip the camp in Minnesota so she can be with her wife and recover from her time in a Russian jail. She returned to the U.S. in December after a dramatic prisoner swap.

The WNBA star has been placed at Female Penal Colony IK-2 in Yavas, which is in the region of Mordovia – the same area where American Paul Whelan is being held, according to Reuters.

“My hope is that now that the election is over, that Mr. Putin will be able to discuss with us and be willing to talk more seriously about a prisoner exchange,” Biden said.

A penal colony is a common type of Russian prison where detainees work for minimal pay.

The Moscow region court also ruled that Brittney Griner’s sentence will be recalculated to around eight years in prison, after taking her time in pre-trial detention into account.

Brittney Griner’s appeal hearing is scheduled for Oct. 25. While it’s unlikely the appeal will overturn her conviction, her lawyers hope it could lessen the sentence.

Sarver was suspended for one year and fined $10 million after the investigation showed a pattern of lewd, misogynistic, and racist speech and conduct during his 18 years as owner of the Suns and Mercury.

Brittney Griner’s highly publicized legal woes in Russia and the country’s invasion of Ukraine has the top WNBA players opting to take their talents elsewhere this offseason.

The separate meetings are to be the first in-person encounter between Biden and the families and are taking place amid sustained but so far unsuccessful efforts by the administration to secure the Americans’ release.