25 WNBA stats and milestones every hoops fan should know

What better place to start the game’s greatest scorer? Taurasi entered the league out of UConn with huge expectations and delivered on that promise, carving out a league record of 10,646 points. Prior to Taurasi, no WNBA player had ever eclipsed 10,000 points. Tina Charles and DeWanna Bonner, who are still playing in 2025, are Nos. 2 and 3 on the all-time scoring list but more than 2,000 points behind the leader. 

Seeing Leslie slam one down changed how people viewed the game. No longer was the misconception that the league was filled with small guards and mid-range floaters. Seeing Leslie establish herself physically in the game altered the next generation. The first dunk in 2002 paved the way for some of the game’s best bigs, from Tina Charles to Britney Griner. 

In 1997, the WNBA was established. At the time, there were eight teams. As with all new leagues, there was a need for a face of the league, which is exactly what Cynthia Cooper and the Houston Comets became. Right out of the gate, the Comets cruised to the first championship, beginning a run of four straight. Cooper also won the Finals MVP in each of those victories. 

Bird played 19 seasons and was an all-star representative in 13 of those, the most by any player in league history. The guard retired in 2022, which fittingly also marked her final all-star season. It didn’t take long for her to earn a place in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as she was inducted in Springfield in the Class of 2025. 

The international prodigy entered the W with high hopes and paid off immediately as she became the youngest player to win the MVP. She was just 22 when she did so, which also held significance as she became the first player from overseas to win. The eventual three-time MVP scored 21.2 points per game that season. 

There’s a lot of significance when looking back on the WNBA’s inaugural season, specifically its first-ever game. To this day, it remains the most viewed matchup in league history. It also featured two franchises that remain active to this day. That’s not always the case for pro leagues. For example, the NBA’s first game (then the ABA) featured a team called the Toronto Huskies. So it’s pretty impressive that the teams that kicked it all of remain just as relevant today. 

The Phoenix Mercury set the benchmark for explosive offenses in this day and age. No other team has ever put up more points than the Mercury did on July 24, 2010. It also wasn’t a runaway game, either, as the final score was 127-124. The show that the Mercury and Minnesota Lynx put on that day remains unmatched. 

The Houston Comets winning four straight titles is obviously very impressive. Even more impressive, however, was seeing the same player win Finals MVP each time. That’s unheard of in the day of free agency, where players flip teams every few years, it seems, and the parity that exists within the W. I’m not sure we’ll ever see this feat matched again. 

No player in WNBA history has ever scored more than 53 points. That was a mark done twice in the sport. First, Liz Cambage reached that milestone in 2018 with the Dallas Wings. She did so on an impressive 17-of-22 shooting night. Five years later, A'ja Wilson tied that record with 53 of her own points in a Las Vegas Aces victory. 

You could argue that no one pioneered the game more than Thompson, who is the only one who can ever claim to be the first No. 1 overall pick in league history. After starring at USC, Thompson entered the league and quickly assimilated, forming a core that included Sheryl Swoopes and Cynthia Cooper, which won four straight titles. As more and more No. 1 picks enter this league and quickly assert themselves, they all can thank Thompson for laying the groundwork on how to go about it. 

Fans across the country were in awe when the Los Angeles Sparks went on an incredible 18-game winning streak in 2001. Lisa Leslie was integral in that stretch, which set the stage for their eventual championship that year. To this day, no team has been able to reach that mark. What added to the importance of that run was that it marked the start of a new powerhouse in the league, as the Sparks were the first team to overtake the four-time reigning champions in Houston. 

As the W continues to evolve and grow each season, it's essential to remember exactly where the sport originated. There were only eight teams at the onset of the league, with four in each conference. The Eastern Conference consisted of Charlotte, Cleveland, New York, and Houston, while the Western Conference comprised Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sacramento, and Utah. Three of those organizations remain active as the league works to land its 18th team in 2030. 

Throughout the WNBA's history, there have been four players who have won the MVP award three times each. No one has done so for a fourth time. Those players include Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, Lauren Jackson, and A'Ja Wilson. Among that group, only one player ever won the vote unanimously, which Wilson did in 2024. 

The Aces were unmatched in 2023. There's dominance, and then there's what that team did to its opponents on its way to win the title. In what was the first season with 40 games on the schedule, Vegas went out and finished with a 34-6 record. In the playoffs, they swept the first two series, going 8-1 in the postseason. The New York Liberty's 32 wins in both 2023 and 2024 are the second most in a single season. 

While some teams leave a lasting impression in the record books for their illustrious seasons, others do so for the inverse. Two teams hold the record for the most consecutive losses at 20. The Tulsa Shock were first in 2011, eventually being joined by the Indiana Fever. The latter, however, was spread out over the final 18 games of the 2022 season and the first two games of 2023. 

Referring to the University of Connecticut as a women's basketball factory is probably an understatement. The college program has gone above and beyond in producing top-level talent for the W. They have six No. 1 picks to their name between 2003 and 2025. That list includes Sue Bird (2002), Diana Taurasi (2003), Tina Charles (2010), Maya Moore (2011), Breanna Stewart (2016), and Paige Bueckers (2025). There's also a handful of former Huskies who went No. 2, including Swin Cash in 2002. 

The WNBA ushered in the first-ever CBA for a women's professional league in 1999. As notable as that milestone was, the deal that was reached in 2020 is the one that transcended the league's growth. This negotiation landed the first-ever six-figure deals for its players, along with various benefits from improved maternity leave to childcare advancements. Nneka Ogwumike played a pivotal role in the glass-ceiling-breaking move as the players' spokesperson. 

Swoopes' name appears frequently in connection with historic moments and milestones. She also holds the honor of being the first woman to stuff the box score with a triple-double, signifying a significant shift in the talent and diversity of the women's skill set in the game. Gone was the notion that the league lacked the appropriate speed or the athleticism of its male counterparts. 

It was evident from the jump how dominant the Tennessee star was going to be in the WNBA. She dropped 34 points, 12 boards, and eight assists in her rookie debut. That paved the way for her to become not only the Rookie of the Year, but the league's MVP in her first season. No other player has ever reached that pinnacle from the get-go. The high standard fans have now for the top rookies coming into the league can be attributed to the monumental inaugural season that Parker demonstrated. 

We've seen No. 1 pick come in with lofty expectations. From Diana Taurasi to Caitlin Clark, Bueckers' hype was just as high. She put her talents on display in her first WNBA season with Dallas when she dropped 44 points as a rookie. This matched the previous mark set by Cynthia Cooper in 1997. Only three rookies have ever put up 40 or more points in a single game. Seeing Bueckers reach those heights only reaffirmed the understanding that the modern game is seeing a talent infusion like it has rarely seen. 

The growing popularity of the sport was only reaffirmed with the 2024 regular season finale between the Indiana Fever and Washington Mystics. This game was played at the Capital One Arena and drew a record 20,711 fans. The Mystics typically hold their games at the smaller CareFirst Arena, but moved the game to the home of its NBA counterpart to meet the demands of the fan base that wanted to see Caitlin Clark and her Fever teammates. 

There's an argument to be made that Catchings is not only the best defender ever to roam a WNBA floor, but any basketball court for that matter. No other player -- WNBA or NBA -- has ever won the Defensive Player of the Year award five times like Catchings. There were eight years in which she led the league in steals, which helped her earn 10 All-Defensive Team selections as well. 

The Miami Sol and Washington Mystics played a game in 2001 that will go down in basketball infamy. The two teams combined for an all-time low 78 points, with the Sol winning 42-36. Not a single three-pointer was converted. To no surprise, less than a quarter of the shots taken were made between the two sides. In the two-plus decades since that moment, the league has become far more offensive, with scoring reaching new heights each passing season. 

The league's first all-star game wasn't held until its third season in 1999. That was when the game's top athletes were put on display at one of the most iconic venues in the world, Madison Square Garden. Lisa Leslie went on to be named the game's MVP as the young league finally began to capitalize on its most recognizable faces. 

From eight teams to 18, that's the league's plan as it sets its sights on 2030. The league announced that its expansion plan will bring more cities on board, including Toronto, Portland, and Philadelphia, while reintroducing hoops to cities that once had teams like Chicago and Cleveland. With more revenue being generated than ever, the WNBA is hoping to capitalize on the budding interest and media sponsorships.